'I Speak Fula'
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba rock California Plaza with Dengue Fever Friday
By Bliss 08/12/2010
The flood of great music from West Africa keeps tumbling into the global marketplace. This year we’ve seen noteworthy releases from the mighty Salif Keita, Sierra Leone’s Refugee Allstars, vocal dynamo Khaira Arby, Lokua Kanza and Tuareg-Wodaabe tribal ensemble Etran Finatawa, along with Rough Guide’s commendable desert blues compilation, an incendiary concert recording from guitarist Vieux Farka Touré and the last recordings by his father, the late Ali Farka Touré, and kora master Toumani Diabaté.
Topping that list is Mali’s Bassekou Kouyate, whose “I Speak Fula” was released by Sub Pop to widespread acclaim and some consternation; Sub Pop’s an established bastion of indie rock. (The album was launched with label co-founder Jon Poneman and KEXP DJ Jon Kertzer’s Next Ambiance imprint.) But that seemingly odd pairing makes sense. Kouyate has transformed his ngoni — a West African lute aka spike lute, an early precursor of the banjo — into a dazzlingly Hendrix-like lead instrument. In so doing, he’s expanded his international rep as well as common perceptions of the ngoni’s sonic and musical possibilities.
Born in 1966 in the village of Garana near the Niger River, Kouyate was immersed in traditional African music throughout childhood; his mother, Yagaré Damba, was a singer, and his father, Mustapha, also played ngoni. At age 19 he relocated to Bamako and started working with various bands around the capital. Early on he shocked traditionalists by strapping on his ngoni like an electric guitar, rather than playing it on his lap, and pushing it center stage with his blistering solos. He also married vocalist Ami Sacko, nicknamed “the Tina Turner of Mali,” and they soon became a Malian music power couple.
A frequent sideman with Toumani Diabaté, Kouyate eventually collaborated with Western artists such as Bono, Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt. His 2007 solo debut, “Segu Blue,” earned two BBC3 Awards for World Music (Album of the Year and Best African Act). More recently, he was a flashpoint of interest in banjo maestro Bela Fleck’s film “Throw Down Your Heart.”
Kouyate will front his own band at California Plaza Friday: Ngoni Ba (“The Big Ngoni”), which boasts four ngonis, including bass and tenor ngonis that he created. Ngoni Ba also features two percussionists, vivid costumes and choreography more than slightly evocative of American R&B bands from the 1960s and ’70s. The exuberant virtuoso is as likely to plug into some staggering wah-wah pedal effects as he is to pull off the kind of swiftly arpeggiated trills traditionally associated with the ngoni. His songs are sung in Bambara and firmly rooted in traditional West African folk rhythms, but connections to American blues are easily discerned — and intentional.
Grand Performances presents Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba in concert with Dengue Fever at 8 p.m. Friday at California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave., downtown LA. Free admission. For information, call (213) 687-2159. bassekoukouyate.com
Topping that list is Mali’s Bassekou Kouyate, whose “I Speak Fula” was released by Sub Pop to widespread acclaim and some consternation; Sub Pop’s an established bastion of indie rock. (The album was launched with label co-founder Jon Poneman and KEXP DJ Jon Kertzer’s Next Ambiance imprint.) But that seemingly odd pairing makes sense. Kouyate has transformed his ngoni — a West African lute aka spike lute, an early precursor of the banjo — into a dazzlingly Hendrix-like lead instrument. In so doing, he’s expanded his international rep as well as common perceptions of the ngoni’s sonic and musical possibilities.
Born in 1966 in the village of Garana near the Niger River, Kouyate was immersed in traditional African music throughout childhood; his mother, Yagaré Damba, was a singer, and his father, Mustapha, also played ngoni. At age 19 he relocated to Bamako and started working with various bands around the capital. Early on he shocked traditionalists by strapping on his ngoni like an electric guitar, rather than playing it on his lap, and pushing it center stage with his blistering solos. He also married vocalist Ami Sacko, nicknamed “the Tina Turner of Mali,” and they soon became a Malian music power couple.
A frequent sideman with Toumani Diabaté, Kouyate eventually collaborated with Western artists such as Bono, Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt. His 2007 solo debut, “Segu Blue,” earned two BBC3 Awards for World Music (Album of the Year and Best African Act). More recently, he was a flashpoint of interest in banjo maestro Bela Fleck’s film “Throw Down Your Heart.”
Kouyate will front his own band at California Plaza Friday: Ngoni Ba (“The Big Ngoni”), which boasts four ngonis, including bass and tenor ngonis that he created. Ngoni Ba also features two percussionists, vivid costumes and choreography more than slightly evocative of American R&B bands from the 1960s and ’70s. The exuberant virtuoso is as likely to plug into some staggering wah-wah pedal effects as he is to pull off the kind of swiftly arpeggiated trills traditionally associated with the ngoni. His songs are sung in Bambara and firmly rooted in traditional West African folk rhythms, but connections to American blues are easily discerned — and intentional.
Grand Performances presents Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba in concert with Dengue Fever at 8 p.m. Friday at California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave., downtown LA. Free admission. For information, call (213) 687-2159. bassekoukouyate.com
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