Mandé Sila – Live @ Levon Helm Studios (Contre-Jour, 2025)
Mandé Sila, a new acoustic project led by Malian guitarist and singer Habib Koité, brings together celebrated ambassadors of West African traditions. The quartet includes the great Habib Koité on guitar: “magic balafon” player Aly Keïta (Ivory Coast); kora master player Lamine Cissokho (Senegal), and Koité’s longtime Malian collaborator Mama Koné on percussion. The group takes its name from the Manding concept “Mandé Sila,” hthat honors the languages, cultures, and music of the historic empire and wider West Africa.
The quartet completed an initial U.S. tour in November 2024 that included a session at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York. A live audio recording from that visit appears here, the ensemble’s debut, Live @ Levon Helm Studios.
The exquisite album contains a set of dazzling, agile, and inventive performances. Their playing balances discipline, conversation, and virtuosity with wit and curiosity.
Koité, a guitar maestro, known for nearly 2,000 performances worldwide, rose to international prominence with Muso Ko (1994) and Ma Ya (1998), then expanded his reach through collaborations with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Eric Bibb, including the album Brothers In Bamako. His style combines Malian traditions with elements of blues, jazz, and Afro-Cuban music.
Keïta, a Berlin-based balafon virtuoso, has worked with Omar Sosa, Joe Zawinul, Pharoah Sanders, Trilok Gurtu, and Jan Garbarek. Honors include the 2022 German Jazz Prize for Special Instruments and Germany’s 2009 World Music Prize for Creole.
Cissokho descends from a well-known griot lineage in Casamance, Senegal, and cites his father Sana Cissokho and great-uncle Lalo Keba Dramé as key inspirations. His catalog includes more than 200 compositions and six albums (2011–2023), weaving Manding tradition with jazz, eastern influences, and Nordic folk.
Koné, a Bamako-based percussionist specializing in calabash and jembe, joined Koité’s circle after contributing to Brothers In Bamako (2012) and later appeared on Soô (2014) and Kharifa (2019). His roots trace to a griot family steeped in balafon, djembe, n’goni, and talking drum performance.
The ensemble’s current lineup: Habib Koité on guitar, lead vocals; Aly Keïta on balafon; Lamine Cissokho on kora, backing vocals; and Mama Koné on calabash, jembe, backing vocals.
Buy Live @ Levon Helm Studios.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.