Althea SullyCole – Due West (self-release, 2025)
Althea SullyCole’s album Due West distills fourteen years of kora study into a transcontinental journey through African diasporic sound. She draws on traditional repertoire, original compositions, and reinterpretations, navigating musical connections across West Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The result is a lovely, globally informed recording influenced by her ethnomusicological practice and deep engagement with the 21-string harp of the Mandé region.
The album opens with “Alalake” (“God has willed it” in Malinke), an alluring traditional Mandé jeli song. Taught to SullyCole by New York-based kora master Yacouba Sissoko, the piece features an improvisatory exchange between kora and steel pan, performed by percussionist Jeffrey A. Jones.
The melodic “Edou” pays tribute to SullyCole’s first kora teacher, Edou Manga, a Jola multi-instrumentalist based in Dakar. The arrangement weaves traditional motifs with modern instrumentation, featuring contributions from Rossyl Esdras Boussamba Linguissi (electric bass), who delivers an inventive bass solo; Lanier Sammons (guitar); and Jones (percussion). A stunning video by Timothy David Orme draws on wax print aesthetics to accompany the track. The lyrics, sung in Wolof, reflect on historical memory and ancestral endurance.
On “Demb,” SullyCole reimagines a song by Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour, inspired by a collaboration with kora innovator Soriba Kouyaté on Gorée Island. Her arrangement includes kora, vocals, bass (Linguissi), and percussion (Jones).
The live-recorded “Middle Passage” originated from 42 Strings, SullyCole’s 2015 duo with gu zheng player Muqi Li. This version features Ras Moshe (saxophone) and Alec Saelens (guitar and percussion) in a free-flowing dialogue across various traditions.
“弥渡山歌 (Mí dù shān gē),” or “Mi Du Mountain Song,” is a sweet Chinese folk tune traditionally performed by two gu zheng players. SullyCole interprets it as a duet between kora and marimba, with Jones on percussion, highlighting her ongoing collaboration with Li and interest in intercultural instrumentation.
“Ey Ya Ye,” an instrumental reinterpretation of a song by Malian vocalist Kassé Mady Diabaté, features live instrumentation by SullyCole, Saelens (guitar and cajón), and Moshe (saxophone). The piece was passed to SullyCole through Diabaté’s longtime collaborator, bala player Lassana Diabaté.
The slow tempo, jazzy bolero-style closing track “Free” imagines a post-liberatory Afro-futurist landscape. SullyCole’s vocals and kora are joined by Moshe (flute), Linguissi (bass), Saelens (guitar), and Jones (percussion). Footage from Bamako, Mali, where she currently conducts fieldwork on Mandé instruments, accompanies the music video.
SullyCole, a New York-born ethnomusicologist and multi-instrumentalist, serves as Assistant Professor at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. Her past collaborators include Billy Harper, Fred Ho, and Daara J Family. In addition to her academic work, she has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Apollo Theater, and Royal Albert Hall.
Other featured musicians include percussionist and music scholar Jeffrey A. Jones; Brussels-based guitarist and journalist Alec Saelens; Congo-born bassist and session musician Rossyl Esdras Boussamba Linguissi; multi-genre saxophonist and educator Ras Moshe Burnett; and composer-producer Lanier Sammons.
The album was produced by Lanier Sammons at California State University, Monterey Bay, and mastered by Maria Triana. Due West features visual design by Hallie Bean and photography by Jean-Baptiste Joire.
Buy Due West.
Author: Madison Quinn
Thank you so much for the lovely review!!