Lala Tamar & Friends featuring Yacouba Sissoko

About this event

TICKETS $43 General Admission  Café table seating  Member Sale:  Wednesday, June 3 at noon  Public Sale:  Friday, June 5 at noon  Lala Tamar is what happens when Moroccan soul and Brazilian beats meet on the dancefloor. A singer songwriter, poet, guimbri player, dancer and world traveler, Lala Tamar stirs ancient North African rituals into fresh, feminine alchemy. She sings in Arabic, Amazigh and Portuguese making music that feels like flipping through your grandmother's photo album while dancing in a poppy dreamscape. Lala made history as the first artist to record a contemporary album in Haquetia and one of the first women to introduce the Guimbri to new musical worlds. She's shared stages with North African greats like Karim Ziad, Khadija El Warzazia, and Mehdi Nassouly, and recently made her Lincoln Center debut in NYC. With her new original album in the making, written mainly in Darija, Lala takes you on an intimate feminine Moroccan dive, an up-beat tribute to her ancestry. Lala invites you to join her world: a place of play and poetry, softness and strength, where music isn't just heard… it's remembered. The ensemble explores the sounds of a caravan moving through the Sahara, shaabi grooves from Agahadir and Algiers, African strings, Arab ornamentations, music for ceremonies of healing, trances and spells of connection, poetry pulled from distant centuries. It is an unforgettable evening of friendship, love and humanity that transcend borders. Master kora player Yacouba Sissoko devotes his musical gift to expand the awareness of West African history and culture, spread the word of peace, and empower his listeners to take charge and realize their imagined futures. His performances have a magical effect on audiences as he skillfully transforms the traditional songs and stories of his forefathers into modern day messages of peace, love, and harmony. Yacouba was born to a well-known Djeli family in Kita, Mali. For centuries, Djelis have been the musical storytellers, a position that is inherited through a family bloodline. Highly respected within their communities, they are the keepers of the factual history and the fictional fables of past rulers, nobles, social groups and families. The kora, a 21-stringed plucked instrument with a gourd resonator, is the traditional instrument accompanying their songs. At the age of 9, Yacouba started learning the kora and the oral traditions associated with it from his grandfather. By 15, he was touring the country sharing the stories passed down through his family for centuries. He attended the National Institute of the Arts in Bamako, where he immediately caught the attention of the music world there and began touring with noted artists and ensembles such as Ami Koita, Kandia Kouyate, the Raoul Fulero Ensemble, and l'Ensemble National du Mali (the orchestra that both his mother and grandmother sang with). Rooted to give back to the community, Yacouba offers cultural programs and benefit concerts all over the world. He continues to blend his virtuosity effortlessly with other musical styles, ranging from Indian ragas to Appalachian tunes. Currently, Yacouba can be seen performing regularly with Regina Carter and his own band, SIYA.