Ballaké Sissoko and Piers Faccini

Two decades after their first ever collaboration, British-Italian folk songwriter, Piers Faccini, and Malian kora virtuoso, Ballaké Sissoko, return with a mesmerising album: Our Calling. Set for release in February 2025, this new and captivating musical dialogue — between a prodigious instrumentalist at the height of his powers and a gifted songwriter and wordsmith — deftly bridges continents and traditions, inventing new song forms.

The seeds of Our Calling were first planted when Sissoko and Faccini met at Label Bleu in the early 2000s. Their friendship grew as they linked and explored uncharted paths between Mandé traditions and folksong forms. Sissoko was a guest on Faccini's second solo album Tearing Sky in 2005. In 2020, their exchanges found inspiration under the label Nø Førmat!, when Sissoko invited Faccini to sing “Kadidja" in the Bambara language on his acclaimed album Djourou, and later with “The Fire Inside”.

With its ten finely crafted tracks, Our Calling is a sonic and narrative praise song for migration in all its manifestations: seeds borne by the winds; Nightingales flying between West Africa and Europe at the turn of the seasons; humans, across the centuries, and along trade routes, sharing musical practices and rhythms.

The pair join together to premiere their new album Our Calling live at Union Chapel.

Presented by Serious.

This is a 16+ event (under 18s must be accompanied by an adult)