Shakori Spotlight: Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba

Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba will be performing
on Thursday April 18 and Sunday April 21 at Shakori Hills

There's two weeks left until Spring Shakori begins and if you're anything at all like me then you've been counting down the days since you left the gorgeous farmlands last fall.  This year's lineup boasts a powerful, diverse lineup filled with mesmerizing acts from all over the globe.  While it's always great to check out your favorite locals performing, one of the joys of the festival is the new sounds that you can immerse yourself in.  Never in a million years would I have imagined myself blissfully dancing to the sounds of Arrested Development at the first Shakori I attended.

I shared a similar experience the first time I saw Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba.  The tantalizing sounds of Cissokho's kora lured me into a trance, I was lost in the foreign yet focused sounds that were coming from this vivacious group.  I look around the stage and spotted Jonathan Henderson of Midtown Dickens rocking the upright bass and was perplexed to realize that this was a North Carolina act.  Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba combine the best parts of Shakori, a fantastic local act that has the capacity of taking you to a far-away land like that of Cissokho's home of Senegal.  Diali brings his traditional West African influence into this group, expanding the Carolina music horizons by bridging these cultural gaps between Western and non-Western music.


Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba is comprised of the prolific songwriter Diali Cissokho and a gang of North Carolina-born musicians who've got a serious knack for conducting the ebb and flow of an energetic crowd.  That's one of the joys of this act, seeing the crowd become more and more excited as the music swells and sways.  Shakori is the perfect chance to see Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba in their natural element, with the twenty-one stringed Kora singing out entrancing phrases as Cissokho's powerful voice rings out through the farmlands.

Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba will be headlining the Dance Tent on Thursday, April 18th at 11:00 p.m and at Meadow Stage on Sunday, April 21 at 1:00 p.m.  Kaira Ba will serve as the perfect way to keep things moving and shaking late into a night filled with blue-grass and zydeco powerhouses.  Check out the group performing at New Bern's Broad St. Social Club below for a taste of what's to come: