Presenting the instrument of the moment


The kora is the traditional instrument of the griots who have kept West African oral traditions alive over the centuries by combining the role of orator and musician. My photos show Gambian griot Seikou Susso performing this evening in Norwich's Millennium Library as part of Black History Month. Seikou is a cultural ambassador for The Gambia and has taken part in the acclaimed Carnival Messiah which presents Handel's oratorio in the style of a Caribbean street festival. Story telling is an important part of the griot tradition, so congratulations to Norfolk Library Services for bringing words and music into a public library with this free event.

The euphonius kora is very much the instrument of the moment. Back in May my post about the art and music of the Sahara featured kora player Toumani Diabaté's solo work The Mandé Variations. In an interesting example of world music meeting classical The Mandé Variations have been orchestrated, and Toumani Diabaté is performing them with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic on Oct 21 and London Symphony Orchestra on Oct 29. The video below is of Toumani Diabaté performing in Spain, there is also a video of the solo Mandé Variations here.



More evidence that world music is the new classical?
Photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Comments

Pliable said…
Toumani Diabaté's duo album In the Heart of the Moon with the late, great Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré is also highly recommended -

http://www.worldcircuit.co.uk/#Toumani_Diabate::In_the_Heart_of_the_Moon
Pliable said…
See also - http://africlassical.blogspot.com/2008/10/malis-toumani-diabat-plays-mand.html
Pliable said…
Email received:

Greetings!

Hi dear my friend thank you very much for your nice words am very happy with your help for the world to understand about the Griot and Griot music and culture

Thank you
Seikou Susso
www.seikoususso.freeuk.com

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