Pastoral Englishness and Malian sensibilities unite in harmony for the lead single from the forthcoming album by Piers Faccini and Ballaké Sissoko.

Release Date:  13^th December 2024

Label: Nø Førmat!

Formats: Digital

AN ENTICING TASTE OF WHAT TO EXPECT

Piers Faccini and Balaké Sissoko have known each other for a long time.  They first met when they were both signed to French independent record label, Label Bleu in the early 2000s and they’ve worked together frequently since then; Sissoko was a guest on Faccini’s second solo album, Tearing Sky, in 2005 and, in 2020, Sissoko returned the favour when he invited Faccini to sing – in the Bambara language (!) – on his acclaimed album, Djourou.  We’ve had to wait until now, though, for the pair to get around to recording an album as a duo and that album, Our Calling, is now complete and scheduled for release in February 2025 and, with lead single, Bourne on the Wind, Piers and Ballaké provide an enticing taste of what to expect when Our Calling eventually arrives.

who are faccini & Sissoko

London-born, to an Italian father and English mother, Piers Faccini is a man of many talents – poet, painter, singer-songwriter and author.  He specializes in music of a folky flavour in general and in world music in particular.  A founder member of Charley Marlowe, with whom he released one album, This Could Be You, in 2000, he’s since released eight solo albums – most recently Shapes Of The Fall in 2021.  Piers is a willing collaborator and has, over the years, worked with an impressive range of artists, including Rokia Traoré, Busi Mhlongo, Ben Harper and Dawn Landes, with whom he recorded an EP, Desert Songs in 2016.

Known as a master of the kora, Malian musician Ballaké Sissoko has been playing professionally for most of his life – indeed, he joined the Ensemble Instrumental du Mali (the Malian national orchestra of traditional music) aged just 13.  He has an impressive string of albums to his name, dating back to his 1998 debut, Kora Music From Mali, and like Piers, he’s a keen collaborator, having recorded albums with artists such as Vincent Segal, Toumani Diabaté, Rokia Traoré and, most recently, Nicole Mitchell.

A TRIBUTE TO MIGRATION – IN ALL ITS FORMS

The duo’s forthcoming album, Our Calling, is a tribute to migration in all its forms, be it through nature, as a seed carried on the wind, migratory birds travelling between West Africa and Europe at the turn of new seasons, or through human journeys across centuries and trade routes, sharing musical modes and rhythms.  In pursuit of that theme, Bourne on the Wind is inspired by one of nature’s greatest migratory birds and singers, the nightingale.  In common with much of the music that will find its place on Our Calling, Bourne on the Wind blends English folk styles with Malian musical sensibilities and, in so doing, builds a bridge between the two continents – Europe and Africa.

wonderfully evocative

The gentle mix of guitar and kora is wonderfully evocative and it’s impossible not to envisage a flock of birds in flight as Ballaké plucks his kora.  Piers’s voice is sincere and soothing as he laments the departure of the nightingale for its winter journey, but offers the reassuring promise that it shall be returning before too long.  And, yes, that mission to bridge to bridge the continents is accomplished – as the song’s press release suggests: “Imagine snow falling in the Sahara, or a Baobab tree on the windswept English moors and you have the essence of the song.”

Bourne On The Wind is, indeed an enticing taster for the album to come. and I, for one, will be having a close, deep, listen to Our Calling.  Keep an eye on these pages for further news…

Listen to Bourne on the Wind here:

Piers Faccini online: Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Bandcamp

Balaké Sissoko online: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / YouTube / Bandcamp

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