Four musicians climbed the stairs of The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis and flipped the switch from intrigued to enthralled for nearly 200 audience members on March 27th. Les Égarés meaning “the lost” in English, found a place in our hearts and held us transfixed.
The quartet spent a solid 90 minutes delivering “strangely satisfying” music according to one listener who’d never heard of the band. Strange, perhaps, because their music is challenging to pigeonhole. It’s three parts jazz and one part wild hair, but 100 percent enjoyable.
The band consists of kora player Ballaké Sissoko from Mali and his long-time friend and musical collaborator Vincent Ségal on cello from Paris, France; along with Vincent Peirani on accordion from Nice, France and his frequent music-mate Émile Parisien who played soprano saxophone. Les Égarés emerged in 2019 from a spontaneous jam session in Lyon, France.
When Mshale spoke with Sissoko earlier in March, he described the group’s performance as a conversation amongst the four of them that they then shared with their audience, a very apt description.
The four of them clearly wanted to play their music and somewhat reluctantly would one of them grab the mic before or after a song to elaborate on it. The audience didn’t mind. While it’s a treat to learn the song’s name and details of how it came into being, simply sitting and watching them play was enough.
We all wondered why the accordion player was barefoot. Many of us had questions about the tiny saxophone, which was a soprano sax. We also were curious about the band’s approach to various numbers.
There was more than one tiny misstep of someone coming in too early. They’d all smile broadly or laugh and then restart the piece. With no visible setlist, it appeared they were working from an agreed upon order of songs and played in a relaxed manner. Their only expectation of one another was to play their best, which the consummate group did in spades.
Many pieces in the evening’s repertoire came from their eponymous and only album released in 2023: Ta Nyé, Izao, Esperanza, Nomad’s Sky, Time Burn, and a favorite, Orient Express during which three of them create a sound reminiscent of a train on its tracks while the saxophone spins out like steam from the smokestack on the engine.
At times, the music has a sameness to it, but like the sunset, the sameness is not a negative. Its uniformity is the sheer beauty of the masterful kora playing by a griot steeped in the history and artistry of kora playing. The exciting performance of the saxophone player who at times seemed to levitate off his seat or play with legs akimbo in his quest to hit the perfect notes.
Each musician displayed his expertise on their unique instrument. The happy crowd drank from a bottomless cup of coffee until time, not skill, put a cap on the evening. With our blood pressure lowered and our smiles wide, we exited the hall. The musicians walked up the block to their hotel rooms in the balmy night.
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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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