Tiègnouma Kêbaw, John Meade, & more collaborate on experimental folk record, "We Are Together"
A truly jam packed collaboration filled with global talent, Tiègnouma Kêbaw, John Meade, and many others have outdone themselves on their record, We Are Together. Keep reading as we share our thoughts on the album, in addition to a background on the artists.
Initially inspired by traditional Appalachian banjo music, the entirety of We Are Together is a massive amalgamation of world music and ideals that we can virtually guarantee most listeners have not experienced. Put together by Tiègnouma Kêbaw and John Meade, you can also experience features from Moise Sagara, Fode Kouyate, and Bou Diabate. It’s a complex and dense listen, but easily one of the more experimental albums we’ve heard in some time. You don’t want to miss it.
Coming in at 9 total tracks that run right around 33 minutes, this project was first thought up by the ever talented banjo player John Meade. Beginning to build his team of collaborators, of those who are masters of their craft in instruments we’re just discovering like the djeli ngoni (grandfather to the banjo), we’ve heard things in We Are Together for the first time ever. Now while a lot of this record is sung in different languages, we can’t comment fully on its themes or lyricism, however the instrumental portions are downright breathtaking and hypnotizing. Seriously, they’ve managed to create these expansive and grand soundscapes using minimalism that locks you in as a listener, holds your focus, and never ceases to evade creativity or inventiveness.
Though a lot of these songs are sonically different from one another and feature either more calming or fast-paced tones, one thing is for sure is that this album is cohesive and feels like one vision coming to fruition. Ultimately it’s a different take on folk music as a whole, so if that’s up your alley, we’d suggest a listen, but even if it’s not it’s worth digging in to expand your palette of music. Thrilling is certainly a good describer, but the versatility and redeeming factors that We Are Together holds are endless. You feel like you’ve discovered something honestly different, and with that, we urge you once again to click the play button.
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