Magg Tekki is the debut offering from the Senegalese drum and vocal orchestra Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff. It drops on November 10th, 2023, as a co-release between Sing a Song Fighter and Mississippi Records. Ahead of this, they have shared their new single, La Musique de Cœur, which you can hear below, alongside a teaser video which the band member Djiby Ly filmed in the suburbs of Dakar some weeks ago.
The project is a result of a collaboration with Sing a Song Fighter label owner and Swedish musician and archivist Karl-Jonas Winqvist, who is also responsible for The Second Hand Orchestra, with whom James Yorkston has now released two albums: The Wide Wide River (2021) and The Great White Sea Eagle (2022), the latter also featuring the Swedish vocalist Nina Persson.
Mississippi Records tells us that “La Musique de Cœur” comes directly after Assiko’s first single, “Sama Néné,” which got a spot on Bandcamp’s weekly radio show and kickstarted plans for Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff’s first European tour next year. In “La Musique de Cœur,” buoyant horns, vocal harmonies, and striking percussion synthesize the group’s ethos: “Assiko Band music from the heart/It’s pure joy!”
Winqvist met the band in Dakar in 2018 and facilitated recording sessions and overdubs via Whatsapp (no small feat with so many musicians). This is vital, exciting, and innovative music, alive with energy and purpose, a band rooted in a very specific community but speaking to the world.
Pre-Order the album: Bandcamp
It is also available on Vinyl from all good independent record stores.