Taj Mahal and Bassekou Kouyaté at Jazz a Vienne
Taj Mahal, a formidable musician, an icon of the blues and of world music, can play over twenty instruments, including guitars and dobros, dulcimer, banjo and harmonica. A figurehead of the 'blues revival' in the mid-60's, Taj Mahal is a prolific composer, a musicologist, an indefatigable explorer of African-American, African, Caribbean, Indian and Hawaiian music. At a recording session in a studio in Georgia, Taj Mahal met griot Toumani Diabaté. Their research into the links between the blues and Mandingue music gave birth to the album 'Kulanjan' (1999). The Mandingue tradition can be heard today in the electrified and modernized ngoni of Bassekou Kouyaté. The musician from Mali is an activist for peace and tolerance in his home country. Bassekou Kouyaté invites the itinerant King of blues, Taj Mahal, for a duet: a magical moment. (53 min)
