Released in 1995, 'Sarala' marked its time by generating a genuine enthusiasm for Mandingo music, encouraging many Western musicians to go to Mali and explore this music at its very source. Fruit of the reunion of Hank Jones (an African-American musician and one of the most gifted pianists of his generation) and Cheick-Tidiane Seck (a reputed arranger, band-leader, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Mali) the album is a symbiosis - one of the spirit and the heart - of two genres. Despite the bites of time and the vicissitudes of history, these two genres nevertheless perpetuate the same immemorial gesture, that of Mandingo plainsong, the very source and substance of gospel, which adapts without cease to the most modern of sounds thanks to the virtuosity of the musicians gathered together.
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