maskedman72 said:
rimshot-now thats what im talking about! shit ,i wish we didnt live so far apart! i went to the starwood fest and saw 2 of the sickest players, one was sikeou keita from backa beyond and the other was this jamicain guy named eeasy from ny. moussa is the best ive heard. i buy all of my drums from a guy in nyc (mike markus)that has a performance group called magbana.(www.magbana.com). i have a drum made of khadi and one made of lenge and they sound amazing. youve played with madou? he is great! do you have mousa'a cd called mali foli? you can get it at www.talkingdrumrecords.com it is awesome! he was also in a group called the bomani drummers and i cant find the cd anywhere. i have heard it and it shreads.
Hi Maskedman,
Yeah, I've heard the Moussa cd. It's available on his site as well as a few other places, he's great.Fortunately for us all here in the States, many of the great djembefolas live here now and share their knowledge. If you are not familiar with Mamady Keita's work, you must give him a listen. He is the grandmaster of grandmasters. This isn't just my opinion, but it's a distinction given to him by other grand masters. There are only currently five(5) living in the world today.
Are you familiar with African Rhythm Traders?
www.africanrhythmtraders.com
They are an American business based in the Northwest and they are a reputable source for purchasing recordings, skins, rope, rings, etc.
I know Michael Marcus and he has a good following and a good group of people around him. I deal directly with the West Africans living here in NY and usually buy djembe and dunnun shells directly from them and head them myself. I head and tune my djembes(Jimbes, Yembes, Sangbanyes) very high and sharp (think like Madou's djembes) and I cannot usually play with most of the "American style" djembe players who tune their drums very low and dead. (I think it's the fault of all the "Deadhead" types at the drum circles). I prefer playing with the West Africans.
There is one great djembe player that I know of that lives in your part of the country and that is Mor Thiam. He used to be the the drum master for "Les Ballet Nacionale de Senegal" and I know that he lived in Detroit and also in Chicago (I'm not sure which city is his primary residence). He definitely has some serious chops.
There's a recording of me playing djembe on Richard Monroe's recent cd, "Reunions". It is on his cover of Gershwin's "Summertime" (very creatively arranged) and I'm providing the pulse with a traditional djembe pattern (It's actually a common pattern used as the top line for "Morabyassa", "Djole" and the Wassalon version of "Soboninkun"). It's rather simple playing as that's all the music called for, but you can get an idea of my djembe tone even though it was heavily EQ'ed to tone it down.
Both Famoudou Konate and Mamady Keita have "realbooks" out on the arrangements and traditional patterns of Malinke music. These are available through African Rhythm Traders.
Good luck to you. It's a plesure to find some one else as interested in this great music.
-Jeff
