Wandel's saxophone (shades of Coltrane, Parker and Coleman) trades off seamlessly with Mamady Mansare's beautiful flute lines, Khali Camara's balaphon and the kora of Sekou Kouyate (the former bandleader for Miriam Makeba). Wandel sings "scat" and is matched note for note by Aboubacar "Fatouababou" Camara on djembe. These, as many of the other fine musicians are members of the National Djoliba Ballet, or the Percussionists of Guinea. Along with the remaining instrumentation - dunduns, krin, and bolon - the music itself is rooted in the flowing, trance-like traditional mode, occasionally departing to celebratory arrangements with strong western jazz sensibilities such as their reading of Afro Blue..
a posthumous release of Momo Wandel Soumah's soundtracks for the films/documentaries,Circus Baobab,L'enfant noir,Ouatara,Momo le doyen & Voyage au pays.
In Mali, the voice of Fantani Touré rings out like a shout. Hers is the voice of a woman who has won battles against prejudice, against silence and against discouragement.
Fortunately for her, her now ex-husband was not the only person watching the small television screen that day. And so it came about that more than 1,000 people descended upon Bozola, the quarter of the fishermen where the Touré family lived, to convince her father to allow his daughter to sing. They succeeded. Success soon followed. The famous Malian singer Salif Keita had also taken note of the young singer, and he went on to produce her first album, which became the best-selling album of 1997.
T
Girls’ education and the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) are the battles that Touré has led since the start of her singing career. She makes use of her position as an opinion maker to speak out on these topics in the media and during her concerts. She is, in fact, the first Malian singer to write and perform songs that speak out against the practice of FGM. Her combat has not come without a price; several times she has been attacked and threatened by women who are FGM practitioners.
In Ghana, Kakraba Lobi is considered to be the gyil’s spokesperson by virtue of being one of the only living virtuosi to have mastered the vast and difficult repertoire, and possibly the only to have gained international acclaim as a concert soloist.
He was born in Kalba Saru in the Lobi and Birifor area of Nothern Ghana in 1939. His father is a farmer who is also highly skilled in the art of xylophone making and playing, like his father before him. His brothers, too, make and play drums and xylophones. As a child, Kakraba watched and listened intently, and thus became involved in the family tradition.
When he was old enough, Kakraba traveled south to the city of Accra where he was invited by many people to perform, and even played out on the streets, earning more than most people with office jobs. He gave broadcasts for Radio Ghana, and in 1957 he was invited to give a concert at the University of Ghana, Legon, where Professor J.H. Kwabena Nketia offered him a teaching post in the Institute of African Studies.
From 1962 until 1987, Kakraba was a full-time member of the staff at the Institute. In addition to his own Lobi and Birifor music, he has learned much of the music of the Ga, Ashanti and Dagati peoples. His repertoire and technique have been studied by ethnomusicologists from around the world.
According to qualified opinion, Kakraba is the finest xylophonist in his Ghana homeland, though he is too modest to claim such a title. His art is deeply rooted in tradition, and by virtue of his personality and extraordinary life circumstances, he has evolved into a world class solo performer.
Kakraba plays a xylophone, Kogili, with fourteen wooden keys. The Kogili has spiritual significance for the Lobi and the Birifor, who believe that it acquires part of the soul of its maker and owner, whose skills are in turn attributable to spirit origin. In order to preserve this spiritual element, various objects may be added to the instrument, such as porcupine quills, ancestral carved figures, crosses cut into the tips of the keys or brass tacks inserted into them.
