https://luciacomnes.bandcamp.com/album/rebirth

Track Titles
1. Goodbye (4:10)
2. Spring (4:49)
3. Baia (5:14)
4. Nini Bali* (3:43)
5. Politics* (5:52)
6. Incantata (4:14)
7. Rebirth (5:28)

Internationally renowned artists, Lucia Comnes and Karamo Susso, reunite after 10 years to collaborate on an instrumental album “REBIRTH” featuring acoustic violin and kora (release date: July 8, 2021). A collection of 7 original compositions, centered around the themes of friendship, loss, transcendence and new beginnings. Bringing together ancient West African griot traditions with European and American roots music, this album bridges worlds through polyrhythms, improvisation, melodic conversation and authentic heartfelt expression. An experimental project and true artistic collaboration, each track also features guest performances on guitar, upright bass, piano and percussion by producer Gawain Mathews (Mickey Hart Band). From the bluesy opening track ‘Goodbye’ to the gentle lullaby of ‘Baia’ to the thick grooves of ‘Politics’ and ‘Rebirth’, these songs are energizing, relaxing, enchanting and soothing all at once. Inspired by places and events in Comnes’ and Susso’s lives, devoted listeners will enjoy references to Mali, The Gambia, Liguria – Italy and the San Francisco Bay Area of California where these tracks were recorded in spring 2021, just as the world was emerging from a full year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Credits
All compositions by Lucia Comnes, except those with ‘*’ which are written by Karamo Susso.
All songs co-produced by Comnes and Mathews.
Violin on all tracks performed by Comnes.
Kora on all tracks performed by Susso.
Acoustic guitar, upright and electric bass, piano and percussion performed by Mathews.
Recorded in San Pablo, California, USA. Engineered, mixed and mastered by Mathews.
All songs copyright © Lucia Comnes / Delfina Records 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Album artwork by Sharon Virtue.

REBIRTH Album Notes

“This album is dedicated to my new violin, handmade in Parma, Italy, by French luthier, Patrick Labrot in 1989. An unexpected turn of events during the coronavirus pandemic brought this violin into my life – a rare instrument based on the Guarneri del Gesù model that I had desired since playing it for the first time in Labrot’s workshop in 2018. Much of the music was composed during the winter of strict Covid-19 restrictions from 2020-2021, where I set up a pop-up studio in my temporary home of Sestri Levante, a charming fishing village south of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. I spent many quiet days on the thin strip of sand (previously a promontory) between the Baia del Silenzio (Bay of Silence) and the Baia delle Favole (Bay of the Fables), named in honor of Danish writer, Hans Christian Andersen, who lived there for a short time in 1833. It was a magical place where one might imagine encountering mermaids. This is my first completely instrumental album, and I approached it as an experiment and a challenge. I couldn’t have asked for a more inspired team – Gawain and Karamo welcomed the invitation to collaborate and are two of the most prolific and talented artists I have ever worked with. As a trio we embarked on this exploration together, bridging African, American and European traditions through original compositions and authentic expression.” – Lucia Comnes, June 2021

Artist Bios

Lucia Comnes is an American singer and violinist who interprets songs from many traditions, a composer and songwriter, and an artistic director who has produced three albums and a myriad of musical collaborations in the Bay Area and internationally. A San Francisco native with a rich background in performance, travel and ethnomusicology, her focus has been American roots, Irish/Celtic traditions and Balkan/Eastern European folk music. www.luciacomnes.com

Karamo Susso is a griot* and kora** master, the 74th generation in an unbroken griot family lineage in Mali where he was raised fully immersed in an ancient tradition. He learned kora from world-renowned players like his uncle, Ballake Sissoko and his neighbor, Toumani Diabate, as well as studying and later teaching kora at the Institut Nationale des Artes in Bamako, Mali. He moved to the US in 2009 and runs a studio in The Gambia called Kapamis Productions.

*“A griot (gree-oh) is the keeper of the West African oral tradition and the tribe’s genealogy through poetic songs. Griots are poets, musicians, historians and genealogists – if you combine Joseph Campbell, Bob Dylan, Studs Terkel and County Hall of Birth Records – you got a griot. The instrument at the center of this musical tradition is the kora, a 21-string harp-lute.” – Bob Holman in ‘On the Road with Bob Holman: The Griots of West Africa’ 

** The kora is a 21-stringed harp lute of West Africa that originated in the ancient Kingdom of Mali more than one thousand years ago. Tradition tells that djinns (spirits) brought it into this world and gave it to the griots. The griots played kora and sang in court to praise the kings, and in the villages to carry news and to celebrate traditional ceremonies. The music is intricate, elegant, and potent.  Centuries of complex tradition are heard in the songs, as are simple truths.

Lucia & Karamo were introduced in the Bay Area in 2009 and began collaborating for numerous performances and recordings. They co-wrote the single “Potpourri,” which was produced into a music video by Aaron Proctor (FWD:labs) in 2010 and can be viewed on Youtube and online at: www.drymypetals.com