The term “Bokanté” means exchange in Creole, the mother tongue spoken by Malika Tirolien, who grew up on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. In 2013, while recoding Snarky Puppy’s first Family Dinner, Michael League invited the young singer, now based in Quebec. She dropped her sun-soaked, Jazz and soul-filled voice on the songs “I’m Not the One” and “Sew”. The accomplices have now joined up in Bokanté, amid a Snarky Puppy contingent that includes the group’s two guitarists: Chris McQueen and Bob Lanzetti. They are joined by percussion legend Jamey Haddad (Paul Simon, Sting), lap-steel guitar virtuoso Roosevelt Collier (Lee Boys, Karl Denson), and percussionists André Ferrari (Väsen) and Keita Ogawa (Banda Magda, Yo-Yo Ma). An atypical instrumentation that intertwines sounds from the desert and the delta, blues and Caribbean Kaladja, a diverse ensemble that is rich in melody and groove. Singing both in Creole and in French, Tirolien’s lyrics echo the struggles we face in today’s world – racism, refugee crises, a planet in agony, and indifference to human suffering.