Toumani Diabate first joined Arnaldo Antunes and Edgard Scandurra on stage at the Back2Black festival in Rio back in 2010 (the biggest festival focusing on "black music" in South America, this year crossing the Atlantic for the first time and taking place in London). That must have tasted moreish, because the trio decided to head into the studio and record an album. In Europe Antunes and Scandurra might still be relatively unknown, but in their homeland Brazil they are considered small legends: Antunes was the driving force behind Titas, one of the most popular Brazilian rock bands of the 1980s, and Edgard Scandurra played with Ira! Op, another famous Brazilian rock band. 'A Curva Da Cintura' can be summarized as "West-African kora meets Brazilian rock". Anyone who followed Toumani's career knows he loves this kind of musical encounters, but the question that remains is, of course, if this really works and where 'A Curva Da Cintura' is concerned that is certainly the case! One of the most notable songs on this album is without any doubt 'Meu Cabelo', a reworking of Serge Gainsbourg's 'Elisa'. Most African oriented is 'Bamako's Blues' a song reminiscent of the work of JuJu. Small remark: Toumani cheated somewhat recording 'A Curva Da Cintura', because for the more up-tempo numbers, he left the kora playing to his son Sidiki.