Fode Sissoko

Please note that the concert has been moved from March 21 to Sunday, April 18, 2010 and it has become necessary to replace Fode Sissoko with another musician, Tim Allen.

“If you don’t move to this band, check your pulse.”

Fode Sissoko, and members of his group Fakoli - African Dance and Drum, will join us in a presentation of his unique brand of World Beat music. Sissoko was born in Senegal, West Africa, to a family of traditional musicians. “Fakoli” means “the ancestor” in Mandinko, Fode’s native language. He is an eighth generation Mandinko Griot (storyteller), who began his training at an early age and later traveled throughout Africa, Europe and the Americas, evolving a style which has been described as “an organic mix of rich polyphonic rhythm, Senegalese and English vocals along with western and traditional instrumentation.” Fode is a master of the Kora, a West African harp, as well as of the djembe & dundun drums. He toured with Baba Olatunji for many years, and is now living in the Hudson Valley where he teaches, records and performs regularly. In this concert he will be joined by Amadou Diallo & Moustapha Diedhiou, both also from Senegal. Amadou is a master drummer and plays the Gongoma, a thumb piano on a gourd, which he has made himself. And Moustapha plays the Souraba drums from his native home of Cassamance. The artists are from three different tribes in West Africa. All sing, and are versed in the traditional music of their cultures, and all were part of the Ballet Bougaraboo, a national dance company in Senegal.

A review of Fakoli’s CD “Mother Love” says:

“Fode Sissoko plays and sings like man who was born to his music, loves it and believes it will heal the world.”

A great way to begin a new season…!

This project is made possible, in part, with funds from the Community Arts Grants program of the Arts Council of Rockland, the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts.

The Friends of the Piermont Library have also provided funding for this concert.