Mtendeni Maulid

Season's Greetings
with
Mtendeni Maulid Ensemble



*****

Soungalo Coulibaly

Soungalo Coulibaly was "the" master drummer of Mali:
He had an exceptional command of the djembé, demonstrating an innovative,
virtuoso style of performance equaled by very few West African musicians.
By virtue of his profound knowledge of the tradition in combination with his forceful,
complex performances on the instrument, he was named one of the four best djembé masters,
alongside Famoudou Konaté, Mamady Keita and Adama Dramé.
Like most traditional drummers, he gained his first musical experience at a very early age
by accompanying work in the fields and playing at village celebrations on the bara and the sabani.
He left Béléko for Fana, then for Côte d'Ivoire, and taught himself to play the djembe,
seizing every opportunity to accompany the djembefolas he met at celebrations, and adopting their music.
When he moved to Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire, in the mid-1970s, he immediately earned a name for himself through
his remarkable musicality and his ability to adapt to all sorts of different styles.
It was there that Soungalo invented 'flez' music - a fusion of djembe, dunun, tama, djidunun, balafon,
kamelengoni, acoustic guitar, karinyan and song.Flez music draws on the repertoires of the bambara, malinke,
fulbe and wasulunka traditions.
Those qualities led to recognition in Europe, where he regularly presented concerts
as well as giving courses
and formed a group with French musician Vincent Zanetti featuring the exceptional
deep earthy voice of Mariam Doumbia-Diakité,who is the real star in Dengo.Soungalo died in 2004 after a short battle with cancer.

an all times favorite

Dengo

Hanba Kahle Tata Madiba

"During the past few days as the world has reflected on the life of President Nelson Rolihlala Mandela, these ordinary South Africans have been largely absent from the media accounts. We have witnessed a rapid re-writing of history where the struggle spearheaded by the mass democratic movement that marched past my classroom has been collapsed into the special personal determination and charisma of one great man and, at most, a small circle of people around him.
Having spent six and a half years in prison myself, I have the highest regard for Madiba. But he did not take his long walk to freedom alone, nor did he succeed because of some American-style rugged individualism. Madiba was a product of his traditional Xhosa community in the Eastern Cape. He was also a product of a hateful apartheid system that propelled him to envision a loving, inclusive alternative. But most importantly, Madiba was a product of some of the most profound social movements of the 20th century. From the ANC Youth League of the 1940s all the way through to the United Democratic Front and the Mass Democratic Movement of the 1980s, he was surrounded by thousands of people grappling with the complexities of changing a hateful system and constructing a society based on participatory democracy and sharing of wealth. That long road to freedom which Madiba walked was a crowded highway bursting with masses of creative, energetic, dedicated and vastly intelligent people. Madiba drew on their strengths to rise to his special heights. So when we remember him let us not swallow the iconized version of an African giant, but instead keep in mind all those who walked that road with him, without whom he never could have undertaken the journey.."

 via  Africa is a Country 

and my small selection of

Songs for  Mandela

01-Rolihlahla

02-Sipho Mabuse - Nelson Mandela

03-Salif Keita-Mandela

04-Jalikunda Cissokho-Nelson Mandela

05-Youssou N'Dour - Nelson Mandela

06-Toyi Toyi

07-Shoskoloza Mandela

08- Souleymane Faye-God Bless Mandela

09-Koko Ateba - Nelson Mandela (will never give up)

10-Omar Pene-Mandela

11-Lovemore Majaivana & the Zulu Band-Prayer for Mandela

12-Abdullah Ibrahim-Mandela

13-Makwayela LAM - Ghogho Mandela

14-Miriam Makeba-Mbube

Let Freedom Reign...

Drums of the Firdu Fula

The Firdu Fula drums are associated primarily with the Mandinka,

the Gambia's majority ethnic group-but according to oral history,the Firdu Fula played them first.

The Firdu Fula play the same set of the,tuned higher-to-lower, drums,as the Mandinka,

but with a completely different style of drumming and singing.

Like the Mandinka, Firdu Fula drummers play interlocking rhythms that have been crafted

over generations to weave music from the drums' different tones.The three drums are

tuned to answer each other by virtue of their size.

Two drummers create a supporting rhythm on the two smaller drums, while a third drummer

improvises a solo on a tall and strikingly slender drum, called the sabaro.

The soloist has great artistic liberty, but respects the traditional style of each rhythm.

Each drummer creates a variety of tones by striking the drum with one bare hand and a short

stick, though for some rhythms, the supporting drummers switch to using two bare hands.

In addition, each drummer wears a wrist bracelet of iron bells.

Drums of the Firdu Fula, recorded in Serekunda,the Gambia,features

a popular ensemble from Serekunda,led by Amadu Bamba.

The singers are led by Jaiteh Baldeh

drums of the Firdu Fula

Kambele N'goni de Ganadougou

kambele n'goni (known too as  kamale n'goni )  

and the voice of  Daouda 'Flani' Sangaré  from the Ganadougou district 

Search Results

enjoy

*****

Ahallîl de Gourara-Chants Sacrées du Sahara Algérien

Performed during collective ceremonies, the Ahellil is a poetic and musical genre emblematic of the Zenete population of Gourara. This region in southwest Algeria includes some one hundred oases populated by over 50,000 inhabitants of Berber, Arab and Sudanese origin. The Ahellil, which is specific to the Berber-speaking part of Gourara, is regularly rendered at religious festivities and pilgrimages as well as secular celebrations, such as weddings and community events. The Ahellil is closely linked to the Zenete way of life and its oasis agriculture, symbolizing the cohesion of the community living in a harsh environment and, at the same time, transmitting the values and the history of the Zenete population in a language that is at risk of disappearing.

Simultaneously interpreted as poetry, polyphonic chant, music and dance, this genre is performed by a bengri (flute) player, a singer and a chorus of up to a hundred people. Standing shoulder to shoulder in a circle surrounding the singer, they slowly move around him while clapping their hands. An Ahellil performance consists of a series of chants in an order decided by the instrumentalist or singer and follows an age-old pattern. The first part, the lemserreh, includes everyone and encompasses short, well-known chants that are sung late into the night. The second, the aougrout, concerns only the experienced performers who continue until dawn. The tra finishes with daybreak and involves only the most accomplished performers. This threefold structure is also reflected in the chant performance, which begins with a prelude by the instrumentalist, followed by the chorus picking up certain verses, and ending with it chanting in whisper and slowly building up into a powerful, harmonious whole.

thanks to

,,,When the day has been totally engulfed by night,a group of men form a circle around the abshniw(poet and soloist),the bab n tandja(flutist)
and the babn qallal(percussionist).Sitting shoulder to shoulder,all repeat in chorus after the soloist and the orchestra ,the laments consisting of petitions and praying of pardon and grace.
The bitterness of the day gives way to the gentleness of night.However Ahallîl also tells tales and recounts history and tales:local events ,romantic epics,family feuds come between reminders of religious precepts and tales of battles.
Just like the griots,which they resemble a lot,Ahallîl singers contribute to the creation and safeguard of the collective memory of their people.

 real desert blues :

Ahellil

Masimba

a day in the life of Mr. Mapfumo


Thomas Mapfumo with  Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet 
Masimba
the power to overcome