ALUNE WADE

Marcus Miller discovered his talent; he toured the world with Joe Zawinul and the band of his compatriot Ismaël Lô. For many years, Senegalese bassist Alune Wade only took his place in the second row before also appearing as a singer on his highly acclaimed solo albums. Wade, now living in Paris, is a storyteller in the tradition of the traveling singers of West Africa, the Griot. "Sultan" was praised as an "intoxicating mixture of undulating grooves and flickering textures". The current album is a hypnotizing melange of jazz, Afrobeat, soul and West African highlife, sometimes instrumental, sometimes with raps and songs in different languages. Alune Wade will perform the album with his six-piece band - a poet and true cosmopolitan.