Post by Stephen on Jun 13, 2004 15:30:03 GMT -5
Onzou Records www.onzou.com
Available at CD Baby, www.cdbaby.com/all/onzourecords
Yaya Diallo's Live at Club Soda album with his band KANZA takes a dramatic shift from his earlier albums: Nangape, The Healing Drum, Dounoukan, and Dombaa Folee by transposing traditional village music to Occidental instruments. Yaya Diallo's innovative music gives solo voice to all the instruments within an African rhythmic structure. This music recorded live at Montreal's Club Soda February 19, 1989 is reminiscent of 1950's rock and roll, blues and jazz. The sound swings to a beat driven by the Dounouba and spoken to by the Djembe drums. Does the new direction mean Yaya has abandoned traditional music. Not at all, Kanza music was conceived as a means of maintaining interest in traditional music.
KANZA
Kanza is a very new concept within the Minianka musical culture in the region west of the city of Koutiala. This kind of music is a fusion of the past and the present. It opens the door to the future.
"Music, in addition to being an art, remains a stimulus for work. Rhythmic music (drumming) stirs the soul of man. the human being moves with the rhythm. To help a farmer work fast, he needs a drummer who accompanies him. Music is hte "boss" in Africa; it regulates the rhythm of work. In a work group, one needs a musician; he stirs lazy people, interrupts conversations during work. One needs a type of music for each category of workers. The shepard who pastures his flock all day plays a flute or singled-stringed guitar. He follows the rhythm of the flock. Work [which is] physical requires rhythmic muisc; another [kind] which is long and exacting requires melodies. The inverse can distract or disturb. Work and partying are mixed."
Source: Yaya Diallo, "At the Threshold of the African Soul," INTERculture 141, (October 2001): 34.
To motivate, the musician has to sing magic songs, to say exciting words to each worker. In Mali, the motivating words are called: "Mai sonyi" in Mininaka and "Fassan" in Bambara.
What about the new generation?
The professions and the social values change. It is more and more difficult to motiviate the young people today with ancestral songs. It is time to create a new style of music that can reconcile the elders and the young people. In the 50's, people from the villages of Djele, N'Tosso and Nampropela created the concept of KANZA. Groups of workers and farmers decided to mix the ancestral music with the music of young people.
New musical ensembles were born in Minianka. Samba the apprentice trucker is a good examble of this new era. To be a trucker is a new profession for us in Africa, so that needs a new music.
So what's new?
The new elements of Kanza are:
- The speed of the music, you have to play fast.
-The mix of different kinds of sounds
-The dance is for everyone, no age, no gender divisions.
-More room for creativity and improvisation, but one must respect the basic foundations of the music: no folly, no madness.
The instruments used by the ensemble of Kanza are:
- 2 Balafons (mother and child)
- 2 Bafokos (mother and child)
- 1 Tama (Talking drum0>
- 1 N'Pingoulere (Dounou) with a bell.
- 1 Haranga
- 2 lead vocalists
- The ensemble of all the dancers who dance in the circle respond to the leaders. The songs don't have any harmony. Everyone can sing.
Based on the basic principles of Kanza, I transposed the traditional music to western instruments. The fact that I am a Foula led me to choose the violin and the saxophone to play the solo parts. The other instruments are: one or two electric guitars, bass guitar, drum set, tama, bafoko, two djembes and one dounouba. The mix of these instruments gives a unique sound. My Chinese friend Dr. Han said, "Yaya, you are a Taoist; your music sounds like the music of eastern China, " I laughed and said, "That's good news, I can sell one CD of 1 dollar apiece to each Chinese and I will be a billionaire."
To conclude, "Kanza" is the past, the present and the future at the same time.
Tracks:
Samba the Trucker 5:41
Sewa Nimo 11:21
Gifono: 4:45
Chechon (The Skunk) 3:05
Forgeron (The Blacksmith) 6:25
Nakan 7:30
Teli 12:45
Makanou 4:44
Listen to Yaya Diallo's music on New Music Canada, www.newmusiccanada.com/genres/artist.cfm?Band_id=7862
Available at CD Baby, www.cdbaby.com/all/onzourecords
Yaya Diallo's Live at Club Soda album with his band KANZA takes a dramatic shift from his earlier albums: Nangape, The Healing Drum, Dounoukan, and Dombaa Folee by transposing traditional village music to Occidental instruments. Yaya Diallo's innovative music gives solo voice to all the instruments within an African rhythmic structure. This music recorded live at Montreal's Club Soda February 19, 1989 is reminiscent of 1950's rock and roll, blues and jazz. The sound swings to a beat driven by the Dounouba and spoken to by the Djembe drums. Does the new direction mean Yaya has abandoned traditional music. Not at all, Kanza music was conceived as a means of maintaining interest in traditional music.
KANZA
Kanza is a very new concept within the Minianka musical culture in the region west of the city of Koutiala. This kind of music is a fusion of the past and the present. It opens the door to the future.
"Music, in addition to being an art, remains a stimulus for work. Rhythmic music (drumming) stirs the soul of man. the human being moves with the rhythm. To help a farmer work fast, he needs a drummer who accompanies him. Music is hte "boss" in Africa; it regulates the rhythm of work. In a work group, one needs a musician; he stirs lazy people, interrupts conversations during work. One needs a type of music for each category of workers. The shepard who pastures his flock all day plays a flute or singled-stringed guitar. He follows the rhythm of the flock. Work [which is] physical requires rhythmic muisc; another [kind] which is long and exacting requires melodies. The inverse can distract or disturb. Work and partying are mixed."
Source: Yaya Diallo, "At the Threshold of the African Soul," INTERculture 141, (October 2001): 34.
To motivate, the musician has to sing magic songs, to say exciting words to each worker. In Mali, the motivating words are called: "Mai sonyi" in Mininaka and "Fassan" in Bambara.
What about the new generation?
The professions and the social values change. It is more and more difficult to motiviate the young people today with ancestral songs. It is time to create a new style of music that can reconcile the elders and the young people. In the 50's, people from the villages of Djele, N'Tosso and Nampropela created the concept of KANZA. Groups of workers and farmers decided to mix the ancestral music with the music of young people.
New musical ensembles were born in Minianka. Samba the apprentice trucker is a good examble of this new era. To be a trucker is a new profession for us in Africa, so that needs a new music.
So what's new?
The new elements of Kanza are:
- The speed of the music, you have to play fast.
-The mix of different kinds of sounds
-The dance is for everyone, no age, no gender divisions.
-More room for creativity and improvisation, but one must respect the basic foundations of the music: no folly, no madness.
The instruments used by the ensemble of Kanza are:
- 2 Balafons (mother and child)
- 2 Bafokos (mother and child)
- 1 Tama (Talking drum0>
- 1 N'Pingoulere (Dounou) with a bell.
- 1 Haranga
- 2 lead vocalists
- The ensemble of all the dancers who dance in the circle respond to the leaders. The songs don't have any harmony. Everyone can sing.
Based on the basic principles of Kanza, I transposed the traditional music to western instruments. The fact that I am a Foula led me to choose the violin and the saxophone to play the solo parts. The other instruments are: one or two electric guitars, bass guitar, drum set, tama, bafoko, two djembes and one dounouba. The mix of these instruments gives a unique sound. My Chinese friend Dr. Han said, "Yaya, you are a Taoist; your music sounds like the music of eastern China, " I laughed and said, "That's good news, I can sell one CD of 1 dollar apiece to each Chinese and I will be a billionaire."
To conclude, "Kanza" is the past, the present and the future at the same time.
Tracks:
Samba the Trucker 5:41
Sewa Nimo 11:21
Gifono: 4:45
Chechon (The Skunk) 3:05
Forgeron (The Blacksmith) 6:25
Nakan 7:30
Teli 12:45
Makanou 4:44
Listen to Yaya Diallo's music on New Music Canada, www.newmusiccanada.com/genres/artist.cfm?Band_id=7862