PRE-ORDER: This item will be shipped with the aim to deliver on release day.
Release Date: 13 November 2026
Label: Label Kw / Autre Distribution
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 3521383507704
Genres: Jazz World Music
Description
Born into a great griot lineage, Guinean artist Kourou Fia was introduced to the kora as a child by his father, M'Bady Kouyate, kora player with Guinea's National Instrumental Ensemble. Living with a severe stutter that made speech an obstacle and drew ridicule, he found refuge in music.
As bassist with the group Ba Cissoko since its founding in 1999, he took part in the recording of all five albums released between 2004 and 2016, contributing to the group's international rise. Over the course of his career he has collaborated with major artists including Ray Lema, Takana Zion, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Elvin Jones, Fally Kouyate, Amadou & Mariam, Jean-Philippe Rykiel and Flavia Coelho. His first solo album, Nene, produced by Philippe Eidel, followed in 2015.
With Cokora, Kourou Fia delivers a deeply personal record in which the kora becomes a fluid voice, freed from the limits of language - a subtle fusion of African music, flamenco and jazz that traces transmission, resilience, and the passage of an old heritage into a contemporary, universal language. "My voice hesitates, stumbles, searches. But my kora does not stutter. Through it, time settles, breath eases, and speech becomes music." - Kourou Fia
Kourou Fia: kora & vocals
Robby Marshall: bass clarinet, soprano saxophone
Jean-Philippe Rykiel: organ & piano
Tracklisting
Naissam Jalal
Airelle Besson & Lionel Suarez
Naissam Jalal
Lagon Nwar
Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli
Who Parked The Car
Kourou Fia
Isabelle Olivier & Raphael Olivier
Jorge Trasante
Kourou Fia
Otto De Rojas
Lizzie
Chacalon Y La Nueva Crema
O Terno
S. P. Muttulakshmi; T. Muttusvami Pulavar
Lily Chao
