Trio Da Kali: the Malian musicians defying jihad – with help from Kronos Quartet

The griot supergroup have teamed up with the US musicians to fuse classical strings and traditional west African instruments on songs inspired by civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson

The first time David Harrington met Trio Da Kali, they made him cry. The lead violinist and founder of Kronos Quartet was at the home of a colleague in London where he was to be introduced to the three Malian musicians. The door opened and there stood Hawa Diabaté, who spontaneously broke into a Malian praise song on the threshold. “She was smiling and singing for me,” Harrington tells me. Her song moved him to tears. Almost five years later, he is still spellbound. “It was incredible to be brought into a world of music I’d never encountered.”

Diabaté’s voice and presence reminded him of American gospel diva and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson; for a moment, he says, “it was like having Jackson herself sing to me”.

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from Music | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2gploxr

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