The 16-piece Balimaya Project come at you like a juggernaut, their sound full, their players connected by kinship, diaspora and community. Young black men, most of them, their talents already deployed across London’s diverse musical landscape, in bands including KOKOROKO and SEED Ensemble, their histories stretching back to Senegal, Mali, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. Tradition and its reclaiming is the essence here, as are the bonds forged by brotherhood in a city that still needs to check itself and quit the discrimination.

In the same way that the black British ensemble the Jazz Warriors redefined the UK jazz scene in the 1980s – overlooked as individuals, the players were a force to be reckoned with en masse – so too is the Balimaya Project impossible to ignore. Musically, they’re a tour de force: blazing frontline horns and fiercely beautiful kora stylings vie and blend with the driving polyrhythms of balafon, congas, djembé, talking drums and more. Voices chant, call-and-respond. Paris-based singer Mariam Tounkara Koné, tells of warrior origins on ‘Soninka/Patronba’, a track dedicated to griot and percussion maestro Sidiki Dembélé (aka Patronba, aka the Big Boss). 

“I was so lucky to have been taught by such an amazing master and father figure, who informed me of much of my rich heritage in West Africa,” says the Harlesden, London-born percussionist Camara Onono, a young veteran of such London-based diasporic outfits as Maisha and Family Atlantica. “I’d always had a dream to bring my experiences with the diaspora and the continent together, using the medium of music and the djembé to bind the two worlds together,” he continues. “I had a very specific sound in mind and every member is necessary to get that sound across. To be true to Mande music and culture, the instrumentation is very important. We want the audience to grow used to seeing the instruments and their players in front of them.”

Under Onono’s direction, with support from Jazz re:freshed, Balimaya Project set about creating musical narratives that honoured the past and reimagined the future. Three years in the making, debut album Wolo So is a seven-track wonder, showcasing a Mande jazz sound as nuanced as it is powerful. Traditional Mande songs are reworked and reinvigorated. The groove-laden ‘I No Go Gree’ (‘I Will Not Accept’ in Krio) rejects prejudice, salutes strength. Griot musicians Jali Bakary Konte (kora) and N’famady Kouyaté (balafon) reinforce the message of cultural pride on ‘Viens Me Libérer (Interlude)’, which is based on the classic tune ‘Nanfoule’. The thunderous closer ‘Dakan’ (Destiny) feels like a portent of even greater things to come.

It’s edutainment at its finest. Alongside future tours, the collective will deliver workshops on themes including black brotherhood: “Which is not something that has been encouraged by society at large,” says Onono. “I believe the band has organically become that space. Members of every age contribute. Intergenerational transmission is especially important as we’re working with folkloric music, and this is how the youth are initiated into tradition.”

A documentary film about Onono’s recent visit to Dakar is also set for release. “It was so good to connect with the roots,” he says “Even more amazing was to see the amount of people our project had touched, within Senegal and neighbouring countries. There’s really been a shift in perceptions. We want to present and preserve our culture in a way that resonates in the most authentic way possible.” On Wolo So, you can feel it.   

Balimaya Project play London's Barbican on October 2. Read the review of Wolo So in the Songlines Reviews Database 

This article originally appeared in the October 2021 issue of Songlines. Never miss an issue – subscribe today