Bokanté

Bokanté is a band project founded by <a href="spotify:artist:7ENzCHnmJUr20nUjoZ0zZ1">Snarky Puppy</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:0YzrofLyUlORKLkH8AAMm9">Michael League</a>. He describes the sound of multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and multi-generational Bokanté as a "weird combination of West African music, Delta blues, and Led Zeppelin and Caribbean kaladja (with lyrics in Creole and French)." The eight-piece ensemble includes <a href="spotify:artist:0YzrofLyUlORKLkH8AAMm9">League</a> on baritone guitar and bass; lap and pedal steel guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:7b10aYN6jh7Dai5c4tshD9">Roosevelt Collier</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:47seycXi6raJRZ8SU5KfQS">Lee Boys</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:00ZLAUFA0jWOsSZKzIrM6v">Karl Denson</a>); <a href="spotify:artist:7ENzCHnmJUr20nUjoZ0zZ1">Snarky Puppy</a> guitarists Chris McQueen and Bob Lanzetti; percussionists Jamey Haddad (<a href="spotify:artist:2CvCyf1gEVhI0mX6aFXmVI">Paul Simon</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0Ty63ceoRnnJKVEYP0VQpk">Sting</a>); André Ferrari (<a href="spotify:artist:1Njrx1AMU4ymWHjfSlwLpE">Väsen</a>), and Keita Ogawa (<a href="spotify:artist:1BJ3AMFj1KXQnRIpfuRzxI">Banda Magda</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5Dl3HXZjG6ZOWT5cV375lk">Yo-Yo Ma</a>); all fronted by veteran tri-lingual vocalist Malika Tirolien who leads her own fine quintet and appeared on <a href="spotify:artist:7ENzCHnmJUr20nUjoZ0zZ1">Snarky Puppy</a>'s Family Dinner, Vol 1.

The word bokanté means "exchange" in Creole, the language of Tirolien’s youth -- she grew up on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. The backing music and some of its melodies were written by <a href="spotify:artist:0YzrofLyUlORKLkH8AAMm9">League</a>, demo'ed while on tour with other bands, and then sent to Tirolien with lyrical concepts attached. Tirolien added lyrics and additional melodies to demos and sent them back to <a href="spotify:artist:0YzrofLyUlORKLkH8AAMm9">League</a>. Much of the rest of the cast hadn't even met until they all gathered on the first day of recording. After a week of sessions in upstate New York’s Dreamland Studios, the band emerged with their debut Strange Circles in 2017 on Music Works International. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi