A griot (or traditional West African storyteller) and his n’goni—which is said to be the African ancestor of the banjo. They weave an epic poem here, trotting along at a leisurely pace. I believe the language is Fulfulde… Anyone know? I enjoy the rhythmically minimal n’goni accompaniment Daouda Dembele provides for himself while he recounts the story of El Hadji Sekou Oumar. A little clackity-click of the finger with the darkly repetitive n’goni phrases goes a long way.
This tape is from Mali. There’s a lot of music like this all over the Sahel from Senegal to Nigeria, and beyond. The n’goni is just one of the many instruments used by griots to accompany their stories and praises. Kora is the most internationally famous musical instrument used by some griots.
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xo your fans in DC
word. will do my best with the minsclue amount of time i have these days. unlike you DC peeps, it’s not all El Khartoum and Ben’s Chili Bowl for us New Yorkers….
much respect. looking forward to your forthcoming music, chris.
Hey, I like your blog and was wondering if you could re-up this tape? I am really interested in what it sounds like.
May I ask if someone made you take down the mp3’s?
i have reposted this tape. it was down purely because of server space limitations.
Very nice thank you!
The language is Malinké by the way…
Language is actually Bambara, or Bamanankan. Very closely related to Malinke.
malinké, eh…. thanks very much for letting us know!
Excellent blog! This reminds me of stuff I heard on the radio on a road trip from Dakar to St. Louis, Senegal. Thanks for the music!