As you will find out if you go over there, there isn’t much background on this one.  It’s a simple and traditional group – a chorus, female singer, male griot reciting text (who may also be the ngoni player whose album it is), and electric and acoustic guitars.  Pretty classic.  Also important to note is that this is not the well known Sekouba Diabate known as “Diamond Fingers” who rose to prominence as guitarist with the Guinean national orchestra, Bembeya Jazz, nor is it Sekouba “Bambino” Diabate, who also played with that great orchestra.  Instead he is an obscure ngoni player from Mali performing some traditional tunes telling epic stories of the Mandinka people that are recorded in a beautifully simple way.

The tune in question, “Djandjon”, is much older than the colonial or post-colonial period (though the recording is not, thus its inclusion here).  The tune is one of the oldest Mandinka tunes, along with Sunjata and Koulandjan, probably dating from the 12th or 13th centuries.  The tune was originally a hunters’ song sung to the accompaniment of the simbi, the ancestor of the kora. The simbi had only a few strings and was constructed in a similar way to the kora but with a bent neck, more similar to a hunters’ bow.

I am not totally up to speed on the story being told here (maybe Kane can help us out?), but it is interesting to note the two styles of information transmission used here: singing and recitation.  The female singer represents a great example of the typical jelimoussa (female griot) style in Mali, big and operatic, with highly ornamented descending lines.  One doesn’t always hear this amazing style in western “world music” recordings for obvious reasons, but once you get past the initial shock it is really an admirable style.  The male griot is reciting a story in more of a speaking fashion.  Typically a griot will specialize in one or the other of these styles, either singing or text recitation, and so we have a great example of both here.  Also in this recording is the omnipresent Malian female chorus singing the main line of the tune at the beginning and the end.

One more note: the recording is about 13 minutes long, but it’s a nice journey from beginning to end.  Hope you enjoy and have a great weekend everyone!  (click to listen)

Sekouba Diabate – Djandjon

Foday Musa Suso is a Gambian kora player who moved to the US in the 70′s and assembled this group in Chicago including the great drummer Hank (now Hamid) Drake, who has also been a great innovator and contributor to many avant-garde jazz projects over the years.  Also featured is Adam Rudolph, a percussionist who has been involved in a wide variety of world music projects over the years also.

The tune “Jimbasen” also called “Jimbaseng” or “Jimbasengo” is a relatively recent kora tune, not attached to a specific historical patron as many older tunes are.  This is a killer performance, with a typical Gambian structure starting with an intense kora into to attract the audience’s attention, moving into a medium groove section (though with Hamid Drake churning away in the background it’s hard to call anything “medium” and then with a raucous transition to a faster section.

It’s great to hear Foday Musa Suso, who by the way is now based in Seattle, letting loose with some great raw Gambian kora on this one.  This whole album is available in many places (Amazon, for example) and is worth checking out in its entirety.  Meanwhile enjoy the track and the weekend!  Click to listen:

Mandingo Griot Society – Jimbasen

The government created a record label, Sylliphone, which documented the many federal and national dance bands from various regions of the country playing modern dance music influenced by traditional Mandinka and Fula music, Congolese and Ghanain guitar styles, and of course Cuban music, which was especially encouraged by the new socialist government who viewed Cuba as a sort of socalist brethren nation.

There were five “national” orchestras, including the great Bembeya Jazz National and Balla et ses Balladins (see an earlier “Post-Colonial Groove” for a track from them), and 30 “federal” orchestras from various regions of Guinea.  This album “Trio Federal de Pointe” focused on three of those federal orchestras, including the great Horoya Band of Kankan, a region which also produced the great 22 Band, which I will feature in an upcoming “groove.”

According to the liner notes, this track, “Alphabetisation”, “is dedicated to the national alphabetisation movement started by the Guinean government.  The Horoya Band exhorts everyone, with a beautiful melody, to learn to read and write.  An irresistible invitation!”  This is indeed an irresistible tune, featuring  a great Mandinka guitar solo (see this earlier discussion on that topic) and a well recorded balafon prominently featured in the mix.  It is the textbook distinctive and optimistic sound of post-independence Guinea.  Click to listen:

Horoya Band – Alphabetisation

Enjoy the weekend!

There is somewhat of a misconception going around these days that all kora music is necessarily slow, quiet, and very low-key.  This is perpetuated by the kora albums which are most prevalent and available in the US and Europe.  Although I am a huge fan of the “household name” kora players, if there are any such things, such as Toumani Diabate and Ballake Cissokho, I do have a certain love for the older, more “raw” kora sound embodied by such players as Lalo Keba and Alhaji Bai Conte, and there is a certain urgent energy in the faster, more athletic style of the Senegambian players which certainly puts to rest any question of the kora as an inherently quiet, sleepy, background-y instrument.  I feel that one of the things we are trying to do in the Kora Band is to integrate this more old-school Gambian approach into a modern setting.  Fortunately for me, Kane spent many years training with Gambian masters and is extremely proficient at the style, so his own experiences have played strongly into the band sound as well, of course.

So, here is a barely post-colonial track from Lalo Keba Drame, recorded not too long after Senegal’s independence, I believe.  I don’t know much about the history of this particular song, but you will certainly get a taste of an earlier style kora player who draws clear lines between the various elements at work: the vocal lines that are sung, the similar vocal lines that he plays on the kora (a couple of times he really bangs them out in octaves, which is awesome), the kumbengo (repeated rhythmic/harmonic pattern that accompanies the vocals), and the rapid solo lines which fill in the rest of the space.  It’s a great example of a traditional kora-centric setting with a female vocalist and Lalo Keba singing the traditional vocal line, and lots of great kora soloing in a trademark Gambian genre of tune which has a repeating right thumb pattern alternating between the 1 and the 5 of the key.  Also note that his kora is really cranked up, most people today tune them around F, and his is up around A somewhere.  That also partially accounts for the short sustain and highly percussive effect of his instrument, along with the fact that he is really hitting it hard.  Also note the female singer is tapping a clave-type rhythm on his kora while he plays, a common practice as well.  Click to listen:

Lalo Keba Drame – Allalah Kounoudion

Hope everyone enjoys what I hope will be a bit of a different perspective on the instrument!  For plenty more kora this week, my Kora Band will be at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden’s Tuesdays by Twilight series this week, which we’re really looking forward to, and we’ll be opening for Loveness Wesa and the Bantus on Saturday night at the Goodfoot!  What a week!

The drummer and lead singer (!), as well as the founder of the group is Marshall Munhumumwe, who is also the great Thomas Mapfumo’s nephew!  The group was formed in the 70′s, and pioneered a style of Zimbabwean music called “jit” which was also played by other well known artists such as the Bhundu Boys and John Chibadura.  It’s a guitar-based style which draws somewhat on Congolese influences and east African guitar styles as well as traditional music of the Shona people, and is sung in Shona.

This tune is one of my all-time favorite Zimbabwean tracks, thanks not only to the killer vocal harmonies and pleasant swing of the drumming but also to the lead guitar line half-way through, which is so silky and full of high-end that I can only imagine these guys were using a Roland Jazz Chorus, which has not only EQ knobs for bass, mid, and treble, but one for “high treble!”  The drummer’s swing is also interesting, I am always on the lookout for the surprisingly varied ways in which drummers from different regions in Africa (and for that matter from around the world) execute the seemingly easy task of playing constant 8th notes on the hi-hat.  Munhumumwe certainly has an accent scheme reminiscent of Congolese grooves, with a stronger accent on the 3rd and 4th note of each group, but his swing is more laid back and uneven, in keeping with a typical Zimbabwean style.  Anyway, enjoy the tune, and prepare to your day to be improved by that guitar lick in the middle! (click to listen):

The Four Brothers – Takava Neko

And, speaking of constant eighth notes, I’ll be playing tonight in Portland at the Camellia Lounge with “The Ocular Concern,” my new-ish trio with Dan Duval on guitar and Stephen Pancerev on drums, where we play a bunch of great original music and covers of weird minimalist things.  Lots of constant eighth notes in that band, among various other pieces inspired by Zimbabwean music and a Kinks tune for good measure.  I’ll be posting some audio of that band very soon, so stay tuned!

Youssou N’Dour – Badiene

The mbalax style is always very exciting, and Youssou’s band is truly one of the tightest bands on any musical scene, as far as I can tell.  Their arrangements are simultaneously fluid and extremely specific, and the precision of their group hits, especially at the intense tempos, is very admirable.  Many of the rhythms used here comes from traditional and contemporary sabar drumming, a uniquely Senegalese type of drumming using one hand and one stick.  There are several sabar drummers in the group, as well as Youssou’s griot, who accompanies him on talking drum with great virtuosity.  The keyboard parts are also of note.  They are quite complex rhythmically and recall much of the traditional material that would be played on kora.

Youssou has many great albums which are worth checking out, and some of his Bercy concerts have also been released on DVD, allowing you to check out the rock star lighting and choreography accompanying these performances.  Enjoy the weekend!

[Image credit: Henryk Kotowski, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported]

Today we return to Mali for a tune from the inimitable Rail Band, one of the finest and most notable of the government-sponsored Post-Colonial West African bands, featuring long-time band member Djelimady Tounkara on guitar.  The Rail Band (the full name of which is the Super Rail Band of the Buffet Hotel at the Gare [Train Station], Bamako) has gone through many incarnations in its long and ongoing history.  Its name comes from the location of its regular gig, the Buffet Hotel at the Bamako Train Station.  Many fantastic musicians have gotten their start playing with the Rail Band, among them Salif Keita, who first came to the attention of Malian audiences as the lead singer in this band, before he left for the rival Ambassadeurs Internationaux, when he was replaced by Mory Kante as lead singer in the Rail Band.  Both Keita and Kante have since gone on to international stardom, with big pop hits in Europe and Africa, and interestingly, both of them have recently returned to more traditional acoustic settings as well.

Anyhow, in addition to these great singers, the Rail Band has featured,  for the majority of its history, the great guitar master Djelimady Tounkara, who along with Manfila Kante (who I mentioned and featured in the second Post-Colonial Groove post here), as been one of the main creators of the Mandinka guitar sound, translating many traditional lines, ornaments, and stylistic elements onto the instrument.  He began playing ngoni, a five-stringed guitar-esque Mandinka instrument, and later moved to guitar.  He has since straddled the line between traditional music and modern electric dance bands, being equally at home in both settings.  His time and his unique super-fast picking articulation are very distinctive and help him to stand out as one of West Africa’s finest guitarists.

This track finds him in fine form with the Rail Band, his fills behind the vocals are superb, and his solo, as was Manfila Kante’s on Djata, is organized in a very traditional manner, with alternation between kumbengo (repeating patterns) and birimitingo (fast, usually descending solo lines).  I am also partial to the weird bass-drum hits in this song, and the fine “organ” synth patch, which is pretty classic in my opinion.

Click to listen:

Rail Band – Maliyo

Enjoy the weekend!

[photo credit: Banning Eyre]

He began singing with several relatively popular bands before having his first hit with a song called “Kamale” in 1973, after which he formed several incarnations of his own band under that name.  By the time of this track, the band was called “Nyboma & Kamale Dynamique.”  “Doublé Doublé”, from 1981, was one of his big hits and it’s no wonder why!  The super-clean guitar work, killing basslines, and of course the ultra-smooth vocals are exciting and ultra-groovy without being overpowering, and the production has just the right level of funkyness.

Click to listen:

Nyboma – Doublé Doublé

As I understand it, there was something of a division of styles in the 1980′s in Zaire, with Franco & the TPOK Jazz on one side (see my previous post on their song “Tantine” here), and Tabu Ley Rochereau & African Fiesta on the other side.  Franco represented the ultra-large orchestra (3 guitars, bass, drums, percussion, 4 singers, many horn players) and was rooted in the very original Congolese Rumba sound of which he was one of the main originators.  On the other side, Tabu Ley and many others were cultivating a lighter, smaller-group sound which eventually developed into what became known as soukous, the faster, more modern style of Congolese music.

This Nyboma track clearly fits into the second category, especially when contrasted with some of Franco’s big hits of the same era such as “Bina Na Ngai Na Respect”, with its large horn sections and snare-drum heavy grooves.  Although that and many other similar Franco numbers are among my favorite pieces of music in the world, there is also a time and place for the effortless Nyboma sound.  The hi-hat centric groove and especially that trademark ultra-clean guitar sound get me every time!

Here’s a YouTube clip of a live version from an Abidjan concert – as usual with a soukous concert it features a rockin’ dance section with a number of scantily clad dancers who emerge part way through the song – unfortunately it’s cut off part way through:

Enjoy, and we hope to see all of you Portlanders and Seattleites at Jimmy Mak’s tonight in Portland and Cafe Solstice tomorrow night in Seattle for some exciting Kora Band shows!  Details here.

Have a great weekend!

Today we move northward, to Timbuktu, Mali, to hear the “Nightengale of the Desert,” Khaira Arby.  She is a very popular singer in Mali, though relatively unknown elsewhere in the world, as her recordings haven’t been released in Europe or the U.S.

She was born in Agouni, in the desert north of Timbuktu and is of mixed ethnic heritage, which is reflected in her music, blending various styles of northern Malian music.  She sings in many languages, including Sonrai and Tamashek, 2 main languages of the region, as well as Arabic.

The track I have selected was originally introduced to me by my friend and frequent collaborater Kevin Van Geem, who plays drums in my sextet and, as I was and as I hope you will be, was floored by the deep desert “swing” of the hi-hat groove in this tune.  This comes courtesy of a great blog, Awesome Tapes from Africa, where it was posted in two parts [both are here], so be sure to check out the rest of that album.  Meanwhile, you can click below to hear this great tune “Boibini”, which features a typical Malian female chorus, a 1-string fiddle of some sort, which I assume is an Njarka (correct me if I’m wrong there), some great desert guitar, and Khaira soaring above it all:

Khaira Arby – Boibini

The 5-note scale is quite different from the 7-note ones used by the Mandinka people in more southern parts of Mali (and for that matter is different from the 5-note scale used in the Wasulu region as well), and is probably the most immediately noticeable “desert” element, aside from that ridiculous hi-hat swing!!  We’ve been trying to “cover” this song in my Kora Band for quite some time, and finally have gotten it sounding pretty good, though the true spirit of it is nearly impossible to capture, of course.  Still, it’s fun to try and hopefully enjoyable to our audiences!

And, as if the whole album link enough wasn’t enough bonus material for this post, here is a link to a great video of Khaira Arby at Festival In the Desert, in Essakane, Mali, courtesy of the Guardian newspaper:

Desert Sessions – Khaira Arby

Have a great weekend – next up is my James P. Johnson/Fats Waller post, which is nearly complete!

Led by trumpet Player Balla Onivogui, Balla et ses Balladins were one of the many state funded bands to emerge  after independence.  In this case the group was formed just one year after the election of Guinean president Sekou Toure who was responsible for reinvigorating Guniean culture.
Balla et Ses Balladins held court at their regular gig, a club called, “Jardin du Guinea”.

Balla et ses Balladins had so many hot players that the government actually split the group so that there could be more bands. The result of the split was Keletugui et ses Tambourins, which was then split again to constitute an “A” orchestra and a “B” orchestra.  Balla was one of the few Guinean musicians to attend music school and he and other members of the band actually taught other bands how to play.

What is significant about this track is that fact that they are playing Mandinka music.  Before, pre-independance music focused more on Latin styles that were fashionable with visiting diplomats. The post colonial bands began the work of interpreting traditional music on electric instruments. On the this track “Sankanran Ka” the guitar accompaniment and solo lines reference Balafon, a Mandinka mallet-struck marimba, by using a “down/up” pattern with the plectrum that becomes an analogy for the “left/right” aspect of many Balafon patterns.

What else?  Oh yeah, this track is one of my favorite musical moments ever produced by human beings.

Click to listen:

Balla et ses Balladins – Sankaran ka