Kaladounia

In Brussels, Rebel Up! is a promoter, record label and DJ team, as well as being general champions of global beat action. Kaito Winse is a griot from Burkina Faso, now living in Brussels, where he recorded and released this debut, displaying his skills as a solo performer. Each track moves through a selection of instrumental sketches, as Winse plays tama (talking drum), various flutes, and a mouth bow. There’s a diligent display, as if each piece is demonstrating what he can do in a live setting. Winse is usually singing while playing, overblowing into his flutes, or mouth-resonating with the strings of his extra-large, wooden jaw harp.

When playing percussion, Kaito Winse is often in a dialogue with his skins, adopting a call-and-response pattern of singing and drumming. Whichever way, Winse’s voice is always at one with his instruments. He was raised in the town of Lankoué in the north of Burkina Faso, singing in the Mossi and Samo languages, but on ‘Di Nya La’, Winse possesses a meditative trance quality found in the work of Tanzania’s Zawose family. For ‘Wasa’ Winse vocalises through his flute, as well as beating out a foot-rhythm on his calabash. He’s also blessed with a stentorian, stage-projecting voice, powerful via a commanding tenor vibrato.