Sunday, December 27, 2009

MALI: BASEKU KOUYATE -NGONI BA

After his award winning album ‚Segu Blue’ the ngoni wizard from Mali is back with a new offering: ‚I speak fula’. The album captures the incredible live energy of Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba and is the next step in the career of one of Malis most exciting and innovative musicians.
The back of this album shows Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba standing on the street with the legendary train station of Bamako behind them. In the 80s a young Bassekou Kouyate played a concert there together with members of the famous Rail Band. During the show Bassekou suddenly stood up and walked up to the front of the stage. For the first time a ngoni player strapped his instrument over his shoulder like an electric guitar and was playing a solo standing up. The audience was stunned. Traditionalists even started a debate after the concert about whether this young man was allowed to change the style of playing ngoni. What was new then has long become common practice in Mali today.

1 comment: