Touki Plastic Man

Touki, the collective created by British-Senegalese musician Amadou Diagne and Franco-American Cory Seznec - is back with the release of their second album Plastic Man. Like their debut Right of Passage, this album was made possible by an Arts Council England grant and recorded at the renowned Real World Studios with final touches performed at producer Oscar Cainer’s London studio. For this new adventure, however, they brought on board virtuosic American cellist/violinist Duncan Wickel to help arrange the music.Plastic Man focuses on climate change, environmental activism and spiritual matters—weaving together West African fables, personal stories and large social, economic and political questions facing our world. The photography for the album, taken by Italian photo-journalist Giulio Piscitelli in the Libyan desert, harks both to the continually unfolding human tragedy of displaced populations, and the plague of plastic pollution.About the music:Touki’s sound infuses East and West African styles and traditions with Appalachian banjo, folk motifs, and orchestral arrangements. Diagne’s powerful percussion, Seznec’s muted guitar-picking, and Wickel’s cello-grooves provide a rhythmic foundation, while vocals, kora and violins add beautiful texture and emotional depth. The scorching sounds of Endris Hassen’s masenqo (one-stringed bowed lute) are peppered throughout the album, providing punctual pitstops at an Ethiopian azmari-bet. The songwriting is steeped in stories and parables. The title track is an mbalax-inspired homage to climate activist Modou Fall, who dresses up as a plastic kankurang (a Mandé protective spirit) to draw attention to the plastic pollution overtaking Senegal’s coastline. Tunes like “Wounded Bird Fly Again” and “God Among Men” are inspired by western Kenyan omutibo acoustic guitar music - the latter a song that rails against society’s obsession with “titans of industry,” pointing out that many who claim to be changing the world for the better are actually responsible for environmental devastation. “Don’t Look Away” is a haunting song about migrants and refugees inspired by the book At Sea There Are No Taxis by Roberto Saviano (in which the artists discovered Piscitelli’s work). “Harit” is a rollicking Malinké-inspired tune about trying to find common ground in a time of bitter divisiveness. The soulful “Yirmane” admonishes political corruption in Senegal. On a lighter note, “Fula Cowboy” puts a West African spin on the American western. Here the Nomadic Fula pastoralists are portrayed as zen cowboys governed by a moral code in which the absence of physical, material and social needs, and the mastery of self are paramount. “Diallo Djeri” is about these same pastoralists and the challenges involved in sustainable livestock farming and keeping their families healthy.Instrumental tunes like “Mabrat Allé” (Is There Light) and “Wenchi Breakdown” are references to Cory’s stint in Ethiopia, where, despite some difficulties - power cuts were a regular occurrence and car troubles in the countryside proved disastrous - he had an intensely rich, unforgettable experience. “La-Hi-La-Ha” and “Tellem Dreams” wed Malian grooves with Appalachian fiddle, while “Djarama” is an up-tempo thank you to hardworking women in Senegal, from rural cultivators of rice in Casamance to Dakaroises mothers raising kids and scraping by making beignets, food and clothing.As they sail through the crosscurrents of our complex world, Touki, which signifies “journey” in Wolof, Amadou’s mother tongue, understands that the musical voyage itself is the destination.