Not all Dutch-African musical ventures are a bad idea!

Fra Fra Sound are a cool Kora Jazz Trio-esque fusion band who’ve been around since the early 1980s. They started by fusing Surinamese kaseko, kawina and winti (music from everyone’s favourite Dutch ex-colony) with traditional Western jazz, but recent work has been more West African sounding, in particular their 1999 release, Mali Jazz.

They usually play as a seven-piece ensemble. While some of the tracks get a little too jazz-traditional for me, I enjoy a lot of their music. The track featured today featured a particularly good example of their command of both the instruments and rhythms of Mali.

I haven’t yet seen them live but they seem to be pretty active on the tour scene. If you’re interested, check-out their up-to-date concert listing.

ps- After much delay it’s time for some re-posts. If you have any requests for old posts that you’d like to hear please send me an e-mail or leave a comment.

Fra Fra Sound – Sosomali