Single #2 from Our Calling – the forthcoming album from Piers Faccini & Ballaké Sissoko. Another accomplished demonstration of what can be achieved when master musicians combine their cultures.
Release Date: 15th January 2025
Label: Nø Førmat
Formats: Digital
WE’RE READY AND WAITING…
British/Italian folk songwriter Piers Faccini and Malian kora master Ballaké Sissoko will be releasing Our Calling, their debut album as a duo on 14th February and, you know what? We’re ready and waiting!
We’ve already enjoyed an enticing foretaste of what’s to come – the album’s lead single, Bourne on the Wind, hit the airwaves in mid-December and, it’s fair to say, we were bowled over by the duo’s masterful blend of pastoral English folk and Malian sensibilities. So much so, that we couldn’t wait for another dose of the same and, happily, that’s exactly what the album’s second single, One Half of a Dream, has turned out to be.
PIERS FACCINI
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.
BALLAKE SISSOKO
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
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.
ONE HALF OF A DREAM
There’s a bright, summery, feel to One Half of a Dream – something that’s always very welcome at this desolate time of the year. Piers’ lyrics – and his vocal delivery of them – ooze with English traditionality; his voice is the perfect match for the song. Ballaké’s kora is magical – particularly when he takes his solo – and, once again, I was left flabbergasted by what can be achieved when two master musicians combine their respective cultures to create something that is, very definitely, greater than its component parts. I only wish that One Half of a Dream lasted longer – but, then again, maybe its brevity is part of the point.
Our Calling is calling. Bring it on – that’s what I say!
Watch Piers and Ballaké perform One Half Of A Dream here:
Piers Faccini online: Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Bandcamp
Balaké Sissoko online: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / YouTube / Bandcamp
Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube
Categories: Single Review
