é on balafon and the late Kasse Mady Diabat é on vocals. These were seasoned Mande musicians all, but they had never performed with a Western orchestra. Indeed this was an entirely new concept. The concert was much praised at the time, but no one who did not attend one of the six performances staged that year—each with a different orchestra—could actually hear the music. Until now. Thirteen years later, World Circuit has released Kôrôlén , the complete Barbican concert. Afropop ’s Banning Eyre reached Toumani by Zoom in Abidjan, Cote d ’Ivoire, where he has spent the entire year of the pandemic, to discuss the project. Toumani