|
|
Article: More from Mali: ngoni masters.(Sound recording review)
- Article from:
- African Business
- Article date:
- January 1, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 IC Publications Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Segu Blue
By Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba
Out Here Records
Cat: OH 007
This is the first solo album by Malian musician and composer Bassekou Kouyate. He is one of the true masters of the ngoni and Segu Blue is a tour de force of this instrument, sometimes described as a West African lute. Unlike the kora, whose history goes back only a few hundred years, the ngoni has been the main instrument in griot storytelling since the 13th century, the days of Soundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire.
The repertoire Bassekou plays is Bambara music from the region of Segu. Bambara music is pentatonic in nature and as close to the ...