Members of the Constantinople ensemble from Canada meet Senagalese kora maestro Ablaye Cissoko in a converted Stockholm stable. Saturday evening’s superb, sold-out concert at Stallet was a very international affair.
Sometimes when I go to a gig I know pretty much what to expect and can even predict the set list and the encores. This was not the case on Saturday evening. I was in a state of joyous ignorance and anticipation. Ducool had recommended the gig to me mentioning the excellent kora player Ablaye Cissoko. Kora gigs are few and far between these days. I was in.
The ticket price was very reasonable and the venue was appealing, Stallet is very cosy and informal rather like a British folkclub. The most recent band I’d seen there was the Rheingans Sisters. I suspected I was in for another top notch gig. The audience was full of hipsters and cognoscenti. Eaves-dropping on conversations, i got the impression there were several musicians in the audience. i recognised a bloke who lives on my street who is a rather talented klezmer player.
Looking at the stage before the musicians came on, I was impressed by the enormous variety of percussion instruments on display.
Kiya Tabasssian, sétar and vocals in Farsi and Patrick Graham, percussion, had flown in from Canada and thought that Stockholm , with a temperature hovering around zero, was delightfully warm. Ablaye Cissoko, kora and vocals in Mandinka, who had flown in from Senegal, thought it was “tres froid”. Bloody freezing!
The evening’s biggest surprise was Kiya and his virtuoso sétar playing, an instrument I’d never seen or heard of before. It’s a small, Persian, four-stringed instrument and is remarkably expressive. I was reminded of the oud playing of Anouar Brahem and maybe even the acoustic solos of Jerry Garcia.
Kiya was born in Iran and it was there he started to lay the sétar. At the age of 14 he moved with his family to Montreal in Canada where he studied music and went on to form the Constantinople ensemble in 1998.
Composer, performer, project leader – he’s had an extraordinary career. The Constantinople ensemble have a large back catalogue which I now look forward to exploring. Their latest album is Traversées , Crossings, which is the second album they have recorded with Ablaye Cissoko.
Ablaye has previously recorded with a variety of different European musicians including Cyrille Brotto and Simon Goubert. Ducool has four of his albums and warmly recommends them.
Canadian percussionist, Patrick Graham, is another Renaissance man. Composer, teacher, recording artist… His playing was subtle and restrained but added a great deal to the overall sound.
On Saturday evening, these three superb musicians from very different musical and linguistic backgrounds played seamlessly together and took the audience off on a spell-binding, magic carpet ride. Who’d have thought that songs with vocals in two languages of which I know not a word, could be so moving?
The trio’s remarkable musicianship triumphed over the cold Swedish winter weather and my preconceptions and received a well-deserved, standing ovation.
I’’ve posted a video of them in concert in the comments so that you can hear for yourself.
@DuCo01 has done it again! Introduced me to three musicians I’ve never heard of and a new instrument too. Hats off to him for recommending this concert.
If you enjoy the meditative kora playing of the late Toumani Diabate or oud maestro Anouar Brahem, I think you will enjoy Traversées.
Wow. Reading up about Kiya and the Constantinople ensemble made me think that Canada clearly has lot of talented musicians who do not get the level of attention they deserve here in Europe.
A few names spring to mind..
Basia Bulat, Stars, William Prince, Broken Social Scene, Cowboy Junkies, Ron Sexsmith, Jane Siberry, Le Vent du Nord, Destroyer, Fred Eaglesmith, The Hidden Cameras, Men I Trust, Oscar Peterson….
And then of course there’s Drake. Thanks to Kendrick we all know him.
Whatever you do, do not mention Buffy Sainte.Marie.
Buffy should have stuck to vampire slaying.
Here they are in concert.
I know you all love a bit of squeezebox.
So here’s Ablaye with French accordionist Cyrille Brotto. All of the musicians from Saturday’s concert are keen to constantly work with musicians from other backgrounds,
Kiya with the great Kurdish virtuoso Kayan Kalhor
And now with the Golden Road Ensemble. It’s not every day we get some top notch rubab on the Afterword.
Finally, here is a larger version of Constantinople, live in Montreal.
You have seen The Rheingans Sisters? I am so happy for you.
However, I distract from the substance of your review, which is excellent and enticing.
Thanks for your kind words @thecheshirecat.
I’ve @hubert-rawlinson to thank for pointing out that the Rheingans were heading my way.
They were excellent.
And I’ve @thecheshirecat to thank for pointing them my way. I think you saw them just after myself and Chesh saw them in Bury.