Kronos is thrilled to announce that World Circuit Records will release Ladilikan, the quartet’s joint album with Trio Da Kali on September 15. Listen to the first single on YouTube and Spotify.

Pre-order the album >

 
Trio Da Kali is a Malian griot ‘super-group’ formed, as part of Kronos’ third collaboration with the Aga Khan Music Initiative, in 2014 by musicologist Dr. Lucy Durán. Kronos is grateful for the ongoing partnership with AKMI, which brings the quartet together with leading musicians from around the world to compose, arrange, and perform new music rooted in regional traditions.

Comprised of incredibly gifted musicians from celebrated hereditary musical families in Mali, Trio Da Kali features balafon player Fodé Lassana Diabaté, a long-time member of Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra, bass ngoni player Mamadou Kouyaté, the eldest son of the instrument’s greatest exponent Bassekou Kouyaté, and singer Hawa ‘Kassé Mady’ Diabate, daughter of Mali’s greatest traditional singer Kassé Mady Diabate.

Kronos is excited to share this wonderful music, which has previously been performed with Trio Da Kali in California, Maryland, and Switzerland. Giving a new voice to a timeless repertoire that is now endangered in contemporary Malian music, the album features arrangements by Fodé Lassana Diabaté and long-time Kronos collaborator Jacob Garchik that were commissioned by AKMI, a program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

The Boston Globe has highlighted Kronos’ recent Nonesuch Records release Folk Songs as one of the best classical albums of the year thus far. The collaboration includes Sam Amidon, Olivia Chaney, Rhiannon Giddens, and Natalie Merchant singing traditional folk songs with arrangements by Jacob Garchik, Nico Muhly, Donnacha Dennehy, Gabe Witcher (of the Punch Brothers), and the singers themselves.

Purchase or stream >

Read more reviews >