Piano and Kora
Posted on | August 31, 2009 | 3 Comments
Since I met Kane Mathis in 2007, I’ve been fascinated by the kora, a West African 21-string traditional harp. Part of what attracted me to the instrument in the first place was also what attracted Kane to it – the unique relationship between rhythm and harmony in Mandinka music. I have never been a harmony nut (though I am a jazz pianist) but have instead always been fascinated by the various polyrhythms possible on the piano that are not possible on other melodic instruments. This, I think, accounts for both my early fascination with Scarlatti’s piano music, my long-standing interest in stride piano and the music of Jelly Roll Morton (more to come on that soon, I promise), and more recently my study of and interest in Mandinka music, specifically kora music.
Kora music is quite complex but can be broken down into several major parts, the most important of which are the concepts of kumbengo (accompaniment patterns) and birimitingo (solo lines). I will briefly quote from Eric Charry’s excellent book Mande Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000):
[...] this kind of playing consists of one cycle of a piece that would be played over and over during a performance, usually with variations. Kora players refer to each of these accompaniment patterns as a kumbengo [...] Accompaniment-type playing involves an ensemble relationship between the fingers [...] in which African aesthetics of polyrhythm find full expression. Accompaniment patterns are often interrupted with another type of playing consisting of fast descending melodic flourishes, often highly ornamented [...]. Kora players call this kind of playing bnirimitingo (rolling). [...] Mande instrumental music is driven by a mix of variations woven within a single accompaniment pattern, movement among different accompaniment patterns, and give and take between accompaniment-pattern playing and linear melodic-solo playing. An instrumental performance of a piece consists of maintaining the melodic or harmonic cycle while weaving in and out of these different kinds of playing.
Last fall, I bought a kora from Kane and began to learn to play it in a traditional style in order to better understand what was going on and to increase my ability to write for it in the context of my Kora Band. This eventually led to Kane and I beginning to perform as a duo, and in me attempting to transfer some of what I learned on kora to a “Mandinka-ized” piano style. Although I have only been working on it for a while, the results have been very interesting. At our last duo gig, Kane and I had an interesting conversation about the idea of kumbengo. He mentioned that in playing duo with other instrumentalists in the past, he has encountered the problem of the result being too busy due to the other musicians’ concerns that he was “stepping on their feet”, as it were, by always playing these repeated patterns. This was a problem I also encountered early on in the kora band, but as I have attempted to better understand the idea of a kumbengo and its variations and relationship with solo lines, I feel that our playing together has improved a great deal and no longer sounds as frantic as it did at first. The kumbengo really functions as a sort of base, but its melodic nature can draw the ear to it very strongly, sometimes confusing its role. In our duo, there is still quite a bit of ground to cover, as always, particularly in the area of how much “jazz” I should be adding into the mix.
Angelica Sanchez, a great pianist who was on faculty at Banff this year, presented an exercise in a piano workshop in which she played a repeating ostinato pattern in her left hand and played constant quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc in her right hand (without rests) as a way of forcing herself into unfamiliar territory. Recently I have been trying to use the idea of kumbengo to create such patterns, and to utilize them in the duo setting. It’s been very interesting and really helps the duo to sound more filled out. It’s also gotten me thinking about ways to apply the concept of independent melodic patterns creating harmony (rather than stacking chords, I suppose this is sort of in a baroque sense too), and how to apply that to other, more jazzy settings, or conversely, how to apply it to arrangments in the kora band.
Anyhow, I thought I would put up a couple examples of what I’m talking about, and hope that this has all been thought-provoking, or at least educational! Overall I have been very happy with the piano-kora combination, much to my surprise, and am looking forward to continuing to explore its possibilities. Please post questions, etc if you have them, and I will post more about this in the future if I have any exciting revelations!
[Note: I apologize for the mediocre sound quality of many of these recordings, and the fact that I am playing keyboard on them, but logistics sometimes prevail over asethetics, unfortunately. Click on the song titles to listen.]
Konkoba Bassline – This is a bassline Kane created for the traditional tune “Konkoba.” I aspire to one day be able to play this and solo at the same time! Recorded at a rehearsal.
Mamadou Bitiki Balafon Line – This is a kumbengo from a traditional tune “Mamadou Bitiki” that was originally created on balafon. This is one of the first kumbengos that I have tried to use as a more constant ostinato pattern in my left hand, rather than resorting to more comfortable bassline territory. Also recorded at a rehearsal.
Mamadou Bitiki-Kaira – Kane and I perform a version of Mamadou Bitiki and segue into another traditional tune, Kaira. Recorded at an outdoor private party.
These final 2 tracks are live performances Kane and I did on KEXP’s The Best Ambiance program. You can hear the alternation between kumbengo and birimitingo as well as some interesting kumbengo variations and my attempts to reharmonize some of the vamps as well.
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3 Responses to “Piano and Kora”
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September 2nd, 2009 @ 1:00 am
“The kumbengo really functions as a sort of base, but its melodic nature can draw the ear to it very strongly, sometimes confusing its role.”
Thanks for summing up, in a way I had never previously thought of, why I find so much of this music so intriguing!
Digging this peek under the hood of your Kora band.
September 4th, 2009 @ 10:07 am
[...] fits in with my discussion of kumbego and birimitingo in kora music in my previous post as well, and it’s great to have such a fine example of the same concept in a more modern [...]
September 24th, 2009 @ 1:59 pm
[...] of note, the “Mamadou Bitiki-Kaira” medley that I discussed in my Piano and Kora post a couple of weeks ago has now been adapted for the full band, and you can hear us performing [...]