Spellemann winner Sidiki Camara celebrates humanity and cross-cultural music, with the hypnotic charm and multi-layered collaborative brilliance of new album Ankaben.
Born in Mali and now based in Oslo, cultural ambassador and percussionist Sidiki Camara leads with enchanting rhythms throughout this extensive new project. The title Ankaben translates as Humanity, and essentially uplifts audiences with a sublime blend of subtle and soulful instrumental and vocal layers; a dynamic that’s instantly moving, from the opening nuance and beauty of the title-track.
Having taken home a Norwegian Grammy in 2023, Sidiki Camara has gone from strength to strength as an inspiring and skilful world musician, and his journey creatively spans back to just 10 years of age, when Sidiki chose music over a formal education. That level of commitment and infatuation with the craft is rare, and has resulted in a level of passion and prestige that’s modest then stunning, particularly throughout the 10 original songs of Ankaben.
Promising layers of saxophone, vocals, spoken word, fiddle, guitar, bass and percussion, Ankaben is a stunning album to simply let play. The music fills the space beautifully, both ambient and intimate, yet also vast in its soulful euphoria. The album blends hints of jazz, folk and traditional Mali traits, throughout a deeply soothing (eg. Tolerance) to upbeat and colourful (eg. Lalikan) celebration of the wonders of humanity.
Find Sidiki Camara on Instagram, Facebook & his Website.
