the Spear

Friday, May 15, 2015

Vinelo

Benediction

This is an opening segment for a tromba ceremony,
in which ancestral spirits are alerted to the need for them to appear in the present moment.
Specific spirits have particular powers, so a different spirit will be called
depending on the needs of the particular participants at each tromba ceremony.
Some spirits for instance are adept at curing particular illnesses;
others resolve disputes; others give good advice, etc.
Each spirit has a particular melodic motive, played on maro tady, to which she or he will respond.
As this is the musical introduction to a tromba ceremony,
Vinelo is performing much chanting in this segment
in which he is communicating to and about the razana,
the collective of revered Malagasy ancestral spirits.
At approximately 4'30" Vinelo begins a deep breathy mode of singing called ndrimotra,
a term which comes from the verb "to heal".
At approximately 11'20" Vinelo moves into a different melodic motive.
Here he would be beginning to invite a particular ancestral spirit into the present
to affect treatment of an ill patient.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Nafi Diabaté dite Marimar

I ended previous post with a video of Marimar

it's her time again,enjoy

Je m'appelle Nafissatou Diabaté, dite Nafi mais surtout Marimar.

Je suis native de Ségou. Mon père s'appelle Oumar Koné dit Baroublen et ma mère Tata Koné.

J'ai reçu la chanson du côté de ma mère, car, du côté de mon père, il n'y a pas de chanteurs.

C'est à l'âge de douze ans que j'ai commencé à chanter. Ma carrière solo a véritablement débuté en 1998, tout juste après mon mariage. A l'époque, je faisais des sumu. J'ai fait mon premier album en 2000, avec pour titre phare « Aye Deme », et le second « Kouma madi « . Je prépare mon 3ème et 4ème albums. Tous les deux comptent 10 titres chacun. Et la sortie officielle c'est pour très bientôt, Inchallah.
Un mot sur les thématiques développées dans vos chansons.
Je parle de l'amour, de la patience, de la paix et surtout des conseils, car une griotte qui ne peut pas donner des conseils ne remplit pas sa mission
Au début, mon père était catégoriquement opposé à mon choix de mener une carrière artistique. Mais, le croyant qu`il est a fini par comprendre que je ne suivais que mon destin. Il m`a alors donné sa bénédiction.
La jeune sœur de lait de ma mère est la maman de Cheick et Modibo Diabaté. J'ai passé mon enfance auprès d'elle et comme elle est cantatrice, j'ai suivi ses traces.

from

first and best record so far from year 2000 (I think)

A yé n'dèmè

with

Cheikh O. Diabaté

guitar and arrangements

Dia N'gnano,Bintu Bombeté,Tenén Kouyaté

chorus

Modibo Diabaté

guitar

Oumar Diabaté "Dagnon"

bass

Gaoussou Diabaté

ngoni

Lassana Diabaté

balafon

Madou Koné

tamani

Adama Diarra

djembe

Fela Lamine Camara

keyboard

Zoumana Treta

soku

Thursday, April 2, 2015

where do the ancient statues go,after ISIS demolishes them?

It was yesterday evening that I realized that the youtube channel of my friend Ngoniba ,is no more.Gone..
He didn't inform me and I was too busy to follow what was happening around.
The truth remains like a bad joke:1600 videos of (mainly)Malian and West African music treasures,many of them of unique historical value have vanished since 2 months from youtube due to Africacable claims of copyright infringement for some of their videos .
I was shocked though very familiar with the new (web or out of the web) practices.
It was like bombing a whole city for hosting 3 terrorists,or a very similar tactic to what those criminals of ISIS do in Iraq.I wasn't missing something.in my picture no!
Years of work and research have vanished with no good reason ,or I'm free to suspect for a very good reason:
Real African culture (and Third World culture in general )is unwanted in a business system ( I won't call it a civilization,civilizations even the most barbaric have at least principles ) that promotes (scientifically and backed up with tons of money ) racism,sexism, materialism and their variations as their basic everyday drag .
there is no future for the human race in such a system.
but there is plenty of future out of it
I'm really sorry for them.

....and I'm sorry for me too
for not protecting enough our heritage of those ancient statues

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Antoninho Travadinha

“I heard the sound of the violin and I began searching who was playing it .
It was there in the font , a small man, almost hidden, but his music was fantastic”.
from João Freire's memories

Antoninho Travadinha was one of the greatest violinists that ever came out of Cabo Verde
and his name is still revered among the next generations of musicians at home and in diaspora.
Travadinha was born on the island of Santo Antão to a music family:
father violinist and seven brothers who played the violin.He was participating to the local balls with his rabeca since he was nine, despite the objections of his father.
Besides the violin he played wonderfully well the viola(12 string guitar) the cavaquinho and violão;
his interpretations and improvisations on the traditional mornas ,coladeiras and mazurkas had a unique style
Due to his humble social status the recognition of his talent was not easy:
Travadinha had to wait until he was 40 to start becoming little known as a musician,
particularly after 1981 and this thanks to a visit to Portugal
where he was "discovered" and promoted by João Freire .

With the help of Associação De Amizade Portugal - Cabo Verde
his only record whille living,Feiticeira De Cor Morena was released in Portugal in 1986 and was welcomed enthusiastically by the press and music lovers.of the time....

Travadinha died few months later, in 1987....

Feiticeira De Cor Morena

for the record:
Antonio Travadinha: violono,viola de dez cordas,cavaquinho
Armando Tito:violão solo,viola dez dez cordas,cavaquinho,baixo electrico,chocalho,reco-reco,voz
Ildo Ramos:violão
Micau:bongos,reco-reco,chocalho
Ana Firmino :voz