An experiment devised by Snarky Puppy founder and GroundUP Music creator Michael League (who traded his bass for a baritone guitar in this band) whose creation process has been anything but conventional. The music and some melodies were written by Michael League, tested during the tour with other bands and then sent to Malika Tirolien with ideas for the lyrics. Malika wrote the lyrics and other melodies; then these new creations were the subject of new demonstrations and known some back and forth between Malika and Michael.

Bokanté have plugged into the blues, tracing the genre’s roots in West Africa and the Arab world through the diaspora into the retro-modern present. Her Music — with lyrics sung mainly in Guadeloupean Creole — of outsiders and seers, memories and joy; of black history, global unity and the futility of war. Of taking time to rest, feel, love. Of the redemptive power of music — as a conduit, a change maker, a muse.

History finds Bokanté exploring further, dressing folkloric instruments including the Arabic oud, West African ngoni and North African guembri, the bass lute favoured by Morocco’s Gnawa maalems, in western clothes. Interweaving layers of percussion with all the nuanced skill expected of four percussion maestros: André Ferrari of Swedish folk renegades Väsen. Ex-Berklee music professor Jamey Haddad (Sting, Paul Simon). Nagasaki-raised, New York-based Keita Ogawa (Cecile McLorin Salvant). Ghanaian-New Orleanian drum king Weedie Braimah (Christian Scott), a special guest on What Heat, a vital band member now.

Cast: Michael League (Guitar), Malika Tirolien (Vocals), Jamey Haddad (Percussion), André Ferrari (Percussion), Keita Ogawa (Percussion)