Exquisite duets between a Malian kora (African harp) player and a French cellist; magical, inspired, recorded in Bamako; a feast of stringed sounds

No FCC's: all instrumental except #6

**1-(6:34) Niandou – quiet, lilting, beautiful, percussive rhythm of plucked kora and cellountil cellist bows melody; incredible virtuosity

*2-(4:52) Passa Quatro –slow bowed cello at beginning; pensive with kora flourishes; minor or modal; segues into guitar-like jazz

*3-(6:26) Balazando – jazz-like beginning with plucked cello bass; ostinato bowed sounds underneath treble kora; waltz rhythm; cello goes to pizzicato while rhythm stays steady

**4-(7:52) N'kapalema – starts with quiet chords; walking bass; kora gives treble accents; gathers weight slowly; circles around and around in ¾ time; cello kicks in with melody; gradually picks up speed and segues into a complex richness of fast plucked kora notes anchored by bowed bass cello

5-(5:16) Diabaro – starts with bowed cello and griot singer, kora comes in an doubles accompaniment

*6-(3:55) Super Etoile – kora set up nice ostinato at beginning; bowed cello comes in with melody; moves right along; kora really stands out here; so natural-sounding, like raindrops falling with different pitches

7-(1:12) Prelude – pretty, quiet; nice interlude

*8-(3:51) Samba Tomora – absolutely legato, so impressive for a plucked instrument, moves along seamlessly with cello echoing kora

*9-(2:42) Musique de Nuit- slower, with kora and cello in unison at beginning; simple circular melody splits apart with kora providing melody and then back to unison and so on