MALI: MUSIC AND DANCE

Mali is an incredibly diverse country. There are many, many ethnic groups here, and they all have made their own contributions to the whole of what is Malian music. Of course, some of these groups have had larger influences on music here. Among the most traditional music customs, djalis go back centuries. And yes, although they are known for being historians and being able to recite long historical passages, they are also known for being praise singers. Most of these praises are geared toward kings and national heroes, but some of these songs also include more poetic works like proverbs. 

Man playing the kora.

Many instruments utilized in their traditional music (and even in a lot of popular music as well) are similar to other areas of Western and Northern Africa. If you listen to Malian music, you’re likely to hear the kora (21-24 string lute harp), n’goni (a 4-7 string lute), or the bala (a type of xylophone with calabash resonators). Percussion is also an important part of many African music traditions, including in Mali. Some popular types of drums include tabale (a tall conga-like drum played with flexible sticks), dunumba (a large drum that hangs from the shoulder and played with a mallet while the other hand plays a bell), or the n’taman (a talking drum shaped like an hourglass). After WWII, the guitar started making its way into African music, and it was incorporated into a lot of their music. Jazz and Latin music (especially Cuban music) also gained popularity in Mali. 

Of all of the traditional styles of music, no matter what the tribe, they all include music to dance to. With percussion at its roots, their music was often used in dancing for ceremonies and other festivities. Most dances are performed wearing traditional clothing and are often seen as a form of expression. For Malians, drumming and dancing go hand in hand, and it’s often spiritual for the performers. 

One of the biggest names in Malian music is Salif Keita. Not only is he an established musician, but he’s also a huge advocate for promoting and supporting local music. As a singer, he uses music as a means of expression outside of the traditional djeli role, and he’s been credited for bringing the Afro-pop movement to the global forefront. His work has influenced countless other musicians as well. I really like his music; it has elements of jazz and Latin styles mixed with some traditional styles and instruments. It has a very chill effect. I feel like I should be drinking a beer sitting outside on the patio after dark. I can see why he was popular. 

I listened to many other artists who had similar styles to his, relying heavily on the kora, which I love. It almost has a dulcimer sound to it. Some artists are more instrumental, some of the instruments used may vary, and some have vocals, but each share a similar musical style. There are several artists who have become fairly popular that I would recommend listening to: Toumani and Sidiki Diabaté, Ali Farka Touré, Afel Bocoum, Vieux Farka Touré, Mory Kanté, Les Ambassadeurs, Bassekou Kouyate, and Fanta Damba.  

There is also a Tuareg band called Tinariwen that put Tuareg music on the map. To me, they took elements of jazz and blues and mixed it with traditional Tuareg musical styles. It’s pretty catchy -- I like it a lot.  

I found a couple of other bands/groups that fell into the rock or pop category. They’re not quite definite categories, but they do have qualities that lead them to sound a bit more Western. A few I found include Amadou & Mariam, Rokia Traoré, and Tamikrest. There’s even a hip-hop group of sorts I ran across who call themselves SMOD. I like what I heard from them. 

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GUINEA: MUSIC AND DANCE

Guinean music reflects the country’s multi-ethnic background. And while there are many similarities, different ethnic groups also have their own styles, instrumentation, and techniques. For example, music of the Mandé people generally was performed by djelis, traveling musicians who more or less functioned as singers and historians, singing praises to the high-ranking members of the nobility. Djelis (sometimes called griots) were pretty common throughout West and Central Africa. 

Many of the instruments were common instruments found in other areas of West Africa.  Some of the instruments you’ll find in traditional Guinean music are the ngoni (related to the banjo), the balafon (related to xylophones and marimbas), the kora (like a cross between a harp and a lute), and a variety of drums including the dunun (a cylindrical drum tuned with ropes and played with a stick that can be either straight or curved depending on the region it’s played) and the djembe (a goblet-shaped drum tuned with ropes and played with the hand; often played in tandem with the dunun.).  After WWII, the guitar was introduced to Guinea and changed the sound of Guinean music. Some musicians developed their own ways of playing the guitar, like Kanté Facelli and Kanté Manfila.

Traditional dance in Guinea shares many of the same similarities with dance traditions in other Sub-Saharan cultures. Dancing tends to have a very rhythmic accompaniment utilizing a variety of drums and other instruments.  Rhythms tend to be polyrhythmic, meaning that there are different parts performed at the same time.  For the most part, dancing tends to be ritualistic and functional. There are dances denoted as warrior dances, love dances (used for weddings, births, anniversaries and such), rites of passage and coming of age dances to formally make the transition between childhood and adulthood, welcoming dances performed for newcomers, and religious-based dances (used for call spirits or pay homage to spirits).  The Yankadi dance of Guinea is a slow dance with smooth steps, while the Macru dance has much more energy and danced at a faster tempo. Men and women sometimes dance with scarves, and they place the scarf on the one whom they want to dance with.

After Guinea gained its independence, popular music began to take off.  By this time, most modern Guinean music is sung in French, although you’ll still find much of the traditional music sung in local languages. Many bands and musicians began to become influenced by music from abroad, especially the music of Cuba and other areas in the Caribbean.  They brought these styles back to Guinea where they mixed it with traditional Guinean styles, and many musicians recorded with the famous Syliphone Records.

One of the most famous Guinean musicians is Mory Kante. One of his most famous songs is “Yeke Yeke” that I listened to off of his Best Of album. Utilizing modern instruments, he tends to use a variety of balafon/xylophone/marimba-like instruments, mixing higher-pitched instruments with lower-pitched ones, accompanied by brass instruments as well. The melody lines definitely seem to be influenced from traditional African styles. He often utilizes a leader with a chorus answering. The drumbeats were also pretty indicative of a rock/soft rock/smooth jazz style. I found this video where he's performing with Santana.  

I also listened to Keletigui Et Ses Tambourinis.  I really liked the album The Syliphone Years.  I can tell there was some Cuban/Latin influence in their music. The Latin rhythms and the muted trumpet gave it away. Of course, if you look at history, there are a lot of similarities between West African music and that of many places in the Caribbean, seeing how a large portion of the Caribbean people originally came from West African countries. It’s a great album – you should look it up on Spotify.

Balla Et Ses Balladins uses much of the same kind of instrumentation, but I think they incorporate more harmony in their vocal lines. The music is pretty relaxing, and I think it has to do a lot with the guitar lines and the types of guitars they use. I wish I knew more about different kinds of guitars so that I can identify them more accurately when I listen to them. (Sorry, I primarily played French horn, piano, mallet percussion and was a singer, although I just bought a mandolin earlier this year but haven’t progressed farther than a few basic lessons.) Whichever guitar gives them their iconic African sound is higher-pitched and kind of echo-y.  I like that sound, whatever it is.

Another one of the most famous bands from Guinea is the Bembeya Jazz National. They were quite influenced by the music of Cuba and jazz of the US.  I listened to their album The Syliphone Years (so, I guess they really were a popular recording studio). To me, they don’t sound that different from the previous two groups I just mentioned. So, I suppose I like them by default since the entire style is one that I enjoy. 

Guinea also has its own hip-hop crowd as well. Probably the most well-known rapper from Guinea is the group Kill Point. I didn’t find anything on Spotify, but they do have some videos on YouTube. I listened to a few of their songs. They’re not bad, and their flow is pretty good.

There’s a rap festival called the African Rap Festival held in Conakry each year that always brings a good crowd. The festival actually made the news this year because of a stampede that killed 24 festival-goers. But outside of that tragic occurrence, this festival has always been a key way new artists get heard, and it also serves as a way to promote Guinean music.

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BURKINA FASO: MUSIC AND DANCE

Music in Burkina Faso is a mix of many ethnic groups and languages. There are over 60 ethnic groups spread across the country, speaking Gur languages (related to the Mossi languages), Fulani, and Mande languages. Because of the large number of ethnic groups, they tend to use French as a lingua franca, and much of modern popular music is sung in French.

The kora is an instrument that has mostly been used by the djeli: a person who is a historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet and/or musician, especially in West Africa. They’re sometimes called a griot (pronounced GREE-oh) and sometimes called bards. The kora originally had seven strings, but later it increased to twenty-one. In its construction, there are some variations of course; however, it tends to be shaped more like a banjo, but it sounds closer to a harp. It can almost be tuned to play major and minor scales that are key to Western music, as well as the Lydian modes (as in medieval music). By moving rings up and down the neck, it can change the “key”. I really like the sound of this instrument. I already own an mbira from Zimbabwe, now I want one of these next. 

Another stringed instrument that is common to this area is the n’goni. It’s able to produce fast-playing accompaniment or melody lines. Some historians believe this instrument may be an ancestor of the banjo, having been brought over by Mande people during the slave trade to North America. Another instrument that also may be related to the modern banjo is the xalam, a skin-covered lute. This guy in the video is playing the n'goni, and he's so amazing to listen to. I want one of these too. 

The balafon is especially popular in the Mande-speaking areas of Burkina Faso. The balafon is a wooden percussion instrument, similar to a xylophone or marimba, and can have 17- 21 keys that are played with rubber mallets (I wonder if there’s something special with the number 21 in West Africa?) It can either be fixed-key (attached to a frame using resonators from a calabash or other gourd) or free-key (the musician will place the keys on any padded surface). Depending on the musician’s cultural background, the balafon is either tuned to a tetratonic [consisting of four notes per octave], pentatonic [having five notes per octave, as if you played only the black keys on a piano – but not The Black Keys, who tend to use heptatonic scales], or heptatonic scales [the most common scales, having seven notes per octave, pretty much the basis of Western music]. This video also highlights the bara drum (in neighboring Mali, the bara is the same as the bendré drum listed below).

The djembe drum is made from a single piece of wood, usually from the caïlcedrat or lenke tree. The city of Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso’s second-largest city, is the main city that manufactures djembe drums. The bendré drum is also played in Burkina Faso. It’s made from a gourd with a head of goat skin or sheep skin. The drummer creates different sounds by striking different areas of the drum head (the center vs. the outer edges).

There is a large museum called the National Museum of Music in the capital city of Ouagadougou. Opened in 1998, it has several hundred musical instruments on display in its collections. 

As far as popular music goes, there aren’t too many artists that have made it big even in the Pan-Africa world of music. One that comes to mind is reggae musician Bingui Jaa Jammy. He has a song on the Putumayo Presents African Reggae CD that I have (a great album, by the way!). I only kept coming up with the same few songs when I did a search, and I was disappointed I couldn’t find a CD. I’m a huge reggae fan, and I’ve been really into African reggae since I found that CD.

The other musician I came across is Hermas Zopoula, whose sound has more of an African pop sound mixed with some flavors of traditional instruments and styles. I found the album Espoir on Spotify, and it’s not bad. I kind of like it.

Dancing is highly integrated into Burkinabé theatre traditions. It’s mostly tied to spiritual rites and ceremonial dances. The dancer is dressed in costume, most likely of a specific spirit, and many times it depicts a story regarding that spirit or a particular event. Most of the times, people will just wear some aspect of traditional dress that is identified with their specific ethnic group. Some dances can be quite acrobatic and take a lot of physical dexterity and/or strength. Sometimes the dancers will affix rattles or metal shakers onto their ankles so that when they dance, it accompanies the dance and accentuates the percussive basis of their music.

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