Ballaké Sissoko

Ballaké Sissoko is a Malian kora player and composer, born at Bamako in 1967 — the English article's lead gives 1968, and the record follows 1967 as given by the French article and Wikidata — from a djeli (griot) family of the Mandé people. ^{1 2 3} At thirteen he took his father Djelimady Sissoko's place in Mali's Ensemble Instrumental National after his father's death in 1981, and he came to fame with the duet album New Ancient Strings (1999) with Toumani Diabaté. ^{3 1}

His father, Djelimady Sissoko, was a notable musician from the Gambia who moved to Mali and was funded by the government to be part of the national orchestra. ³ The French article says his father did not want his first son to become a musician, so Ballaké taught himself the kora; when his father died in 1981 he took his place in the national ensemble at thirteen, and he also performed with several prominent female singers before fame came. ^{1 3}

Fame came in 1999 through the duet album New Ancient Strings with Toumani Diabaté. In 2000 he formed his group Mandé Tabolo with a ngoni player and a balafon player. ^{3 1} The French article notes that the difficult situation of traditional musicians in Mali led him to favour an international career. ¹

He met the French cellist Vincent Ségal at a jazz festival, and they recorded Chamber Music (2009) and Musique de nuit (2015); the first album won the Victoire du Jazz for best international album in 2009. ^{1 3} He is a member of the group 3MA with the Moroccan oud player Driss El Maloumi and the Malagasy valiha player Rajery. ³

His albums include Kora Music from Mali (1998); New Ancient Strings with Diabaté (1999); Déli (2000); Diario Mali with Ludovico Einaudi (2003); Tomora (2005), featuring Diabaté and Rokia Traoré; Chamber Music with Ségal (2009); At Peace (2013), produced by Ségal, who plays on several tracks; Anarouz with 3MA (2017); Sissoko & Sissoko with Baba Sissoko (2019); and Djourou (2021). ^{3 1}

In 2023 he premiered a Concerto for Kora by the Lebanese composer Zad Moultaka at the Radio France concert hall in Paris. ³ Since 2022 he has played duo concerts with the South African guitarist Derek Gripper, who has transcribed kora music for the classical guitar; their joint album appeared in 2024. ³ Les Égarés (2023), with Ségal, Émile Parisien and Vincent Peirani, won the Victoire du jazz concert of the year in 2024. ¹

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

The broken kora affair. On 4 February 2020, returning from a US tour, Sissoko found his custom-made kora — worth more than 5,000 euros — dismantled after baggage inspection. ^{3 1} The articles differ on the agency named: the English article attributes the dismantling to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, quotes his manager Corinne Serres that a kora of this calibre would take weeks to return to its former resonance, and reports the agency's denial that it opened the case; the French article names the Transportation Security Administration, speaks of an apology note found with the instrument, and reports the TSA's denial that it opened the baggage. His 2021 album Djourou takes its name from these events. ^{3 1}

His standing. The sources present him as one of the kora's chief ambassadors to the world's concert halls, from a concerto written for him to collaborations with jazz and classical musicians. No consulted source reports a religious position or a school affiliation for him; the Mandé repertoire he plays is his work, not an attestation of his school. ^{3 1}

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
• Revisions of this article must be dated, and must name the source that changed each fact.