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Folk, world, African music. 

The long-awaited debut album from frontier-stretching duo Piers Faccini and Ballakė Sissoko.  Our Calling is a tribute to migration in all its forms.

A REVELATION
Sometimes, the wait is well and truly worth it.  It was back in November 2024 when news of the forthcoming debut album from the frontier-stretching duo of Piers Faccini and Ballakė Sissoko first reached our ears.  Appetite for the album was whetted by two flawlessly melodic singles – Bourne On The Wind and One Half Of A Dream – but even the expectations that were raised by those singles didn’t fully pave the way for Our Calling.  This album is a revelation.

Let’s remind ourselves about Piers Faccini & Ballaké Sissoko…

PIERS FACCINI & BALLAKE SISSOKO
London-born, to an Italian father and English mother, Piers Faccini is a man of many talents – poet, painter, singer-songwriter and author.  He specializes in music of a folky flavour in general and in world music in particular.  A founder member of Charley Marlowe, with whom he released one album, This Could Be You, in 2000, he’s since released eight solo albums – most recently Shapes Of The Fall in 2021.  Piers is a willing collaborator and has, over the years, worked with an impressive range of artists, including Rokia Traoré, Busi Mhlongo, Ben Harper and Dawn Landes, with whom he recorded an EP, Desert Songs in 2016.

Known as a master of the kora, Malian musician Ballaké Sissoko has been playing professionally for most of his life – indeed, he joined the Ensemble Instrumental du Mali (the Malian national orchestra of traditional music) aged just 13.  He has an impressive string of albums to his name, dating back to his 1998 debut, Kora Music From Mali, and like Piers, he’s a keen collaborator, having recorded albums with artists such as Vincent Segal, Toumani Diabaté, Rokia Traoré and, most recently, Nicole Mitchell.

A TRIBUTE TO MIGRATION
Musical veterans they both may be, but Our Calling is the first album that the pair have made together.  It’s a finely-crafted album; a sonic and narrative tribute to migration in all its forms, be it through nature as seeds borne by the winds, migratory birds flying between West Africa and Europe at the turn of the seasons, or human journeys conducted over the centuries and along trade routes, sharing musical modes, practices and rhythms.

The entirely acoustic dialogue of Our Calling was recorded live to tape in Paris over a five-day period, by Frėdėric Soulard.  Alongside Piers and Ballakė, the album also features contributions from cellist Vincent Segal and long-time collaborators Badjé Tounkara on ngoni and Malik Ziad on guembri.  And its that combination of musicians and instruments that, perhaps, hints at what makes Our Calling such a fascinatingly unique album – it’s a seamless fusion of Malian traditions with contemporary folk songwriting.


Ballaké Sissoko and Piers Faccini [pic: Sandra Mehl]
A SEAMLESS FUSION
That seamless and hugely successful fusion of cultures is evident from the outset, with opening track One Half of a Dream, the more recent of the two singles to preview the album.  Ballakė’s kora tinkles and charms and Piers’ voice (with more than just a hint of Nick Drake about it) is warm and comforting.  It’s a summery song that encourages the listener to lie back and contemplate.

Ballaké’s kora takes centre-stage for the dreamlike and thoroughly encapsulating I Wanted to Belong, before the pair merge back together for If Nothing is Real, the song that, perhaps, best exemplifies the duo’s ability to find a musical style that is equally comfortable within European and African cultures.  The song is a testament to the Nightingale, the songbird that first inspired these two friends to devise this music.  Piers channels the voice and spirit of John Martyn as he sings: “Nothing is real, nothing is true, nothing is real, to pay your time away from you,” and Ballaké’s kora passages are breathtaking.  And the spirit of John Martyn sticks around for Mournful Moon, a simmering, bluesy song that reminds me of Martyn’s I’d Rather Be The Devil – at least it does until Ballaké’s kora cuts loose…

Ninna Nanna, the album’s only traditional song shares Piers’ southern Italian roots and provides yet another stunning example of the duo’s ability to merge musical traditions.  The song is something of an epic and Vincent’s cello is the glue that holds it all together.

THE KORA REIGNS SUPREME
The album’s theme of migration is vividly evoked by the gentle mix of guitar and kora on Bourne on the Wind, the album’s lead single.  Indeed, it’s still impossible not to envisage a flock of birds in flight as Ballaké plucks his kora.  Piers’ voice is sincere and soothing as he laments the departure of the nightingale for its winter journey but offers the reassuring promise of its return.  It’s one of the album’s truly outstanding tracks, as is the majestic Go Where Your Eyes, the album’s longest track.  Piers plays a flamenco lick on his guitar and his voice is reduced almost to a whisper.  The pared-back blend of guitar and kora is sparingly effective as the Spanish flavour yields to a theme that sounds distinctly Arabian and Ballakés kora reigns supreme.  Rarely has six minutes of recording been used to such satisfying effect.

Piers and Ballaké achieve yet another stunning integration of European, African and American styles for Shadows Are, a song that the album’s press release describes as “…a bewitching kora played in a traditional mandé mode, before morphing into what almost feels like a jazz standard one could imagine Chet Baker singing.”  That’s a perfect summary, and I’m happy to stick with it – and, for anyone keen to be flabbergasted by the sound and the potential of the kora, I can recommend this as the place to come.

A STARTLING BLEND
And the cultural blend is no less startling for North And South as Ballaké slots the traditional sounds of Mali into a slice of bluesy swamp rock.  Our Calling is is brought to its lazy, satisfying close by the gorgeous By Your Hand.  Piers’ guitar sets the slow pace and Ballaké’s lazily-plucked kora provides the melody.  The role of the listener is to lie back and imagine drifting slowly down a gently-flowing river as Piers softly concludes: “Under your spell I go.”  And the magic is complete.

Although a testament to Piers’ and Ballaké’s reverence for more ancient times of music, Our Calling is firmly anchored in the 21st century.  At no point does Ballaké’s kora bens or adapt to find a place in western song form, yet the fusion works repeatedly and so very effectively.  Our Calling is an outstanding album.

Tracks:
01. One Half of a Dream
02. I Wanted to Belong
03. If Nothing Is Real
04. Mournful Moon
05. Ninna Nanna
06. Borne on the Wind
07. Go Where Your Eyes
08. Shadows Are
09. North and South
10. By Your Hand

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen. Oh ja, MP3 doe ik niet aan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S49H4HT1a4