Suku: Your Life is Your Poem

German multi-instrumentalist Nils Kercher's second studio album is an international affair. His ensemble is made up of musicians from Mali, Finland, Martinique, Senegal and Australia. The result is an ambient soundscape infused with the music of West Africa but also betraying Kercher's classical orchestral background, which predated his interest in drumming, the djembé and the kora.

Accompanied by Oumar Barou Kouyaté on ngoni and guitar and with Mariama Kouyaté, Kira Kaipainen and Sylvia Laubé on vocals, Kercher also sings and plays kora and balafon, while violin, viola and cello add extra depth to the sound. This is particularly compelling on ‘Tuuli Itkee’, where the insistent pulse creates an effect much like the music of Steve Reich. Kercher studied kora with Djelimady Sissoko (brother of Ballaké) and if you like Ballaké's fusion of kora and cello with Vincent Segal, you’ll probably enjoy this. This album offers a beautifully crafted dream-world of shifting rhythms and many-layered voices.