My musical education was advanced even further on Thursday evening with another visit to the splendid Howard Assembly Room. Tonight’s lesson was The Music and Instruments of Mali with the teacher being Bassekou Kouyate and his band Ngoni Ba. If all of my academic instructions had been presented like this, I would have left school with more O and A Levels than I could carry. Thankfully the course was heavily skewed towards the practical rather than the theory so a brilliant time was had by the whole class.
Monsieur Kouyate, being from Mali only speaks French and Bambara, one of the indigenous languages, although I suspect his command of English is rather more comprehensive than he would have had us believe, but that doesn’t matter as his prowess on the ngoni means that he has a universal means of communication.
Bassekou Kouyate with ngoni
The ngoni is a stringed instrument made of wood or calabash with an animal skin stretched over it. Although it has been in existence since at least 1352, the ones used in the band – there was also a bass version – were obviously much newer models as they were fitted with electric leads or transmitters and he also had a wah wah pedal! I couldn’t tell how many strings it had but it looked fiendishly difficult to play as the neck was a piece of bamboo so tubular rather than flat like a guitar. I can’t imagine how difficult this would make playing it as, however many strings there were were really close together.
Mamadou Kouyate with bass ngoni
The bass ngoni, played by his son, Mamadou Kouyate, looked a little more manageable being larger, and having a flatter neck but two of the strings were just that, string, of the type any self-respecting Boy Scout would have in his pocket.
Moctar Kouyate on calebasse and cymbals
The other instruments involved were percussion with Moctar Kouyate on calebasse and cymbals and Mahamadou Tounkara, yabara and talking drum. It is a family business with these chaps being the brother and nephew of the band leader respectively. The singer is Amy Sacko, his wife.
Amy Sacko
The range of music was well chosen and varied between traditional Mali compositions which began the programme, progressing through rock, blues and ending up with a rendition of Guantanamera! There was also that dreaded part of the show when we were all encouraged to take part in the singing. Being a Yorkshireman I usually hate this bit, having paid good money to see someone perform I don’t see why I should do their job for them, and audiences are facing the stage rather than being on it for a reason. In this instance, having reluctantly made my contribution, I realised that, when it was over, I had a huge grin on my face.
Each of the musicians was given their fair share of the limelight with two or three solos, an opportunity thankfully not afforded the audience, showing what amazing exponents they were on their instruments. I was absolutely awestruck by them all.
Bassekou Kouyate at one point had the ngoni sounding like what we would think of as a conventional lute and a couple of tunes later made it morph into a rock instrument of which Eric Clapton would be proud. Speaking of God, I particularly enjoyed the beginning of the second half when a couple of chairs had been brought onto the stage so that Kouyate and son could sit down in order to play an African Blues number. It is hardly surprising that it sounded like the American Delta version as that is most likely where the African imported slaves would have been ‘settled’. Had I been paying particular attention to the words I would probably now be able to say Woke up this mornin’ in Bambara.
The African Blues Brothers
Amy Sacko’s voice ranged from the plaintive to the raucous and her dancing added African atmosphere to the evening. The other group members provided the backing giving depth to the songs on which they were featured.
On the subject of dancing, Mahamadou Tounkara, whose solos on the talking drum were incredible, was no slouch when it came to strutting his stuff, even turning his back on the audience to give us the full effect of his twerking. How anyone could get so many different notes from a drum with such a small surface area is beyond me. It is also without my comprehension how he doesn’t break several fingers whilst playing it as it is struck like a bongo with one hand and simultaneously beaten with a bent stick with the other.
Mahamadou Tounkara with yabara and talking drum ready for action
The string strings and skin covering of the bass ngoni gave the sound an individual timbre which, again, suited both quiet and more energetic passages.
Moctar Kouyate on Calabasse also had me wondering how he gets through the performance still in possession of the standard number of fingers, as his instrument, an upturned gourd hemisphere, is struck with his hands as are the cymbals, both with a lot of enthusiasm.
The method of leaving the stage after an encore was done in Fleetwood Mac style with each member separately ghosting away during the last tune, leaving only the twerking drummer to wrap things up.
All in all this was a great night of music, both serious, especially in one piece about showing women the respect they deserve, and frivolous.
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba are in the midst of what looks like a gruelling world tour so to see where they are playing and to get tickets please go to https://www.bassekou.com/upcoming-concerts/
For a sample of their work have a look at this date on the tour. Skip to 30 minutes to hear Mali Rock and 35 minutes for the twerking drummer, alternatively you could watch the full piece, although, like all music, it was much better live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3yYmFwGDyw
For events coming to Howard Assembly Room it is https://www.operanorth.co.uk/howard-assembly-room/ keep checking as I am reliably informed that several more events will be added over the net couple of weeks.
Featured image provided by Opera North. All photographs by Stan Graham
Tyke It To The Limit 