Description
From Dakar, Paris‑based griot Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko brings the shimmering pulse of the kora and the ancestral voice of the Cissoko lineage, a family whose music has carried stories across centuries. From Brazil by way of Madrid, flamenco virtuoso Roberto Monteiro channels the duende of Andalucía through a South American heart—his guitar a bridge between Iberian fire and the rhythmic soul of the Atlantic. Completing the triangle, German‑born New York trumpeter and composer Volker Goetze summons the open‑sky imagination of jazz, shaped by decades of deep apprenticeship within West Africa’s Mande tradition.
Their sound has already drawn international praise. Jazz News called FlamenKora “a luminous crossing of traditions, played with breathtaking sensitivity,” while London Jazz News described the trio as “a rare alchemy—earthy, elegant, and utterly transporting.” JAZZIZ hailed their debut as “a revelation of color and spirit,” and Téléramapraised the ensemble’s “spellbinding dialogue between continents.”
Together, they form a trio that feels both ancient and boldly new. Their music is a living tapestry: kora lines that glimmer like desert constellations, flamenco harmonies that crackle with earth and ember, trumpet melodies that rise like wind over water. FlamenKora sketches Spain in an African way, guided by the spirit of jazz and the deep memory of the griot tradition.
Their debut album, FlamenKora, earned international acclaim, and their forthcoming release—recorded at the Paul Manship Artists Residency and completed at the Goethe‑Institut Madrid—will appear on Motéma Music.
