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Rhythm Revolution or Transforming Tradition:
A
new generation of Music from Africa
By William Farrington |
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[left to right]:
Mai, King Angelo and Bako on stage at SOBs |
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| The artists on SOB's stage
this past Sunday included
King Angelo, Martin N'Terry, Bako, Mai Lingani, Rascalimu, and Abou
Diarrassouba, representing a broad cross section of contemporary African
musical currents. An 'Africa and the World' production, this show
provided insight into the relationship
between the current generation of continental
Africans and the music of the Diaspora. |
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King Angelo
headlined the event |
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| "My music is the expression of my
Africanaity" Ivorian King Angelo explains," Young people appreciate my
culture through the beat." |
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| Angelo, the evening's headliner, showed
his experience with a hard-edged show that filtered influences of American
rappers. As he explained in an interview following
the show, he considers his music to be a crossroads of Hip-Hop and
African cultures. |
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King Angelo
backstage at SOBs |
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| Bako of Mali, who also rapped a set,
did not feel bound by pure
African traditions and his music was more influenced by
Snoop and Naz. |
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Bako during his
set |
Bako
later joined King Angelo on stage |
| The C.D. he is recording has Raga, Rap and R&B beats. Youths
in Mali are no longer listening to traditional music, Bako relates, yet it
isn't a rejection of his roots - he performs in African attire. |
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| Style and
culture not being bound by locale, still Bako expressed shock that on his
arrival in New York City he found a C.D. that he recorded in Bamako with his
group Black Ise in a Times Square record store. |
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Martin N'Terry of
Burkina Faso |
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| Martin N'Terry finds that in his
homeland of Burkina Faso reggae's spans the generation gap - because it is
music with a message and the theme of his music is one of hope and about the
beauty of being African. |
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Martin N'Terry
provided roots and culture |
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| Martin is currently putting the
finishing touches on his third C.D. which he describes as having a Jamaican
beat, African rhythms, and American style horns. |
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| Ghanaian Rascalimu is exploring the
African music that is the roots of Reggae and
maintains these roots in his performance. |
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Rascalimu on
stage at SOBs |
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| Abou Diarrassouba is a drummer
that is a mainstay of the New York African music scene. |
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| Abou Diarrassouba
[right] provided the rhythm foundation that night |
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| Performing behind
the variety of singers on this night, his new group Kani John and the Exodus
is one of the hottest in the city. It also is a New York melting pot of
musicians brought together by their shared
interest in the music of the Diaspora. |
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| In Burkina Faso Mai Lingani is known
simply as Mai. She is one of the country's best known vocalists. |
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Mai Lingani of
Burkina Faso |
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| Her exceptional voice added depth to
the performances of all the artists and shone particularly during a duet
with King Angelo. |
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| Her unique sound
has earned her respect for her fusion of
African traditions with electronics and experimental compositions. |
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| She has absorbed the rhythms of
her native country as well as of the Bete and Dioalas peoples of thee Ivory
Coast where she was raised and got her start as a performer. |
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| Her musical collaborator for the past
few years, Austrian composer Lukas Ligeti was in the
audience, and they will perform here Sunday before Mai returns to Burkina
Faso. |
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A duet with Mai
and King Angelo |
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| Reaching back into the generation’s
musical traditions and transforming them in highly personal ways, the
expression of each of these passionate artists stands on its own, yet
reflects restless creativity of contemporary life, from the frontiers of the
Diaspora as well as the contemporary urban African culture. |
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