In 2017, American flautist Nicole Mitchell and Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko assembled a cast of top musicians to record a one-off album of original and truly collaborative music. Seven years later, this meet-up between Chicago and Bamako is available via the FPE label. Who knows the reason for the wait, but the resulting music is a testament to the duo's cross-cultural innovation.

In ‘Kanu’, Mitchell's improvisations fly, bird-like, above a rolling, timeless groove, before falling into riffs alongside Diabaté's balafon. Sissoko's kora is similarly agile, moving from playfully light in the title track to melancholic in ‘Tolotai’ as he shadows Mitchell's bluesy twists and bends. The album culminates in ‘Vulnerable’, where Sissoko's emotive playing builds into a hypnotic pattern, played in unison by the group.

Fatim Kouyate's stand-out vocals are worth a mention, warm and embracing in tone, and expertly mixed so that her lyrics of love, home, and friendship croon directly into the listener's ear.