Kora focused players/albums.

[Zuhzuhzombie!!]

Been listening to the Lanaya - Soun Soun : La Tradition Mandingue from the Terp record label. A fella named Djibril Diabate plays the Kora on this record. He's pretty dexterous. I made my way to Toumani Diabate's The Mande Variations variations and am enjoying it at the moment. There's a contrast between the two playing styles for sure. Djibril is very frantic on the Lanaya disc where as Toumani is a bit more reserved and melodic.

I was recommended the collaborative album MALIcool from Roswell Rudd and Toumani Diabate. Mix between jazz trombone and the kora playing. May pick it up. Samples on CDRoots sound promising.

[Zuhzuhzombie!!]

Reading material:

http://worldmusic.about.com/od/jelimusi ... p5Kora.htm" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

Few short entries on "Top 5 Players". Only heard a few of these.

However, with the inclusion of this, that makes three players with the last name Diabate.

[grisha]

Check out the late Yankuba (or Yan Kuba) Saho from Gambia. I don't how easily his stuff available, but i have his CD with the National Ensemble Of The Gambia on a label called InRespect, and it is great stuff.

[surfer]

I lived in Guinea in West Africa in the Peace Corps for 2+, almost 3 years. I heard some kora music, especially Mory Kante and M'Bady Kouyate who are both Guinean. Unfortunately (musically speaking), I lived amongst the Peuls who are not known as musicians. The Malinke are better known as drummers and kora players, which is why you see the Kouyat? name, its a traditional griot or jali name: Ko?ta, Kouyat?, Sakho or Saho (Wolof), Diabat?.

Oral traditions of the griot are passed down through the family. Traditionally griots and specifically kora players were reciters or family and tribal and village history. They would move from village to village receiving payments from the wealthiest patrons to recite their family history and its relation to the village. We had a few jalis come through my village, and they would go into the big patron's courtyard and start reciting about the greatness of said patron, and the patron would put money at his feet (if you ever go to a concert of West African music, it is customary for the audience to throw money at the performers onstage), and the jali would keep playing and saying what a great servant of Allah he is, and so generous, and his father was brave and was a carpenter and helped build this village etc etc etc. Then the jali would move on to the next patron.

Tradional jali music was always more boring to me than other types of West African music, because its basically like listening to Arlo Guthrie do Alice's Restaurant, same repeated riff over and over with some variations, but only the story is about family history of Joe Lavelle of Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin.

The best version of this traditional type of kora music is Jali Musa Jawara who is from Guinea:



I like it because although its traditional (4 long recitations), it also includes accompanying instruments like guitars and balafon.

Of the newer non-traditional pop music, I like Toumani Diabate's Djelika











Those are all the ones I can remember buying on cassette in Guinea. They're all pretty good. If I coudl recommend one, it'd probably be the Mory Kante

[Zuhzuhzombie!!]

Excellent post. Thank you very much!

[surfer]

No problem. Actually, a better comparison than Arlo would be his dad Woody travelling around the country, something like Talking Dust Bowl Blues and that type of talking blues that mixes history and song (add family histories) with a repeated circular riff on the guitar. Also the way a lot of people find that music boring, repetitive (not me), too traditional, a lot of young people in Guinea feel the same way.

[brinybrush]

i've listened to kora melodies: music from gambia, west africa by alhaji bai konte a lot, floating and often festive melodies, light percussion, other vocalists accompanying alhaji sounding especially beautiful on "kelefa ba" and "alhaji bamba bojang", and shifting rhythms, so abrupt on the long track "simbomba" that for a moment i thought that my cd player was skipping.

[Stevo]

There's a guy called Kasse Mady who I came across in the 80s. did 2 lps back then one called Kela Tradition , can't remember other one.
Had both 1 on lp long gone & one on cd. I think the one on lp was better had hiim on cover in yellow robe with the title on a blue square if I'm remembering right.
somehow neglected to take the cd out of the box it's been sitting in when i went through all the boxes in my bedroom looking for Surrounded By Thieves.

I think he was used on the Damon albarn Mali project record but I never investigated that. just think I looked it up to see if he was on it & found out yeah.

the Symmetric Orchestra seem pretty good too.

[p_ano]

Check out the late Yankuba (or Yan Kuba) Saho from Gambia. I don't how easily his stuff available, but i have his CD with the National Ensemble Of The Gambia on a label called InRespect, and it is great stuff.

YES! i've listened to a ton of kora music (i was really into it for a minute), and saho definitely tops my list. the harmonies with his wife are so beautiful. you can find 'national ensemble of gambia' floating around slsk, so there are no excuses for not tracking this one down.

[franz bieberkopf]

i've listened to kora melodies: music from gambia, west africa by alhaji bai konte a lot, floating and often festive melodies, light percussion, other vocalists accompanying alhaji sounding especially beautiful on "kelefa ba" and "alhaji bamba bojang", and shifting rhythms, so abrupt on the long track "simbomba" that for a moment i thought that my cd player was skipping.

i wholeheartedly second this one. and yes indeed the breakneck rhythmic changes to be found on this album are pretty astounding.