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T.O. Music Pix Newsletter #97: Dec. 13/09
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In this issue:

1. 2010 Concert photo calendar: order now if you want one
2. Bassekou Koyaté & Ngoni Ba: CD available online; North American tour
3. Staff Benda Bilili: CD gets awards; documentary trailer
4. Assorted notes

5. Event notes: 3 shows today

 

1. 2010 CONCERT PHOTO CALENDAR:

As noted in a separate email note, I've put together a 2010 calendar of some of my concert photographs (8x10).

I will be putting in the print order on Monday (Dec. 14), so if you'd like a copy, let me know as soon as possible. They will be available at cost -- I hope it will be $15, but if the quantity is low, it might be a couple of dollars more.

Info, and photos are on this page: www.to-music.ca/calendar

Photo: Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan, 2009

2. BASSEKOU KOUYATÉ & NGONI BA: CD & Tour coming (sort of)

I have to say that the ngoni is probably my favourite African instrumental sound. I got hooked at a 2002 Salif Keita concert in New York City, shortly after the release of his rootsy, often acoustic Moffou CD. The concert too, was less electric and amplified than previous ones, but no less energetic and driving, thanks to the prominent place the ngoni had in his band. I've been disappointed that he has not toured (here at least) with an ngoni since.

In 2007, one of the reasons I enjoyed Vieux Farka Touré's first Toronto concert so much was that I spent the whole show standing right in front of the great musician Mama Sissoko who played guitar and ngoni. (photo, right)

However, the instrument is not as well known outside West Africa yet as it should be, and sometimes gets confused with the kamale ngoni, seen more often. (Here, for example, with Salif Keita in 2008). Today, the most famous ngoni master is Bassekou Kouyaté of Mali.

Kouyaté, along with the Super Rail Band's Djelimady Tounkara was originally expected to be part of an African-Cuban recording project which, when it fell apart due to visa problems took a different approach, and became the Buena Vista Social Club. Over the years, he has been a sideman on many great recordings including Taj Mahal/Toumani Diabaté's Kulanjan, Ali Farka Touré's Savane, Youssu n'Dour's most recent CD -- and the Juno-winning Africa to Appalachia by Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko among many others.

He now leads the world's only ngoni quartet, Ngoni Ba, with singer Ami Sacko (Bassekou's wife); of course, I'm ecstatic with the idea -- and the music. Their first CD, Segu Blue (2007) won the BBC Radio 3 World Music Album of the Year Award, and their current release, I Speak Fula is getting many European picks (it missed winning fRoots magazine's Album of the Year award by a single vote). Many European critics have praised Fula for better capturing the energy of the group's live performances than their first CD. Fula includes guest performances by Toumani Diabaté, Vieux Farka Touré and Kassé Mady Diabaté.

Unfortunately, to date, most of this is word of mouth. The group has yet to tour North America, and Fula is still not released here, BUT... as of Dec. 1, it is available for download... check iTunes. The North American CD release will not be until April.

And -- finally -- Bassekou and Ngoni Ba are touring North America in 2010, with 47 dates. Astoundingly (to me), Toronto is not on the schedule. Many of the concerts are with American banjo master Béla Fleck as part of his , and others are with just Ngoni Ba. Much as I've enjoyed Béla's Africa Project, I'd prefer to see a night devoted to Bassekou and the group in their full glory.

I'll keep watch on the possibility of a local performance; failing that, the only Canadian show (!!) scheduled to date  is a March 1 show in Ottawa with Béla Fleck.

Reportedly, Kouyaté and Ngoni Ba will have another North American tour in the summer. Let's hope that one doesn't miss Toronto.

Links:


3.  STAFF BENDA BILILI

I'd mentioned in the last newsletter that the (24-year old) fRoots Poll this year selected as its Album of the Year Très Fort Fort, by the unique and excellent Congolese group, Staff Benda Bilili. They are street musicians in the Congo; most are disabled as a result of polio, and get around in a kind of tricycle/wheelchair. Their name means "Look beyond first appearances".

The group perform live on Charlie Gillett's BBC Radio 3 show, World on 3 this week, and their manager, Michel Winter plays Charlie's "Radio Ping Pong". Available online for a week until the evening of Dec. 18.

Below are some of Charlie's comments about the session:

Drummer Randy ‘Montana’ Buda improvises his drum kit from whatever materials are available, in this case a drawer turned on its end, whose bottom is hit with a conventional bass drum pedal. A couple of bongos plus a tiny cymbal are fixed to the top, and he uses conventional drum sticks. Regardless of the ingredients of his kit, Montana is a remarkable drummer, as became even clearer when watching the band play the following night at the Barbican.

Bass player Cavalier was at the heart of everything, looking like a black cowboy in his big hat. Closest to me stood teenager Roger Landu, playing his home-made invention, the satongé, whose sound box is an empty milk powder can joined to a bit of wicker basket, from the end of which a metal guitar string connects back to the tin. He plucks the string and a distinctive sound emerges, changing its note as he squeezes the wicker with the other hand.

As the audience filed out of the Barbican, there was much discussion about the role of the satongé, with several people grumbling that it had been too loud and piercing. On the group’s album, and on this radio session, the satongé’s vital role is much clearer – without it, this would be just another pretty good rumba group in the style established long ago by Franco’s Orchestra TP OK Jazz. With the addition of the satongé, we have that precious commodity, a band with a unique sound of its own, instantly recognisable and irresistibly infectious. Three singers take turns to sing lead, sometimes switching within a song, and backing each other up on the choruses.
 

Trailer for a documentary on the group by Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tullaye. To be released, 2010:

YouTube link

 

4. NOTES
  • Smartphone: Last month, I bought an iPhone, and am already hooked on it. Now, most computers and smartphones are capable of "learning" words that aren't in their original dictionary. But one day, when typing the word "froots" (the UK mag), I must have accidentally typed a "g" to start the world. The iPhone conveniently suggested a word it thought I might have meant: "griots". Now it probably knew that because I'd used it at some point, but to me, I look at it now as one really smart phone!

    More proof about how smart my phone is? Its default ringtone is Mahmoud Ahmed.
     

  • Great read: The always superb Oxford American ("The Southern magazine of good writing") annual music issue is now out, with more of its eclectic, wide-reaching and excellent writing on Southern American music and musicians. Like last year, it includes a double CD: a bonus worth the price of admission itself. Most magazine stands that stock it are sold out quickly, but Soundscapes on College typically orders at least 100 copies. Highly recommended.
     

  • Also noted recently here, Afropop Worldwide's list of the top 30 CDs of 2009 (in 4 categories). Their radio program with Banning Eyre and Georges Collinet is now streamed online
     

And in the "shake your head" news department:

 

5. EVENT NOTES

Three shows on today to note:

  • Dec. 13: Jane Bunnett & Hilario Duran: a free show at Hart House, UofT, featuring music by some of Cuba's classic composers. Info here. 3pm, Great Hall

  • Dec. 13: The Walter Egéa Trio at the Trane Studio
    Brazilian composer is releasing his CD & book, Laurie and Me, whose original songs are based on Laurie Anderson's music, and influenced by that of Miles Davis, Tom Jobim and Caetano Veloso. $10, doors open 6, show 7:30.

  • Dec. 13: Gospel Christmas Project at the Young Centre, a project of the CBC's Andrew Craig, featuring Jackie Richardson, Kellylee Evans, Chris Lowe, Toya Alexis and Sharon Riley and Faith Chorale. Details and two audio clips here. 2pm & 7pm.

  • See event page for more... and don't forget the Mahmoud Ahmed Dec. 25 concert!

 

 

John Leeson
www.to-music.ca