Musigam (Gambian Musician’s Union)

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Kathryn Burrington

Sulay from Musigam

With my interest in world music it is hardly surprising that many of my friends in The Gambia are musicians and I know how little they get paid. In fact by the time they have paid for a taxi to take their instruments home after a gig there is virtually nothing left!

Over the past three years a group of Gambian musicians led by Sulay Sowe have been trying to set up a musicians union in The Gambia and in May last year “Musigam” went to congress and was officially inaugurated.

Musigam’s core objectives are to raise the status of musicians in The Gambia, to enhance the profile of Gambian music and culture, to set a reasonable rate of pay for artists and to carry out cultural exchanges with world musicians and academics.

A recent fund-raiser in the UK was a great success and featured musicians’ such as Juldeh Camara (from Brikama and recent winner of Radio 3’s World Music Award) and Musa Mboob (originally from Serekunda). They hope to have raised enough to employe someone to man the union’s office in The Gambia, lobbying for fair rates of pay whilst also preserving and developing the musical cultural heritage in The Gambia.

For more information you can contact Musigam at musigam@gmail.com

Musigam’s next event is a concert in The Gambia for World Music Day, 21st June 2009.

Nyodema’s Gospel Sing for The Gambia

Posted on May 27, 2009 by Kathryn Burrington

Singing for The Gambia with Daniel Thomas

Nyodema’s Gospel Sing for The Gambia (Saturday 16th May, Bognor Regis, West Sussex) was a great success. Vocal coach, Daniel Thomas, former choir director of the London Community Gospel Choir, worked us hard so that by the end of the day we could perform four beautiful songs to an audience of friends and family. Everyone was amazed at how much had been achieved in just one day. Daniel’s reputation as one of the best vocal coaches in Europe is well justified. The day was great fun and inspirational and it was wonderful to see a group of people of all ages, most of whom had never meet before, come together and produce such wonderful music.

Proceeds from the day will go towards Nyodema’s on going work with health and education in The Gambia.

Gospel sing for The Gambia

Below are some comments from people who took part in the workshop:

“Amazing day, well planned and exciting. Musically inspirational, enjoyable, pitched at the level of those aged from twelve to sixty! A wonderful way to raise money for the charity, while the ‘choir’ went from nowhere to everywhere in 6 hours, and revelled in the successful performance at the end of the day.” Geraldine Allchurch, Head of Music, Bourne Community College (workshop participant)

“We both enjoyed the singing and it was obviously a success all round. … one lad brought tears to my eyes and made the hairs on the back of my neck curl…
… how wonderful it was for building a community spirit.“ Eileen (audience member)

“When I walked in and heard the ‘choir’ I was amazed at how wonderful it sounded. I didn’t want it to end.” Peter (audience member)

For more photos of the event see the Nyodema Flickr stream

For more information on Nyodema please visit the page on the main Gambia Experience site. Stay in touch for future events!

For more on Daniel Thomas please see the British Gospel Arts website.

Daniel Thomases latest release – Higher-High

Justin Adams’ and Juldeh Camara’s Tell No Lies

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Kathryn Burrington

The Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara Trio

Since their success at the 2008 Radio 3 World Music Awards for their initial collaboration “Soul Science”, British guitarist and producer Justin Adams and Gambian griot and virtuoso of the African riti (one stringed fiddle), Juldeh Camara, have moved on to produce a more confident album reflecting a deeper understanding of each others music. The new album Tell No Lies, was released on May 11th and is receiving excellent reviews across the board and the album is set to be another great success. Below are some useful links:

You can download a free mp3 of Kele Kele by Justin and Juldeh at the Real World Records Site.
An excellent review of the album at Times Online
Read a review of the album over on The Guardian website.
Juldeh Camara’s MySpace page, where you can hear some of his music.
A fascinating interview with the duo on the Dirty Linen blog, including details of their upcoming world tour.

The video below is for ‘Ya Ta Kaaya’ from Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara’s Soul Science.

Bela Fleck traces the banjo’s roots in Africa

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Matt Smith

Bela Fleck in The Gambia

Bela Fleck has for many years been one of the world’s premier banjo players. In 2005 he decided to trace the banjo’s roots back to the heart of Africa – the instrument’s birthplace. It has long been thought that the banjo was introduced to the west by African slaves, who carried the instrument with them on their long tortuous journeys from the mainland. The Gambia was one of Fleck’s early stopping points where he played with a host of musicians – the results of which can be heard on the album he has recently released to celebrate his journey: Throw Down Your Heart.

There are a number of fascinating articles about Fleck’s journey, but two of the best are available at the BBC site (including a wonderful slide show of Sascha Paladino’s photographs and an audio commentary from Fleck himself) and over at Pop Matters. There is also a fantastic session at NPR featuring Fleck playing with the legendary Malian kora master, Toumani Diabate.

See also the short video below, showing a brief account of Fleck’s journey.

Baaba Maal on Desert Island Discs

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Matt Smith

Baaba Maal, African soul rebel. Photo by {link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/abudoma/3361015084/}Abudoma{/link}

The Gambia is entirely surrounded by Senegal; and consequently the two countries’ peoples share tribal origins, languages and a good deal of history and culture. Both countries have thriving music scenes yet in terms of breaking through to the international scene, Senegal is somewhat out there on its own.

Baaba Maal, the Senegalese genius, has been on these shores in the last few weeks – playing the African Soul Rebels tour amongst other things (with Oliver Mtukudzi and Extra Golden). Whilst here he was also a guest of Kirsty Young’s on Desert Island Discs. He made some fascinating choices – from ‘So What’, the opening track on Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, to ‘Boulmamine’ by Orchestra Baobab, another Senegalese band that are well worth checking out. The full list is below:

1. Boulmamine
Performer Orchestra Baobab, Ndiouga Dieng
Composer Ndiouga Dieng
CD Title Orchestra Baobab: Bamba
Track 2
Label STERN’S AFRICA
Rec No STCD3003

2. Lion
Performer Burning Spear
Composer W. Rodney
CD Title Burning Spear: Reggae Greats
Track 3
Label MANGO (Island Records Ltd.)
Rec No CIDRG5

3. Amen
Performer Otis Redding
Composer Trad.
CD Title Otis Redding Story
Track Disc 3 Track 9
Label ATLANTIC
Rec No 7567817622

4. Ame
Performer Bebe Manga
CD Title Golden Afrique Vol.1
Track Disc 1
Track 2
Label NETWORK
Rec No B00076PZPC

5. Noir C’est Noir
Performer Johnny Hallyday
Composer Chris Long/Johnny Hallyday
CD Title Johnny Hallyday: No. 9
Track 7
Label PHILIPS
Rec No 5469482

6. Senegal-Mauritanie
Performer Kaouding Cissoko
Composer Kaouding Cissoko
CD Title Kora Revolution
Track 10
Label PALM PICTURES
Rec No YOFFCD 0032

6. So What
Performer Miles Davis
Composer Miles Davis
CD Title Miles Davis: Kind Of Blue
Track 1
Label COLUMBIA
Rec No CK64935

7. One Love/People Get Ready
Performer Bob Marley
Composer Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield
CD Title Legend The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers
Track 9
Label TUFF GONG
Rec No 5489042

Baaba Maal is also giving away a free mp3 on his website – a version of ‘Koni’ featuring the Jamaican guitar legen Ernerst Ranglin, taken from his live acoustic album, On The Road. It’s a gorgeous track and well worth downloading. You can get it by simply clicking on the link below.

Download: Baaba Maal – Koni (feat. Ernest Ranglin)