A rare album from Malian musician Idrissa Soumaoro, initially released in 1978, is reedited.
Le Tioko-Tioko, from which “Nissodia” is taken, was recorded by Soumaoro and l’Eclipse de l’IJA.
Soumaoro, accomplished and respected musician himself, became committed to the visually impaired and started to teach them music at Institut des Jeunes Aveugles (I.J.A) where Amadou and Mariam were also trained.
“Le Tioko-Tioko” is one of the rarest vinyl albums from the already scarce Malian vinyl discography, partly as the album was never released commercially, only independently distributed via the Malian Association for the Blind in Bamako. Though recorded at Radio Mali under the aegis of master engineer Boubacar Traoré; the album was originally released in East Germany. The tapes had been taken by some Malian students to East Berlin as part of a student exchange program. It was then manufactured and released on the East German state-owned label Eterna with only a few boxes of records being shipped back to Bamako.