Gambari Band - Kokuma

Love, laughter, tragedy and triumph are only a few of the ingredients of Kokuma, the fascinating debut by Gambari Band. Several members of this fantastic new group from Mali were previously in the band that played with Bassekou Kouyat� (known as Ngoni Ba).

Since parting ways with their former leader (or uncle/cousin/brother) in 2012, the nine piece ensemble has played with the likes of Brian Eno and Damon Albarn (Africa Express), and wows audiences every Saturday evening at Habib Koit�'s 'Hotel Maya' in Bamako. Their distinct sound, at once earthy and graceful, uplifting and deep, wraps the plucked strings of the Ngoni - that ancient Malian lute of the Griots, played masterfully by the group's leader Oumar Barou Kouyat� - around beautiful vocal harmonies and an assortment of hip-shaking and head-nodding (poly)rhythms, like the 'Gambari', which lends itself to the band's name.

'Kokuma' is the debut album by Gambari Band and is the result of an inter-continental collaboration with their Seattle based producer Mell Dettmer (Femi Kuti, Bill Frisell, Eyvind Kang). Its musical content, with intricate layers of voices, ngonis and percussion, draws the listener into the atmosphere of true ancient Malian griot culture. It is as vibrant and alive today as it was hundreds of years ago.