Over the past few years Senegalese hoddu master Malick Pathé Sow & kora player Bao Sissoko met each other in various projects. During these collaborations they naturally mixed the haunting strings of the hoddu - the lute of the Fula people in Senegal- with the beautiful harmonies of the kora or African harp. Their paths have now merged definitely together to make one unified project that will be released on CD from September 2012.

During this concert/cd they embark on a voyage exploring the enormous potential of these two wonderful instruments, sometimes harmonious, sometimes contrasting. The hoddu (called xalam with the Wolof, hoddu with the fula) a kind of West-African lute with four or five strings, and the more known kora, linked to the Mandinka people, living all over West-Africa and built from a calabash and 21 strings.

With these two instruments they also accompany the songs of Malick Pathé Sow wherein he –with his pleasant voice- wonders about live in Senegal and Europe, about values and nature. Add to this some percussion on calabash, background vocals by Bao Sissoko, some interesting stories and the result is a concert that immerses the public in the Senegalese universe of Malick and Bao, at the same time based on tradition and rooted in everyday live.

MALICK PATHE SOW comes from a large family of laawbe (like griots) and has been brought up with the music of the Fula, nomadic people from North Senegal. Following loyal service as one of Baaba Maal’s main musicians, playing the hoddu and singing, he embarked on a successful solo career after arriving in Europe.

His latest CD called ‘Maayo Men’ marks a return to his musical roots which led him to play at festivals in England, France, Algeria, Tanzania and Malaysia. Malick is equally a member of the group Blindnote - mixing music from Senegal, Madagascar, Turkey, Armenia, Mexico and Belgium- whose latest CD was elected one of the 10 best CDs of 2011 by the leading British magazine Songlines.

BAO SISSOKO grew up in Senegal in a family of story tellers called griots. His father played the kora with the National Ballet of Senegal and his mother was a gifted singer.

Since he settled down in Belgium, he has immensely expanded his musical repertoire and luggage. In recent years he got involved with various projects: he accompanied Malick Pathe Sow, toured in the Netherlands with the fusion project Nordenian Nodes, worked with the Belgian violinist Wouter Vandenabeele and Dutch singer Leoni Jansen.