Watto Sitta

Westerners first encountered Gambian kora master Foday Musa Suso on a Folkways album recorded in his home in Accra. A jali from the Mandinka ethnic group, Suso soon emigrated to Chicago. The second time Suso was heard on disc, he was part of an electro-funk matrix alongside the likes of Bill Laswell, Chicago upstarts Adam Rudolph and Hamid Drake, and jazz star Herbie Hancock (laying down whiplash lines on his DX-7 synthesizer). Somewhere between the griot and breakdancing, Watto Sitta is a thrilling hybrid of ancient kora runs and street-tough breakbeats.