African artists share traditions
BERKELEY, Calif. -- The African music event of the season isn't just a treat for American audiences.
For the musicians involved in the Putumayo label's extensive "Acoustic Africa" tour, the project is a welcome and all-too-rare opportunity to immerse themselves in the sounds and rhythms of fellow artists from very different traditions.
Featuring South African vocalist Vusi Mahlasela , Malian guitarist Habib Koite , and vocalist, dancer, and percussionist Dobet Gnahore from the Ivory Coast, "Acoustic Africa" arrives in the Boston area tonight in an event presented by World Music/CRASHarts.
"Africa is a big continent and we don't know each other," says Koite, 48, referring to Africa's multiplicity of peoples and cultures. He is relaxing in the green room of Zellerbach Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, after a sound check for a recent show here.
"We have a lot of languages, and sometimes we have to use a Western language to talk between us. For me, 'Acoustic Africa' is a chance to meet and discover and learn some more."
The fact that many of the "Acoustic Africa" musicians are playing traditional instruments such as the marimba-like balafon, the talking drum, and the 21-string harp known as the kora doesn't mean that they play folkloric music. Each headliner has forged a highly personal sound steeped in traditional sources, but porous enough to absorb far-flung influences.
A giant of West African music who hails from a long line of griots, Koite has won a devoted global following with releases on Putumayo and World Village that capture his sizzling guitar work and soulful vocals. Within Mali, his finely honed multiethnic band Bamada has helped forge ties among the country's various peoples by drawing on styles from throughout the large, landlocked nation.
"In the north we have many influences from Arab and Berber music mixed with black African music, and Mauritania and Morocco aren't far off," Koite says. "In the south you have forest music, and when you go east, there are influences from Niger. We have so many different beautiful kinds of traditional songs and rhythms and melodies. I can understand each ethnic music in Mali, because I studied and I have good ears, and I create something with the roots of traditional music."
Mahlasela, 41, is best known in the United States for his collaborations with the Dave Matthews Band, contributing soaring vocals to the title track of the hit 2001 album "Everyday." In South Africa, where he's known as "The Voice," Mahlasela is revered for his role as a leading creative force in the fight against apartheid, and now as a champion of reconciliation.
A guitarist, poet, percussionist, composer, and singer with a multioctave range, Mahlasela is featured in the award-winning documentary "Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony," and he supplied much of the music in the South African film "Tsotsi," which won last year's Academy Award for best foreign language film.
Making her US debut, Gnahore, 23, is the daughter of master percussionist Boni Gnahore ; she grew up immersed in the dance and music of the Bete people. She fled political strife in her native Ivory Coast with her French husband, guitarist Colin Laroche de Feline, and settled in Grenoble, where her charismatic stage presence and striking choreography quickly attracted attention.
With their quartet, they've created a Pan-African, jazz-inflected sound around her rich, multilingual vocals. Whether singing in Bete, Lingala , Fon, or Bambara , Gnahore, like Mahlasela and Koite, often addresses the social problems that plague Africa, such as ethnic violence and AIDS.
"It's very important for me to sing and speak about the problems of life," says Gnahore, speaking in French through a translator. "One of the advantages of being an artist is the possibility of talking about the situation in the country, though I'm also very concerned about Pan-African problems."
All three musicians are featured on the recent Putumayo compilation "Acoustic Africa," the latest in a series of well-conceived albums that have brought a global treasure trove of artists to American audiences.
While Putumayo has released numerous anthologies focusing on artists blending roots music with contemporary genres such as hip-hop, salsa, rock, and electronica, the unplugged emphasis of "Acoustic Africa" is an excellent fit for the musicians on the tour.
Mahlasela, in particular, has made it a mission to promote traditional instruments among young South Africans, who tend to be enamored with Western sounds. He's opened a conservatory in the Mamelodi township outside Pretoria, and is introducing a new generation to folk styles that might otherwise fade away.
"The idea is to try to encourage students to start picking up traditional, indigenous instruments, to fuse them with Western instruments to bring some balance," says Mahlasela. "We had a problem during the time of apartheid. Our radios were controlled by whites, so the music that was recorded with indigenous instruments, they wouldn't play it."
The "Acoustic Africa" tour has evolved into far more than a showcase for three separate acts. The concerts unfold as an evolving collaboration, with each artist contributing to pieces by the other headliners, so that members of Koite's band, Bamada, accompany Gnahore, and her quartet backs Mahlasela. For a rousing closer, the entire cast often joins together for Miriam Makeba's "Pata Pata ," arguably Africa's first international hit recording.
"When we started the tour, we didn't know how it's going to be," Mahlasela says. "Everybody had to come up with songs that they feel comfortable with. We built up the show together. It's not like a producer said, 'You have to do [it] like this.' No, the artists decided. Not just me, Habib, and Dobet ; we did it together with our musicians. That was very good, that we cooked everything together."
