This concert is the fruit of a musical project that I nurtured over a long period of time. The idea was born during a trip to Seville, when I first became interested in the sounds of flamenco. I was fascinated by the playing techniques of the musicians I met in Andalusia, and became set on creating music that would combine flamenco with the Mandinka culture of my native West Africa. When I was offered an artistic residency by the Centre des musiciens du monde in 2018, I approached Caroline Planté, a musician with more than 25 years’ experience as a composer, soloist and performer, but also one of the few women around today who plays the flamenco guitar professionally. Other collaborators on this project include Miguel Medina on percussion and Jean Félix Mailloux on double bass. I am infinitely grateful for their contributions to this intimate, acoustic ensemble. With this creation, I sought to expand the limits of my instrument, the kora, as far as possible.

Kora player, singer and songwriter Zal Sissokho was born in Senegal and arrived in Montreal in 1999. He has recorded several albums and performed on stage, both as a soloist and with other artists such as Les frères Diouf, Celso Machado, Constantinople, Fakhass Sico, Lilison di Kinara, Richard Séguin, Takadja and Muna Mingole. He has participated in several major musical projects, including the Cirque du Soleil show “O” in Las Vegas, and has contributed to the soundtracks of such films as L'autre Maison (Mathieu Roy) and Un dimanche à Kigali (Robert Favreau). Since 2001, he has received several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

- Zal Sissokho