Let the music play......

It’s in the air, music. Most times you can hear it at any hour, day or place. It’s so familiar the sounds of it, yet so different. 

For the next few weeks I will focus on some, mind you some of West Africa’s Instruments, especially instruments of the Senegambia/Mali Regions. 

Listening to an African instrument is listening to history and culture playing out in a sweet melody. Like so much of Africa’s History the music and instrument’s history pass from generation to generation from the elder to the younger. Word of mouth and not any mouth, but by the mouth of the Jali (male), Jalimuso (female) of Gambia or Jeli (male), Jelimuso (female) of Mali or maybe you’re more familiar with the term, “Griot”. Well surprise, Griot is a French Word, not African at all. So in the future let’s use the original term for the Master Storytellers of Africa and since I’m in Gambia I’ll use Jali or Jalimuso.

You can read more about the Jali at: http://babathestoryteller.com

Since I’m doing the teaching with my own music playing in the background makes me your Jalimuso of sorts.

The first time I came to Africa was in February 1999 and the streets of Dakar where nothing like I expected Africa to look. The hustle and bustle of Dakar reminded me of New York, busy, busy, busy! Traffic that seemed to have no rules, people bumping into each other, horns, whistle, action! Phew, my senses were on overload! Then we stopped to have lunch in a quaint storefront restaurant in the midst of it all. It seemed that once we walked through the door of that restaurant we were transported to another place and another time. The music that filled the room swept me away as if a magic carpet had lifted me above the chaos. I thought it must have been a recording because the music was so sharp and clear. It was heavenly and I thought it might have been a harp, but was sure I hadn’t heard this sound before. To my surprise in a quiet corner of the restaurant was a man seated on a pillow playing what seemed to me to be an enormous multi stringed instrument. Our guide told me it was the Kora. I was in love and still hope to learn how to play it.

The Kora is a 21 stringed West African harp-like instrument. The instrument is played in the Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea and Guinea Bissau regions and has a known history which spans over eight hundred years.

The harp like instrument is constructed from a large gourd, or calabash to be exact, which has been cut in half length-ways, gutted and covered either with the hide of a cow or the skin of an antelope to make a resonator.  It has a notch or bridge to support the strings which assists with the vibration and helps to circulate the sounds through the air.
The strings traditionally has been made from strips of antelope hide,or fishing lines plaited together in an effort to increase the thickness of the strings.

Eleven of the 21 strings are played by the left hand and the remaining ten by the right; however in recent times four bass strings have been added to the Kora by players in the Casamance region, in an effort to improve the overall sound.  The Kora has the most strings of all the other instruments in that family. This unique instrument is played using the thumb and index finger to pluck the strings whilst the remaining fingers are used to hold and steady the instrument when it is being played.

Kora players originate from the Mandinka tribe and are Jalis. Usually as the Jali sings or recites he is playing the Kora.

An electric version of the Kora called the gravikard, has been produced and has been used by ‘Herbie Hancock who is regarded as one of the greatest living jazz musician.

One of my favorite Kora players is Toumani Diabate of Mali. You can go to http://www.amazon.com to sample his music. And oh yeah, while you’re sampling listen to my favorite West African singer, producer, musician and much more, Mr. Salif Keita!

Of course the sound of the drum is everywhere. That same first time I was in Senegal I saw a building being constructed and with every beat of the drum a shovel full of cement was tossed form one level of the structure to the next. There are many, I say many different types of drums in Africa, but let’s today focus on the Djembe, the D is silent, sound familiar.

Djembe history, just like African history in general, is hardly documented in writing. But it is clear that the traditional, sacred rhythms and dances have gone through a dramatic transformation in recent years. The exact beginning of the Djembe history and tradition is unclear, but it was certainly present way before the 13th century, when the great Mali Empire was formed.

Apparently, it has its origins with the Malinke (also called Maninka, Mandinka, Mande) and Susu people, who roughly occupied the area between today's Bamako (Mali) and Kankan (Guinea).

The "Numu" are a social class of professional blacksmiths and are believed to be the first carvers of this wooden instrument. 

There is also a story in circulation about the "true inventor" of the Djembe: A woman. While pounding millet, she broke through the bottom of her old mortar and mounted a goat skin on it. The goblet-shape of the Djembe still reminds of the mortars used by African women.

In traditional Africa, often only certain classes of people are allowed to play certain instruments. For instance, the Kora, Ngoni and Balaphone are reserved to the "Jali.

It's believed that the Djembe has magical qualities and is full of life, a life form that consists of three spirits: the spirit of the tree from which the drum shell was carved, the spirit of the animal from which the skin came from and the spirit of the drum's maker. Each drum inherits the characteristics of each particular spirit and is, therefore, unique, even to the point that the color of the drum skin is significant; Djembes with spotted skins have a particular use, Djembes with white skins have another use and Djembes with dark skins have yet another use. 

All I know that when the hands met the skins yo butt meets the dance floor! 

Wow, that’s a lot and we only briefly covered three instruments; the voice of the Jali, the beautiful strings of the Kora and the heart pounding foot stomping Djembe. More next week!

Jali with Kora

My friends hitting the skins! Djembes

 


FYI the Harp: The harp is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. The earliest harps were developed from the hunting bow. The wall paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs dating from as early as 3000 B.C. show an instrument that closely resembles the hunter's bow, without the pillar that we find in modern harps.