Music – time – meetings: Solo Cissokho and Olav Torget / double album release

Global Oslo Music and Olav Torget invite to album release at Melahuset . 

Musician, composer and producer Olav Torget has for more than 20 years held a place in the top echelon among performers with an impact far beyond the country's borders. Now he is behind two new albums with the common denominator of "musical meetings and travels". Artistic expressions are not necessarily the result of careful planning or specific goals; these releases have been created by performers who, in their musical quest, have visited different cultures all over the world.

Doors open at 7:30 PM
Tickets: 300,- Buy tickets here.

About the releases and the concert:

SOLO CISSOKHO
The album “Solo” with Solo Cissokho was recorded over 20 years ago, but has not previously been published. Cissokho had reached the top of the world's leading kora players, and was highly recognized in West Africa and Senegal in particular, his home country. All recordings he had made up until then were in collaboration with colleagues, with this solo project we really got to hear what capacity he was as a kora player, singer, and musician! Cissokho not only renewed the kora traditions in his home country, but pushed the boundaries of what was possible to do on the instrument without losing his connection to the traditions the instrument is a carrier of.

"Solo" was recorded in Sofienberg Church in 2003 by Olav Torget. Now one of Solo Cissokho's finest musical moments is being made available to the world via the label Global Sonics.

Solo Cissokho is no longer with us, but his son, Ibou Cissokho (living in Oslo), who has found a central place in the music scene himself, contributes to the concert with kora and vocals.

OLAV SQUARE
Olav Torget himself is currently working on a solo album “Talking Trees” on Furusus Records, in collaboration with Helge Andreas Norbakken and Trygve Seim. The three have previously worked together in several contexts, but this constellation is new. Torget approaches music from a new angle that has allowed for a lot of improvisation, and where ideas from other cultures are integrated. For Torget, it is important to give each individual musician a lot of space to shape their own role, which we can hear on “Talking Trees”.

The music is innovative and uses elements from both African traditions and improvisational music. The song titles are nature images and reminders of meeting oneself in nature.

Both albums, produced by Torget, will be presented musically at the release concert. Here we will hear the performers together and alone in a variety of exciting constellations – we promise music that will encompass everything from meditative to powerful groovy expressions! The concert is also a memory of Solo Cissokho and what he and his traditions have generously shared with us and new generations of performers and audiences.

On stage:
Ibou Cissokho – kora, vocals
Helge Andreas Norbakken – percussion
Trygve Seim – saxophone
Olav Torget – guitar, drums and electronics
Asle Karstad – sound design

Also, members of the Cissokho family have announced their possible arrival, we note a jam session as a possibility…

About the athletes:
Solo Cissokho was an award-winning singer and kora player from Senegal who came to Norway in the mid-1990s. He was a respected performer and griot in his home country before coming to Norway. The griot tradition in West Africa has for over a thousand years been a very important social institution where the griot, through storytelling, song and music, was a historian, master of ceremonies and cultural provider.

Cissokho met Olav Torget through the band Cissokho System, which toured Norway and Senegal, and released the album “Kaira” in 2003. Torget traveled regularly with Cissokho to Senegal over several years, playing with local musicians and taking lessons on the traditional string instrument konting. Torget has since focused on working with cross-cultural expressions, most recently with the Sami-Norwegian project “Áššu”; which has won both the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik's quarterly award for best world music album (Áššu 2019), and was also named by the English magazine Songlines as one of the ten most important Sami albums ever released.

Trygve Seim is one of Norway's most prominent jazz saxophonists and composers, and has an extensive solo career with over 20 releases on the ECM record label. Seim has also studied the Armenian instrument Duduk.

Helge Andreas Norbakken is an internationally renowned percussionist and has collaborated with numerous musicians. He has made several study trips to Gambia where he has studied percussion. His innovative percussion setup and playing style have established a school.

Ibou Cissokho, son of Solo Cissokho, plays the kora and sings. As the heir to this strong oral Griot tradition, Ibou has developed a distinctive style that combines virtuoso kora technique with lyrical singing.

Sound design
Asle Karstad is a Norwegian sound artist, producer and technician with a unique position in the Norwegian music scene. He has contributed to the development of the sound of a number of bands and projects within the jazz and world music genres.

The curator and artist network Global Oslo Music and Global Sonics work to profile and build upon a breadth of cultural expressions in collaboration with performers from all over the world.

WELCOME!

With support from the Arts Council of Norway and Oslo