Nonesuch releases a new collaboration with its longtime partner, Nick Gold, former head of World Circuit Records, in the first of a series of releases: Malian balafon player Neba Solo and donso n’goni player Benego Diakité’s A Djinn and a Hunter Went Walking, co-produced by Gold, Ousmane Haïdara, and Sonny Johns, is due February 13, 2026, on Etoile Audio / Nonesuch Records. The album track “Djinê Mogo Tiki” is out today, along with a live performance video shot in the Bamako garden where the basic tracks for the project were recorded. Further collaborations between Gold, whose new imprint is called Etoile Audio, and Nonesuch will be announced soon.

The CD version of A Djinn and a Hunter Went Walking comprises two discs from Neba Solo and Diakité, the leading players of their traditional Malian instruments the marimba-like balafon, or bala, and donso n’goni, a hunter’s harp. On disc one, their acoustic instrumentals are complemented by vocals and percussion as well as touches of mellotron, guitar, and strings; the second disc features their original duo performances, unadorned, recorded in a Bamako garden under a mango tree. They started after the sun went down, and crickets can be heard chirping during the quiet moments.

The musical conversation that became A Djinn and a Hunter Went Walking began more than a decade ago. Haïdara and Gold first thought of combining these two instruments from different Malian cultures while preparing to record the legendary vocalist Oumou Sangaré’s Seya for World Circuit. Despite their cultures’ geographic proximity, the instruments Neba Solo and Diakité play do not often interact: Neba Solo is from Kenedougou, where the balafon was traditionally played in the fields to inspire farmers, and Diakité is from the nearby Wassoulou region, where the culture revolves around hunting. Gold had heard a balafon player in a Bamako restaurant and immediately thought the sound of the instrument might complement Sangaré’s record.

They invited Neba Solo to the Seya sessions, where the rising bala star hit it off with the band, developing a strong musical rapport with Diakité, a donso n’goni veteran. Sensing chemistry bubbling through ad-libbed music the two played warming up, Gold and Haïdara encouraged the two to explore further, and the session that became A Djinn and a Hunter Went Walking was arranged. Neba Solo brought a balafon he had customized with an extended bass register, and Diakité brought his deepest donso n’goni. 

As Ingrid Monson explains in her album liner note, which is drawn from her forthcoming Oxford University Press book The Voice of Kenedougou: Neba Solo and Senufo Sensibility in Malian Music, “Because the traditional songs they recorded were widely known in Mali, Haïdara at first planned an entirely instrumental duet album (to which Malian aficionados could hear the words in their heads). One night soon after, in the same courtyard, Haïdara played the recordings to Nick Gold on a pair of huge speakers. He was blown away. To create some variety over the course of an album, they decided to add touches of vocals and percussion. Neba Solo was inspired and made full vocal and percussion arrangements for every song. This in turn inspired an invitation to the English musician Sonny Johns, who added touches of strings, mellotron, guitar, and bass. Contributions were made in one country that inspired further additions in the other, a process which flowed easily into this unique album.”

With this release, Neba Solo and Benego Diakité, long known as “musicians’ musicians” in Mali, step into the spotlight, joining a long line of their fellow Malians who have received worldwide attention over the past several decades—including Salif Keita, Ali Farka Touré, Toumani Diabaté, Oumou Sangaré, Tinawiren, Songhoy Blues, Amadou and Mariam, Rokia Traoré, and Fatoumata Diawara—many of whom have worked with World Circuit and/or Nonesuch Records in the past.

About Neba Solo and Benego Diakité, by Ingrid Monson

Neba Solo (b. 1969), aka Souleymane Traoré, is the reigning master of the pentatonic Senufo balafon. He transformed the ancient bala tradition, designing and building a bigger bass instrument, incorporating it into larger ensembles including kit drums; introducing bass figures inspired by reggae and by composing new songs, he brought the music to a national audience. Raised in the farming village of Nebadougou, Mali, Neba Solo’s exceptional talent as a bala player, singer, and percussionist was recognized when he was a small child. Over the years his dynamic stage shows, many recordings, videos, and television appearances have established him as a major figure in Malian music.

Brehima “Benego” Diakité (b. 1965), was born and raised in the village of Siekorolé in the circle of Yanfolila in southern Mali, where he became a fixture in Wassoulou music, as a master kamel n’goni (youths’ harp) player. The kamel n’goni, invented by Allata Broulaye in the 1960s, was a secularization of the donso n’goni (the hunter’s harp), an instrument restricted to sacred events led by hunters. Its structure and tuning are identical to the donso n’goni, only tuned higher. The kamel n’goni became popular among the youth who gathered for entertainment and dancing, to hear ensembles that included singers, karinyan (scraper), bolon (bass harp), and soku (fiddle). In 1985, Diakité co-founded Oumou Sangare’s band in Bamako and was a crucial contributor to her revolutionary debut cassette Moussolou (1988). Over the next four decades, he remained Sangaré’s accompanist of choice as she became first a Malian, and then an international, superstar. Benogo’s deeply rooted Wassoulou kamel n’goni style was the signature sound of her band.