In review--Music for a Brave New World

-
Mamadou Diabate
Courage
World Village


The old year has barely turned over and already the stunning fifth recording, Courage by Malian kora master Mamadou Diabate, arrived on the scene. Following his Grammy Award winning Douga Mansa (2009), the new recording leans towards a fuller more contemporary sound. The kora pairs up with ngoni (Malian banjo), balaphone, calabash and djembe. The playing here is fiery one minute with rapid notes of the kora glimmering over the top of the other instruments, and ethereal on some tracks. Yet, even those ethereal moments find themselves locked in a West African groove. 


A West African griot, Diabate walks the talk, and though the songs are instrumental, the musician punctuates his liner notes with morality lessons and tributes. On the track Bogna, Diabate offers these wise words about music in general, “Respect is the healing medicine of peace. Peace is the healing medicine of love. Love is the healing medicine of life. Life is the healing medicine of hope.” The musician believes in delivering positive messages in his music and just hearing this collaborative effort brings a smile to my face.


Diabate cites in the press notes something I feel like quoting because it speaks to my heart. “I believe that the problems you receive from the outside are not supposed to be part of your music or your soul. I believe that music is a good thing to heal people’s spirit. So you have to write good songs from that place…I don’t like songs that have bad meaning…” Perhaps it is this sentiment combined with the sheer beauty of Malian music that has turned my head in the direction of that West African nation--poor economically, but wealthy in musical expression.  Any sensitive person can't help but to fall in love with Malian music.


In that regard, Courage sounds like an embarrassment of riches and fans of this type of music will feel like they’re basking in the lap of musical luxury. First we’re treated to masterful kora that is combined with virtuoso playing all around. The four musicians create music that resonates throughout the body with the shimmering notes of sounding off the kora, followed by the bubbly sound of the balaphone and locked down by acoustic bass, and percussion. The track Humanity ripples off the disc, then is greeted by the radiant track Macky where you can hear the slapping sound of the calabashes and bass framing the kora grooves. 

But Kita Djely, dedicated to Diabate's birth town, stands out as my favorite on the album.  It's hard to sit here and type this review with that song playing.  It reminds me of a saying by Samite, "In Africa if you don't dance to the music, you insult the musicians."


I realize that the year has only begun, but already I’m wondering what other musical gems are in store. Will this be a year of musical masters uplifting us from the doldrums? When you hear music this beautiful played by humanity for humanity, you can’t help but garner hope for a better future.


http://www.worldvillagemusic.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Peyote Songs & The Native American Church

-
Image
Father Peyote: Songs of the Native American Church Introduction to the Peyote Church Ceremony This is an archival article written in 2003.  It's not updated.  For more recent recordings, go to Canyon Records website, http://www.canyonrecords.com When some people speak of Native American ceremonies, the peyote ceremony or the ingestion of the hallucinogen peyote (contains mescaline) usually surfaces. However, there is too much false information being passed around in the non-native community surrounding peyote meetings. The first thing people need to know about the Native American connection to peyote is that the plant is sacred medicine ingested as a sacrament during healing ceremonies of the Native American Church. The second thing, people need to know is that the Native American Church is not a set structure like the Christian Church. The peyote meeting could take place in a Navajo hogan or a teepee. And finally, since the peyote meeting does in part derive from Nat
Read more

21st Century Musical Healer Series--Heather Hannan

-
Image
 Healing with Sound and Reiki Based in Toronto, Canada, Heather Hannan has proven with her own life healing experiences the enormous power of sound frequencies. She acts as a bridge between the mundane world (real estate) to other spiritual dimensions (past life regressions, quantum physics, Reiki, sound frequencies,  and other cutting edge work). I met Heather through my Linked In group Musical Healers and I'm delighted to include her work and insights on this blog. As you know, raising music and sound consciousness takes a world-size village of folks, just like Heather dedicating their lives to working with the healing power of sound.  Whole Music: When did you discover and begin exploring sound healing? Heather Hannan: Ten years ago I was at a crossroads in my life and looking for a group of like-minded people with whom to explore my gifts and talents through meditation. Little did I know that via the meditation group I joined I would be invited to
Read more

Talking about Timbre

-
Image
Wikipedia As I mention in my book Whole Music , when I was a child I fell in love with timbre and the voices of the individual instruments we listened to in music class.  Each instrument conjured a specific emotions or feeling in me.  The French horn caused me to feel majestic and the cello invoked melancholy.  My moods would shift with each instrument that I heard and my moods would shift quickly. Today, I listen to more than timbre, but I have an understanding of how tone, frequencies of the tone and timbre (the color of the tone) affect me on all levels.  And I wonder what listening to an entire symphony does with its many voices, themes, keys, musical passages etc... In the concept of "whole music" I prefer not to separate musical components, but in the case of this post, I will present solo instruments for your listening and feeling pleasure. If you keep a music journal (and I hope that you do by now), write down the emotions that come up with each instrument.  R
Read more