Clychau Dibon

The Welsh-born Catrin Finch has made her name playing harp with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, yet she’s no stranger to imaginative cross-cultural collaborations, having worked in the past with Toumani Diabaté and the Colombian band Cimarron. The kora player Seckou Keita, descended from a line of Senegalese griots but resident in London since 1997, is a similarly well-travelled fusionist. Together they make heavenly music in which harp and kora combine in a Celtic-Mande string summit that soars vertiginously. Instead of merely jamming together and spontaneously following wherever the serendipity of their strings led them (which probably would have sounded pretty wonderful in itself), the seven lengthy tracks here are fully developed, intricately realised compositions that represent a genuine confluence of their different cultures. ‘Les Bras de Mer’ for example includes snatches of the old Welsh air ‘The Bells of Aberdovey’ stitched seamlessly into a brace of ancient Mande melodies. And so the collaboration goes on, blending not just strings and notes but stories and histories, the alchemy perfectly captured by John Hollis’ sympathetic production.