A Dialogue of Two Koras

Cheick Cissokho (Finland/Senegal) and Dembo Jobarteh (Gambia) perform traditional and new kora music. Both performers originate from the birthplaces of the kora in West Africa and belong to highly renowned musician families. Members of the musician guilds (griots) held esteemed positions in society as early as during the Mali Empire (1226–1670), and kora playing remains a living tradition among the West African states. In the concert, these skilled performers take the audience on a musical journey from the courts of the Mali and Kaabu empires to the dance floors.

Cheick Cissokho began playing the kora as a child under the guidance of his father, Solo Cissokho, and his grandfather, Diali Kemo Cissokho. In Sommelo 2022, Cheick served as a kora course instructor and performed multiple times during the folk music festival. Dembo Jobarteh was born into the famous musician family in Brikama, the center of kora playing in Gambia. His teachers included his father, Malamini Jobarteh, and the Senegalese musician Kausu Kuyateh. Cheick and Dembo represent the purest tradition of kora music. In the concert, they combine the styles of Senegal’s Casamance and Gambia for the first time into a virtuosic dialogue.

The first half of the concert has been supported by the Kainuu Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation

Melodies for Shepherds

In the concert at Lentua Hall, The Mystic Revelation of Teppo Repo interprets folk tunes, Eastern classics, homeland songs, and Ingrian Finnish shepherd melodies in their own style and instrumentation. Enriching the concert experience are improvisations ranging from gentle whispers of wind to the howling of wolves and the roar of storms, along with the band’s original compositions.

Joining the lineup of the band at Lentua Hall is Tapani Varis, a living legend of Finnish folk music, bassist, and multi-instrumentalist. The instrumentation of the ensemble includes various self-made and unique instruments such as diatonic wooden flutes, a log fiddle, and the shepherd’s instrument built by Teodor “Teppo” Repo.

The Mystic Revelation of Teppo Repo is a unique ethnofuturistic ensemble (Otto Eskelinen, Arwi Lind, Eero Tikkanen) whose music embodies Finnish-Ugric traditions, shamanistic and archaic sounds, jazz, and folk music. During performances, the meditative and intuitive atmosphere becomes an unpredictable experience, with each show guaranteed to be different from the previous ones. The band’s instruments include a log fiddle made by Paavo Eskelinen and wooden flutes made by Otto Eskelinen. The Mystic Revelation of Teppo Repo also actively performs as the backing band for Joose Keskitalo.

Otto Eskelinen – shepherd’s instrument, wooden flutes, shakuhachi, saxophone
Tapani Varis – bass, wind instruments
Arwi Lind – log fiddle, percussion