Today’s post takes an exciting departure from my typical in-studio interview sessions at Voice of America headquarters. This time, I brought Voice of America with me to the University of Maryland to record an African music event entitled “Music, Mali, and Citizen Diplomacy“.

I also sat on the panel of this unique performance and discussion program as a Malian music expert. What made this event exceptional was the representation at once of Malian griot music (or jeliya) by Trio Da Kali and Malian rap by Amkoullel. Together, they represented the two sides of Malian music culture. One was the hereditary caste of wordsmiths who carry the torch of collective memory in their ancient music, stories, and speech. The other was the free-wheeling rappers who, though wordsmiths in their own right, come to music as a profession through their own means and ways and are known as artistes.

The event was part of a larger U.S. tour series that featured a brilliant collaborative performance between Mali’s Trio Da Kali and America’s own Kronos Quartet.

This first video includes the songs “Kalimba” and “Ladilikan” (:36-5:48), performed by the amazing Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté on vocals, Fodé Lassana Diabaté on balafon, and Mamadou Kouyaté on bass ngoni. Ethnomusicologist, radio host, and music producer Lucy Duran explains (in English) the fascinating background and meaning of “Ladilikan” as an interpretation of American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson‘s song “I’m Going to Live the Life I Sing About in My Song”. This song is one of the collaborative  works of Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet.

At 5:50, the panel talks about Malian music and rapper Amkoullel joins Trio Da Kali from 9:56-16:02 in an impromptu performance. The last segment features another impromptu collaboration with Amkoullel and myself!

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Two nights later, I attended the concert with Kronos Quartet. This was their debut performance together and with the permission of Lucy Duran, the Aga Khan Music Initiavie and the Clarice Center for the Performing Arts, I offer this delicious musical excerpt. The song is “Diaraby” — one of the foundational classics in griot (jeli) repertoire.

The concert was breathtaking. Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté’s rich, round, powerful voice never missed its mark. Her theatrics were equally on point, charming us all through gestures and expressions that transcended the language barrier. Fodé Lassana Diabaté’s virtuosic playing and jaw dropping execution of rapid fire riffs up and down the balafon was flawless. At times he and David Harrington, the first violinist (and founder) of Kronos, traded off musical phrases and ideas in playful spirit that drew giggles from the audience. Other moments of note featured unexpected string quartet passages from Kronos that opened up new dimensions of Trio Da Kali’s classics, experimental balafon melodic passages that evoked hints of jazz and blues, and a thrilling rendition of another gospel song by Mahalia Jackson “God Shall Wipe All Tears Away.”

Fodé Lassana Diabaté on balafon

After a robust standing ovation, a discussion with the artists followed. The audience was curious and unquestionably moved by this stunning concert. Hands kept popping up with more questions about both groups’ processes of collaboration, their repertoires, and the way they communicated musically during the performance, among other things. One woman who prefaced her question with the disclaimer that she didn’t know anything about music “I’m an architect”, she said, criticized the groups for not collaborating enough. It was her feeling that the griots of Trio Da Kali stayed too traditional while Kronos adapted their music too much; that the give and take from one tradition to the other was not equal. Fortunately one Malian in the audience quickly rebuked by saying that for Malian ears Trio Da Kali was making dramatic, if not  historic, departures from jeli music. Many others in the audience confirmed and another round of applause ensued. Not that we don’t love classic jeliya but this new sound of Trio Da Kali is irresistible.The Trio Da Kali – Kronos Quartet US Tour blazed an exciting path, and I for one, can’t wait to hear more from them soon.

Mamadou Kouyaté – bass ngoni.

Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté

Trio Da Kali and Amkoullel. Seated: Heather Maxwell, David Crocker, and Lucy Duran (not visible).

As part of the 2013 Caravan for Peace Tour, Tartit was the second Malian group to come through Washington D.C. on July 29th. This post features my interview with them in French — with English subtitles. It was a thrill to see Disco again (Fadimata Walet Omar) after ten years. If you haven’t learned about Tuareg music or women yet, I guarantee you will be enlightened. 

For two, hot summer weeks in June and July of 2003, I shared the stage every day with the musical group called Tartit. The venue was the Smithsonian’s annual Folklife Festival sprawled out in tents,  food trucks and open-aired performance spaces along the length of Washington D.C.’s national mall. That year, the Republic of Mali was one of the three featured regions and I was invited to be one of its music presenters. Every day from morning to night, I presented many of Mali’s  superstars such as Oumou Sangare, Neba Solo, Mariam Bagayogo, as well as lesser known regional stars like Tabital Pulaku from the northern region of Mopti, and Tartit from the northern region of Timbuktu.

Fadimata Walet Omar, the leader and spokesperson of the group, spoke only broken French and no English at all.o I was her English interpreter on stage. I remember being struck by the things she said in regards to the fierce independence and power of Tuareg women in Mali. Her ensemble also surprised me: women playing one-string fiddles (that sound like four-strings), mortar drums, singing in Tamashek and producing ululations of many colors.

They pounded out rhythms based on variations of  the Sahelian camel’s gait. I also had the job of interpreting this music to assist the thousands of eager tourists who, standing before us day in and day out, wanted to dance and clap to it but didn’t know how. Fortunately, I learned how to clap and move to the rhythms efficiently because Tartit (and all of the other musical acts) gave three to four repeat performances every day. By the end of the two weeks, I was an honorary member and friend of Fadimata, the group, as well as Tuareg music and culture.

Ten years later in 2013, we meet again in the video featured here. We are again in Washington D.C. but this time we’re in the studio of the Voice of America. Tartit is with me again. But this time, as refugees living in Burkina Faso and Mauritania as a consequence of the 2012 civil war in Mali. They come with strong messages of women’s rights, democracy, literacy, and most of all, the hope for peace and unity in Mali.

Amadou Bagayoko with Amadou & Mariam before their show at 9:30 Club, Washington D.C. June 18th, 2013. Photo by Heather Maxwell

A tidal wave of Malian music surged upon the eastern coastal cities of the United States last month and, lucky for us, it hit Washington D.C. with beautiful, overwhelming force. Amadou and Miriam performed a killer, June 18th concert at the 9:30 Club followed by the female-led Tuareg group called Tartit on July 29th. Then the real surge in September crested with performances by Bassekou Kouyaté, Sidi Touré, Mamadou Kelly, Leila Gobi, with Vieux Farka Touré.

Tartit warming up in Studio 4 for Music Time in Africa Session. VOA, Washington D.C. July 29th, 2013. Photo by Heather Maxwell

Leila Gobi performing at Tropicalia in Washington D.C. September 29th, 2013. Photo by Heather Maxwell

All of these musicians are part of the “Caravan for Peace Tour,” a global concert series sponsored by the Timbuktu-based music festival, Festival au Désert. This tour “in exile” has been underway since the 2012 coup d’état in Mali that forced many musicians to flee for fear of persecution. The coup also forced the country’s two, high-profile international music festivals to cancel; the Festival sûr le Niger and the Festival au Désert. The latter cancelled in Timbuktu but then re-invented itself as an international tour or “caravan” of prominent Malian musicians who would play for peace to return to their homeland.

Today’s post features Bassekou Kouyaté. He performed with his group N’goni Ba at the Atlas in Washington on September 20th.  The following morning Bassekou and most of the group (a few stayed behind to sleep in at the hotel) came to the Voice of America as my special guests on Music Time in Africa.

In the video clip below, N’goni Ba performs three songs:  “Mali Ko” (“Oh, Mali”) and “Ne Me Fatigue Pas” (“Don’t Tire Me”)  are from their latest, 2013 CD entitled Jama Ko, and “Ngoni Fola” (“The N’goni Player”).  Bassekou speaks enthusiastically about his recent induction into the Afropop Hall of Fame in New York on September 19th which coincided with the inauguration of Mali’s new President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (IBK). He’s also excited about his chance at another Grammy nomination this year.  Oh, and make sure you check out his use of the wah-wah and other pedal effects on his n’goni!

In addition to this Studio 4 session with Bassekou, my future blog posts will feature others from the Caravan for Peace Tour: Tartit, Mamadou Kelly, and Noura Mint Seymali (from Mauritania). Fortunately the inauguration of Mali’s new president has brought great potential for peace and unity in the country and for the return of its talented musicians. Both major music festivals, the Festival au Désert and the Festival sûr le Niger are back on the books for 2014. The Caravan for Peace tour will hopefully and forever be a one-hit-wonder.

Special thanks to Matt Greenhill from FLi Artists FolkLore International for serving as interpreter.