History Bokanté

• 1 Bliss 02:56
• 2 Adjoni 02:56
• 3 Pa Domi 05:51
• 4 Illiminé 04:39
• 5 Flè a Mémwa 04:14
• 6 Ta Voix 03:51
• 7 Tandé 04:19
• 8 Mikrob 03:33
• 9 History 04:50
• Total Runtime 37:09

Info for History

On their third album, Bokanté have plugged into the blues, tracing the genre's roots in West Africa and the Arab world through the diaspora into the retro-modern present. These nine tracks tell — with lyrics sung mainly in Guadeloupean Creole — of outsiders and seers, memories and joy; of black history, global unity and the futility of war. Of taking time to rest, feel, love. Of the redemptive power of music — as a conduit, a change maker, a muse.

History finds them exploring further, dressing folkloric instruments including the Arabic oud, West African ngoni and North African guembri, the bass lute favoured by Morocco’s Gnawa maalems, in western clothes. Interweaving layers of percussion with all the nuanced skill expected of four percussion maestros: André Ferrari of Swedish folk renegades Väsen. Ex-Berklee music professor Jamey Haddad (Sting, Paul Simon). Nagasaki-raised, New York-based Keita Ogawa (Cecile McLorin Salvant). Ghanaian-New Orleanian drum king Weedie Braimah (Christian Scott), a special guest on What Heat, a vital band member now.

“History is very bass and percussion heavy,” says League. “Texturally, it is our freshest, most interesting project yet. We changed the process, which always changes the product.”

Band members including Snarky Puppy guitarists Chris McQueen and Bob Lanzetti and South Florida raised-lap steel player Roosevelt Collier had previously recorded remotely, absorbing and embellishing the music sent to them in files by co-writers Tirolien and League, who was often elsewhere with other projects. While History’s painterly lyrics were primarily written by the Guadalupe-born Tirolien during lockdown in Montreal, the re-opening of the world saw the entire ensemble — nine musicians from five countries and four continents — converge on League’s home in a tiny village outside Barcelona, Spain.

Malika Tirolien, vocals
Weedie Braimah, djembe, congas
Keita Ogawa, congas, dohola, cymbal, chains, claps, bendir, bells, darbuka, surdo, caixa, riq, krakeb, kanjira, timbau, bomb legüero
Jamey Haddad, Kuwaiti, tar, ocean drum, finger cymbal, chains, bells, claps, kanjira, cowbell, shekere, palm brushes, vocal percussion, bendir, darbuka, metal pots, anklung
André Ferrari, bombo legüero, frame drum, bells, grouse pipe, bass drum
Michael League, guimbre, electric oud, electric bass, vocals, claps, ngoni, krakeb
Chris McQueen, electric and acoustic guitars
Bob Lanzetti, electric and acoustic guitars, nylon string guitar
Roosevelt Collier, lap steel guitar

No biography found.

This album contains no booklet.