“The challenge of “Les Egarés” is to mix several musical cultures from Mali to Jazz, to Musette to Balkan,” said Ballaké Sissoko when Mshale spoke to the Malian kora player earlier this month. Les Egarés isn’t a band or even a quartet of musicians, but a convivial meeting of four friends that come together to improvise and share the results with an audience.
Les Egarés will take The Cedar Cultural Center stage on March 27th mid-way through their US tour. For your sake, reader of Mshale, every inch of space at The Cedar should be filled with a pair of ears to hear their unique and exquisite sound.
Do some homework and listen to the styles of music that will be expressed if they are now unfamiliar to you. Then during the show, you’ll be able to take pleasure in identifying the styles as the artists perform them.
The kora as played by Sissoko will sometimes be featured and at other times, take its place in supporting the key player. Sissoko said, “when we tour with “Les Egarés” each of us keeps his personality,” he continued, “I am Malian, I was born in this culture and music, I don’t know how to be different.”
The audience will need to get used to different. The sound that results from these four distinct musicians commingles delightfully. “When I play, I listen to the other musicians and receive their sound and culture and I give them mine,” said Sissoko, thereby learning from one another and feeding into one another’s creativity.
While Les Egarés is an evolving experiment, it’s comprised of two duos that have shaped themselves for years, Sissoko and Vincent Segal on strings and Vincent Peirani on accordion with saxophonist Émile Parisien the other pair. Sissoko described his musical partner, a cellist:
“Vincent Segal is my brother, we never rehearse, we just play like friends that are having fun and pleasure. When we met 25 years ago, I used to stop by his house each time I was coming to Paris, just to play together. It is only after a long time that we have decided to record our first album ‘Chamber Music’.”
The interview closed with Ballaké Sissoko’s affirming remarks, “It is always a pleasure to come to perform in the Us, I like to touch the people with my music and make them feel happy and discover new cultures.”
Les Egarés will perform a seated three-hour show at The Cedar on March 27th. Doors open at 7 pm, half an hour before showtime.
Tickets available at this Cedar link.
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About Susan Budig
Susan is based in Minneapolis and reports on general assignments for Mshale with a focus on entertainment. In addition to reporting, she is also a writer, poet, teacher and coach.
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