By Tamsin Davies
Published March 23, 2022
World music harpist Catrin Finch (Wales) and kora player and singer Seckou Keita (Senegal) are set to release an album worldwide on May 27, 2022.
Titled Echo, this third album from the duo celebrates the tenth anniversary of an extraordinary partnership between two virtuosos whose previous releases include 2018’s acclaimed album Soar, and their 2013 debut Clychau Dibon, both of which garnered industry awards across the globe. Echo marks the third part of this remarkable trilogy.
It’s been ten years since Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita formed a duo. The seamless virtuosic union of the 47 strings of Catrin Finch’s harp with the 22 strings on each neck of Seckou Keita’s double kora – two cultures, two histories and two personalities merged into one atmospheric musical journey – has become a rare global music hit. Described by Songlines Magazine as ‘one of the most popular world music acts of this decade’, Finch and Keita create music that not only champions their exquisite instruments but blends elements of new and old music from the Western Classical, Celtic, folk, contemporary and West African song traditions, each echoing the other in an evolving tale of mutual discovery and delight.
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Echo proclaims the tender triumph of an extraordinary partnership, the dissolution of opposites into one seamless musical expression of our common humanity.
“With this album, it feels like we’ve reached our place, musically and creatively,” says Catrin.
This is the echo they will leave behind – the echo of dear ones now departed, of beating hearts, of music, of love.
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“That’s what continues to travel through space and time,” Seckou says, “even after the last note has been played, or the last word has been sung.”
Echo shall be released worldwide on May 27, 2022 in CD and digital formats on the bendigedig label, a label owned and managed in common partnership between Theatr Mwldan and ARC Music Productions International Ltd. It is a co-production between Catrin Finch, Seckou Keita, Theatr Mwldan, and ARC Music Productions International Ltd.
