When The Dust Settles

Balimaya Project release their second album When The Dust Settles, in partnership with New Soil and Jazz re:freshed. This album is a dynamic maturation of the group's thrilling big band sound, offering a personal and cathartic expression of grief, rage, love, and joy.

The album fuses West African rhythmic tradition with the energy of London's jazz continuum, celebrating the restorative power of Black male brotherhood among diaspora communities in London. Led by composer/arranger and UK-based Djembe player Yahael Camara Onono, Balimaya Project has established itself as one of the most exciting and forward-thinking ensembles in Britain.

When The Dust Settles features guest vocalists Afronaut Zu, Obongjayar, and Fassara Sacko across ten groove-laden and punchily percussive tracks. Each song engages intentionally with the significance of folkloric rhythms to illuminate themes that include the death of Camara Onono's older brother, losing a child, becoming a father, migration, survival, and a search for truth.

Camara Onono explains, "One thing that's really linking us is that concept of family and the bonds are getting stronger every time ... It was important to me to go deeper and address not just tradition and culture, but also address emotion."