Two musicians whose music sounds bigger than a duo line-up would suggest. Two sound languages that create a new universe together. This is how Anw Be Yonbolo's concert was announced in advance. Did it live up to the high expectations?

From the outside, the UT Connewitz venue appears quite inconspicuous in the twilight of the early evening. However, a few people are already crowding around the door. Passing the box office, we first go through a corridor into the interior, through another door and then - wow! The former cinema hall from 1912 has a natural shabby chic look: the paint on the ceiling and walls has already peeled off a little, changing from gray-beige to yellow-gold to red. To the left, a gallery rises above the bar, with projected light shows on the ceiling; to the right, a large stage, ready for the evening's concerts. The movie screen on the back wall of the stage proclaims: Leipziger Jazztage.

Anw be Yonbolo play the opening concert of the festival. Before the musicians take to the stage, however, Robert Lucaciu from the board of trustees introduces the festival. Afterwards, Tobias Kobe from the Department of Culture talks at some length about the importance of jazz for Leipzig and the relevance of cultural funding.

Bobbing heads in front of the stage

The applause is all the stronger when Ève Risser and Naïny Diabaté are finally invited onto the stage. Entering from the right: running down the stairs from the gallery, peering around the corner of the railing, grabbing two bottles of water from the nearby drinks crate - Risser, Diabaté striding gracefully. The latter in an elegant, glittering, floor-length robe in red and embroidered with gold, with an elaborately wrapped traditional headdress. Risser is more casual in a glittering gold T-shirt, but with yellow shoes and a yellow cap on his head. Anyone who knows Risser knows that this outfit is a trademark. One with which she has been performing her solo program "Après un rêve" for years. And there are indeed musical similarities.

Photo: Lukas Diller

Risser begins in the low bass register, with occasional high notes and finally arpeggios. Diabaté soon joins in, her voice rises with an ascending melody above the crescendo of the piano. She holds the note, a drawn-out question. The former movie theater is already completely filled with the powerful sounds of the piano and Diabaté's intense voice.

They increase their tempo very quickly, the loose rhythm of the intro changes into a clear and catchy groove. On beats one and three, Risser complements the bass notes with a bass drum, which she plays with her right foot. Individual piano strings are prepared and muted; when they are struck, you can hear clicks and clicks.

The driving rhythm of the music has many heads bobbing in front of the stage. Diabaté encourages the audience to clap along several times and the audience is immediately involved. Her singing is very present, often shouting and narrating, with long, vibrating end notes, sometimes dramatic. Sometimes Risser sings a second voice to repetitive passages, responding to Diabaté's calls with her voice, but more often with piano runs. You can tell that this is not the first time the two musicians have played together.

Equal rights in jazz

Since 2019, Risser's Red Desert Orchestra has regularly collaborated with Diabaté's Kaladjula band. They play together in a 16-piece line-up under the name Kogoba Basigui. The Kaladjula band is the first band in Mali with an all-female line-up, in which the musicians play instruments traditionally reserved for men. Risser has also been campaigning for more equal rights for women in jazz for years and wants to make voices heard in her bands that are not normally heard. Kogoba Basigui is therefore dominated by instruments from West Africa and the program was developed and arranged together with the band by ear without sheet music. The exchange between the cultures of West Africa and Western improvisation and jazz should, as far as possible, take place on an equal footing. This requires the ability to listen well on all sides and an openness to new ideas.

On this evening at UT Connewitz, Risser and Diabaté prove time and again that they can listen to each other. Risser accompanies Diabaté with her grooves, contrasts the vocals with sometimes loosely thrown arpeggios or with varied melodic runs and repeatedly intersperses typical jazz dissonances. Diabaté, on the other hand, makes use of traditional melodies from Malian culture. As a griot - the name given to people in Mali who write poetry and tell stories through song - she improvises with words. As she sings in Mandinka, hardly anyone in the audience will understand the exact words on this evening. However, the intensity of the music speaks its own language. 

Photo: Lukas Diller

Strong stage presence

Both musicians are characterized by a strong stage presence. While the pianist keeps the groove or improvises wild piano runs, the singer almost starts to dance, but soon gets back into it with her melodies. Together they create a sound that is very dense and highly energetic. There is no lack of other instruments on this evening. Instead, listeners barely have time to take a deep breath. Finally, a ballad in the middle of the one-hour program gives you goosebumps. Beginning with spherical sounds on the piano, Risser once again demonstrates the versatility of her musical expression. Towards the end, it finally becomes danceable again. It is surprising that not everyone immediately jumps up from their seats and moves to the music. Perhaps this is due to the rather high average age of the audience? However, the frenetic applause at the end of the concert shows how enthusiastic the audience is. The musicians are not allowed to leave without an encore. They finally perform a very special piece that finally sounds like a composition they actually wrote together. Long, low notes in the vocals harmonize perfectly with Risser's dissonant accompaniment, which is heavy on seconds. In this way, the musicians create a mysterious atmosphere and maximum tension. It is unfortunate that the concert is already over. I would have loved to have heard more and continued to follow the exchange of cultures.

Photo: Lukas Diller

Bathed in applause once again, the two musicians finally disappear down the stairs. Diabaté waves down from the gallery one last time. The old movie theater empties.

Leona Cordes