Instant

Given that for centuries in griot culture it was considered a solo instrument, the kora has in recent decades proved remarkably versatile in partnership with other instruments, from Seckou Keita’s continuing collaborations with Catrin Finch’s Welsh harp to Ballaké Sissoko’s albums with the cellist Vincent Segal, via Toumani Diabaté’s multiple cross-cultural adventures, not to mention its incorporation into rock’n’roll mayhem via the Afro Celt Sound System. In recent years the Senegalese griot Ablaye Cissoko has taken his kora into a variety of imaginative and unexpected contexts, including a trio of albums with the trumpeter Volker Goetze and playing with the Constantinople Ensemble.

Here he comes up with a fresh surprise by teaming up his kora with the deft playing of French diatonic accordion maestro Cyrille Brotto. Yet again it proves to be a why-didn’t-anyone-think-of-that-before master stroke, for the sonorities of the two instruments chime perfectly. The accordion adds a melancholy, faintly Celtic drone to Cissoko’s elegant arpeggios on tracks such as ‘Troisième Z’ and ‘Signola’, while lending a more Gallic flavour to ‘Kolda’ and the waltz-like title-track. Cissoko has an attractive, gentle voice, too, which contributes to making Instant a gem from start to finish.