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Arat Kilo + Mamani Keita + Mike Ladd

  • YouTube - Black Circle

FRA / MLI / USA

When Paris become the meeting point of creation for six French musicians with a solar passion for Ethiojazz (Arat Kilo), an african diva (Mamani Keita) and the most infectious american slammer (Mike Ladd), you might be hearing some unexpected visions … some "Visons of Selam ", the title of their album, 100 % organically made in the heart of the world, in Paris, between Mali, Ethiopia, Boston and a universal galaxy of groovy sounds. 

"Visions of Selam" is thus a pact, a unifying gesture: holding hands over the oceans separating the continents, palms open to offer and receive, the artists crafted this music keeping in mind the Australopithecus fossil discovered in 2000 in Afar which was, quite aptly, named Selam. They pondered what this individual born 3 million years ago would think if he was to discover today's world. A heady perspective naturally, but which could also be happy provided the guide was music, that of Ethiopia, Africa, the world. That of Arat Kilo, Mamani Keita and Mike Ladd.

The band has toured and has been broadcasted Internationally since their debut Album (featured on Gilles Peterson's Worldwide, Laurent Garnier's It Is What It is, Financial Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph...) and has played/recorded with musician like Mulatu Astatke, Rokia Traore, or Socalled…
 

PRESS

"They are good players who mix funky guitar with bass, drums and horns – brass was often a crucial ingredient in the Addis sound – and they have mastered the distinctive, at times Arabic-sounding Ethiopian style."

3* Guardian

 

"Their Ethiopiques Ventroiloquism is pretty much fautless, especially when they are joined by Mulatu Astatke himself" 

4* Financial Times

 

"these french musician take a laid-back direction with hip-hop touches, deftly recreating the smokey textures of the classic Addis Ababa sound"

3* Daily Telegraph

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