Seengwa - a musical homage to the "talking balafon"
A very special collaboration project with top class musicians! The renowned Austrian jazz saxophonist Wolfgang Puschnig is just one of the 6 musicians who complement Mamadou Diabate's 6-piece "Percussion Mania". In the song “Duniya banaba”, the balafon language is translated into French for the first time by the poetry slammer Malika La Slamazone from Burkina Faso.
Released on April 1st, 2022, balafon master Mamadou Diabate’s new album Seengwa is unique in the world music scene: Traditional West African music meets jazz and classical music. Seengwa is a tribute to the almost forgotten musical traditions of the Sambla people of the region of the same name in Burkina Faso. The Sambla are one of the very rare peoples in the world who have developed a language with the xylophone (the Sambla call it balafon). This music is actually the tonal language of the Sambla people translated into music, a function known as surrogate speech. Musicians who don't comprehend this language are unable to master this instrument..
