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The griot supergroup
Mandekalou's Medieval African Sounds
Bamako
23/08/2004 -
The singers involved in the making of Mandekalou – namely, Kassemady Diabaté, Sekouba Bambino Diabaté, Kandia Kouyate, Kerfala Kanté and Fodé Baro – all rank amongst the top griots on the current scene. Indeed, as individual artists they are regularly to be found performing solo at major music venues around the world. This griot élite got together at the Bogolan Studio in Bamako in the winter of 2003 to work on a collective album entitled Mandekalou (the People of Mande). The album is, in fact, a very special kind of tribute, a sort of musical ode to the Mandingo Empire which, in the 13th century, extended all the way from Mauritania to the Ivory Coast, prefiguring what would in the 20th century become the CDEAO (the Community of West African States). With its stirring rhythms and powerful vocals, Mandekalou is an effective way of reminding the young generation of the past greatness of medieval Africa.
Motivated by the idea of putting contemporary Africans in touch with their history, producer Ibrahima Sylla had been planning to create a sort of Mandingo 'supergroup' (just as he had already done in the past, creating the supergroup Africando to promote salsa and the band Kekelé to revive the fortunes of rumba). The album Mandekalou (released in West Africa in the spring of this year and in the U.K. in July, before appearing in France in September) features a wealth of traditional songs that recount a watershed moment in West African history.
The singers involved in the Mandekalou project were all fired with a sense of handing history down to future generations. "When you’re a Jeli, you’re always involved in doing research of some kind because our role is to pass our knowledge on to the next generation," says Kassemady Diabaté. "So, basically, you have to learn a little more every day. Mandekalou gave us a great opportunity to rediscover forgotten elements of our history which we were able to revive in a recording studio 700 years later!" Kandia Kouyaté was so enthusiastic about the project that she put her own solo career on hold for several months in order to work on Mandekalou. The singer says it is rare for griots to team up and work together in this way, but she knew the Malian singer Kassemady Diabaté and his Guinean cousin Sekouba Bambino before going into the studio and had every faith in the value of such a collective undertaking.
The career of Ibrahim Sylla's Mandingo supergroup was officially launched with a concert outside the 'Palais des Congrès' in Bamako. The griots appeared on the steps in front of the ‘Palais’ dressed in their best "boubous," immaculately starched for the occasion, and performed to an impressively mixed audience made up of "tanties" (middle-aged ladies) and young rappers from surrounding towns who had turned up to tune into the oral tradition of their ancestors. (The presence of this new musical generation was fitting as, in many senses, these rappers are the 'griots' of their day, singing as they do of urban life in the African metropole - although they adopt a much more critical approach which is totally absent from the 'praise songs' of their elders !)
The audience in Bamako was treated to a superb performance by a Mandingo 'big band', led by wizard guitarist Djelimadi Tounkara (taking a temporary break from his successful solo career and his work with the Super Rail Band). Three guitarists, a balafon-player, a kora-player and two kamalé ngoni virtuosos joined the seven griots. As the musicians' fingers flew across their strings in an amazing display of dexterity, the griots sang of the exploits of Soundiata Keïta, the audience thrilling to the sound of medieval African history. The live show, like the album, revolved around just six songs. But whereas Mandekalou the album lasts a mere 54 minutes, Mandekalou the show can go on from anything between two to four hours – depending on the soloists' inspiration!
At the Bamako performance, the first song, Soundiata, was a veritable epic recounting the story of the legendary warrior-hunter prince Soundiata Keïta, "a hero who goes by many different names, who might be called ‘son of the buffalo’, ‘son of the lion’, or ‘restorer of legal authority.’" And it merited an epic hour-long performance, each of the singers assuring a ten-minute solo! "That’s the advantage live shows have over an album," Sekouba Bambino enthused after the show,"The main reason we’re up on stage is to give pleasure to the audience. On an album, songs have to be limited to six minutes, to fit in with western criteria, but when we perform these songs live we can really take our time over things!"
Meanwhile, excitement in the audience was fast approaching fever pitch. As the griots began to reel off the names of Samory Touré, Sekou Touré, Amani Touré, the Tourés in the crowd went wild. One young man, who had ripped off his shirt, rushed forward to wipe Kandia Kouyaté's shoes as 10,000 CFA banknotes fluttered down upon the artists' heads. Meanwhile, one canny member of the troupe ran back and forth between the stage and the audience with a guitar case stuffed full of 1,000 and 5,000 CFA bills. But this was nothing compared to the cheque for 1 million CFA (1,500 euros) which was handed over to the group during the interval! Little wonder, then, that some griots appear to be reluctant to give up their traditional songs of praise to eke out a meagre living playing "white man's" music.
*griots – a class of hereditary ‘praise singers’ who traditionally entertained the nobility with their epic songs and stories about major events in Mande history.
Mandékalou (Syllart-Mélodie) 2004
Pierre René-Worms
Translation : Julie Street
