Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal's music has always been about making, connections, whether it's with the past, or other facets of the black experience. And now, he's really brought it all back home again.

To call Taj Mahal one of the greatest Amercan roots musicians isn't any kind of an exaggeration. He's explored all the facets of the black musical experience in the African diaspora, from the blues, to jazz, Caribbean music, and beyond. In a career that's lasted more than 35 years, beginning in the Rising Sons (a band that featured both Mahal and Ry Cooder) he's gone from peak to peak. He's also an ethnomusicologist, and on his new release, Kulanjan, he's taken his music full circle - all the way back to West Africa, teaming up with kora player Toumani Diabate and others from the Manding and Wassalou traditions to create something very special.

"I knew Toumani, and I knew Bassekou [Kouyate, the ngoni player]; I'd met him ten years earlier. I was trying to make some kind of connection, and I knew it would be very important."

"I wanted to make contact with my ancient ancestors. I knew they were still in this world, but I didn't know whether they were still in contact with the music. About 25 years ago, I saw that things were starting to happen. Basically, I willed a lot of things into my life. I could find out about what my ancestors had given me from, say, 1990 to 1850, but I was always interested to go beyond that. I wanted to make a connection."

Mahal already had some familiarity with the kora tradition, and some of the players on the record.

"I knew Toumani, and I knew Bassekou [Kouyate, the ngoni player]; I'd met him ten years earlier. I was trying to make some kind of connection, and I knew it would be very important."

And it is important, the kind of record that makes you wonder why no one had done this before.

"Because most other people are driven by money, and not by culture," Mahal answers simply. "People are scared of things that have a level of intelligence or magic that they can't write down and don't create. My opinion is that culturally and socially, Western society and thought toward people of color in the world has always had a huge negative flow. It's almost as though, when something's really good, it's going to get a lot of negativity. But you have to take the opportunity to constantly support what it is you believe about yourself and what it is you believe about you can do."

It's a record of resonance, and the depth and immediacy of the connections - both musical and cultural - become even more apparent when you learn that the recording sessions only took a week, with little or no rehearsal. It's a seamless fit. And while there's no doubt that, apart from the sheer quality, Mahal's stature will get it noticed. But it's one of a number of West African records coming out and featuring the kora. There's New Ancient Strings, featuring Toumani and Ballake Sissiko, recreating the pairing of their fathers in 1970, as well as Kaouding Cissiko's Kora Revolution. Could it be that this is a Zeitgeist of West African music?

"Yeah it is, because where else are people going to go? What else are people going to do, continue to be bludgeoned by this music on the radio? We hear something with real humanity, and we respond to it. I wouldn't say Kulanjan is the most satisfying thing I've ever done, but it's perhaps one of the greatest achievements of my life. It was family involved. I'm family. All I had to go on was why did I feel this way about the kora, about West African music. And what we did, it was right, it felt right."

The man continues to grow into a giant.

Taj Mahal

"I knew Toumani, and I knew Bassekou [Kouyate, the ngoni player]; I'd met him ten years earlier. I was trying to make some kind of connection, and I knew it would be very important."

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