Seckou Keita
Last night in an intimate 60-seater venue in Belper, Derbyshire I was lucky enough to see the Kora master Seckou Keita.
Since booking the tickets I'd been puzzling as to how this concert came about - one of my favourite Kora players 15 mins away? In a tiny venue?
All was revealed - Alex Wilson, a native of Belper was the missing link.
Alex Wllson is responsible for, amongst much more (including some great salsa and also jazz)
He and Seckou have worked on many projects together.
Overall the concert was uplifting, heartwarming at times poignant - a constant issue with WM is that the lyrics are not always understood, many of them were explained last night - a revelation to discover that this track, Mikhi Nathan Mu Toma - The Invisible Man, is about Seckou's father with whom he lost touch at the age of 3 months. In Seckou's words 'the pattern of the music is up and down, like my search for my father'.
Seckou has a mischievous sense of humour:
The demographic was elderly, white and middle-class, many of whom had proudly donned African print attire - the small cafe was also bedecked with Batik prints. Belper became an African lounge for the night, although I suspect if the concert was in Senegal it would only now be finishing.
In my ideal world, this would have been an open air free concert in the small marketplace outside where there was a much broader demographic - we sat in a pub next to the venue before the concert and could hear Seckou tuning up - so could everyone else and the comment were unanimously favourable - 'lovely twangling'.
Two koras, one double headed, both beautiful objects - Seckou is beyond doubt a master of composition and performance on this instrument.
He played a mixture of classics, track from the Clychau Dibon, album with Catrin Finch, and many tracks from his 22 strings album - an especial favourite being If Only I knew a song inspired by his grandfather and mentor.
The sound of the kora so close up is even better than on a stage - the acoustics and sounds levels were good.
Remembering that the 22 strings of the kora are only played with 2 thumbs and 2 fingers, one thumb playing bass, one playing melody the fingers playing contrapuntal improvisations, the sound continues to beguile.
We finished the evening with a rousing call and response effort accompanied by Seckou on a talking drum.
After a quick chat with Seckou:
'What do you reckon to that Toumani Diabate then mate?'
'Class, pure class. He's recording with that Elton John next' **
we departed.
** Ok, that's a joke but Robbie Williams did sample a track from Clychau Dibon apparently.
Since booking the tickets I'd been puzzling as to how this concert came about - one of my favourite Kora players 15 mins away? In a tiny venue?
All was revealed - Alex Wilson, a native of Belper was the missing link.
Alex Wllson is responsible for, amongst much more (including some great salsa and also jazz)
He and Seckou have worked on many projects together.
Overall the concert was uplifting, heartwarming at times poignant - a constant issue with WM is that the lyrics are not always understood, many of them were explained last night - a revelation to discover that this track, Mikhi Nathan Mu Toma - The Invisible Man, is about Seckou's father with whom he lost touch at the age of 3 months. In Seckou's words 'the pattern of the music is up and down, like my search for my father'.
Seckou has a mischievous sense of humour:
the strings of a kora are made from fishing line. This mean that if a player fails at the kora he can always become a fisherman. And that way perhaps catch a tuna
The demographic was elderly, white and middle-class, many of whom had proudly donned African print attire - the small cafe was also bedecked with Batik prints. Belper became an African lounge for the night, although I suspect if the concert was in Senegal it would only now be finishing.
In my ideal world, this would have been an open air free concert in the small marketplace outside where there was a much broader demographic - we sat in a pub next to the venue before the concert and could hear Seckou tuning up - so could everyone else and the comment were unanimously favourable - 'lovely twangling'.
Two koras, one double headed, both beautiful objects - Seckou is beyond doubt a master of composition and performance on this instrument.
He played a mixture of classics, track from the Clychau Dibon, album with Catrin Finch, and many tracks from his 22 strings album - an especial favourite being If Only I knew a song inspired by his grandfather and mentor.
The sound of the kora so close up is even better than on a stage - the acoustics and sounds levels were good.
Remembering that the 22 strings of the kora are only played with 2 thumbs and 2 fingers, one thumb playing bass, one playing melody the fingers playing contrapuntal improvisations, the sound continues to beguile.
We finished the evening with a rousing call and response effort accompanied by Seckou on a talking drum.
After a quick chat with Seckou:
'What do you reckon to that Toumani Diabate then mate?'
'Class, pure class. He's recording with that Elton John next' **
we departed.
** Ok, that's a joke but Robbie Williams did sample a track from Clychau Dibon apparently.
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