Arts Centre Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

Last year, trendsetting Belgian jazz ensemble Aka Moon celebrated its 15th birthday with an energetic concert at the KlaraFestival. One of the guest musicians was Malinese Baba Sissoko, who plays various exotic instruments such as the n’goni (a string instrument), the djembe, and the balafon (percussion instruments). But he specializes in playing the tama, a small drum which is played with a curved stick while clenching it under your arm. You could even say he is a virtuoso. Especially for this project, Sissoko will bring along his six-piece tama orchestra Black Machine. Together with Aka Moon’s core members Fabrizio Cassol, Michel Hatzigeorgiou and Stéphane Galland, they will perform a fusion of jazz, rock and world music full of complex, powerful rhythms.