Full, hot and powerful, that's the description of Salimata Diabaté's voice. Her music takes the listener to the days of the once powerful Mandinka empire, covering a large part of West Africa in the 14th century. Its history is still sung by griots, a kind of praise poets. Salimata too hails from a line of griots. In addition to traditional repertoire she brings her own compositions. Her voice seems to float above the bluesy sound of the ngoni, the repetitively rippling balaphone, the sparkling kora and the tense yet dosed percussion sounds. Resulting in a subtle, lazily swinging yet irresistible groove.