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In 1984, a young Guinean griot (hereditary) musician, who already had a stellar career in West Africa, decamped to Paris and took the European dance floors by storm. Mory Kanté’s formula was simple, but revolutionary: he transformed a traditional Mande griot love tune into a pop song by adding funky chords, driving dance beats, catchy choruses, soaring vocals and mesmerizing jazz like solos on... Learn More »In 1984, a young Guinean griot (hereditary) musician, who already had a stellar career in West Africa, decamped to Paris and took the European dance floors by storm. Mory Kanté’s formula was simple, but revolutionary: he transformed a traditional Mande griot love tune into a pop song by adding funky chords, driving dance beats, catchy choruses, soaring vocals and mesmerizing jazz like solos on electric kora. The song was ‘Yéké Yéké’, and it changed the face of modern African music. Re-recorded in 1987 and released on the album Akwaba Beach, it reached the top of the European charts, selling a million copies. It has since been covered in many languages around the world and been remixed dozens of times: indeed, one version was used on the soundtrack of the film The Beach.
Six more albums followed, all in a similar dance vein. It was fine work, but increasingly his fans were hoping for something more acoustic. And at last, in 2002, following the resounding success of his semi-acoustic show for the Dunya Foundation’s Windows To The World festival in Rotterdam, Mory Kanté decided to record an acoustic album – Sabou.
‘Sabou’ means ‘the cause’, the reason why things happen the way they do. It is a word that implies gratitude for those who have helped you along the path to where you are now, and is an apt title for Mory Kanté’s most sublime work to date. In this album, he goes back to the source of his inspiration, the ‘cause’ of his musical talent and knowledge: the art of the Mande griots. But Sabou doesn’t simply replicate the tradition. Drawing on the rolling harmonies and sounds of Guinean music, Mory paints his canvas with a rich palette and frames it with his own inimitable songwriting style, full of ever-changing ethereal female choruses and cascading melodies on kora, flute and balafon (xylophone), which is underpinned sometimes by electric bass (his one concession to electrics) or the booming four-string bass harp bolon. Djembe, doun and scrapers propel the music forwards in irresistible, compulsive dance rhythms.
This contemporary, dancefloor approach to the tradition reflects Mory’s own life experience in two different cultural worlds: his own griot background, in Guinea and then Mali, as well as the international music market initially in Abidjan, followed by Paris.
Mory Kanté was born in 1950 into a celebrated family of griots in a town called Albadaria, in the remote countryside of upper Guinea. His maternal grandfather, Djeli Mory Sanda Kamissoko, was the regional chef des griots (griot leader) and would perform for local dignitaries with an entourage of up to sixty musicians. He bestowed his own name Mory on his new grandson, and evidently something of his genius as well. The story goes that little Mory learned to sing and play balafon even before he could speak.
The balafon is the instrument par excellence of Guinea, and Mory’s family were all balafon players. However, some also played acoustic guitar, transferring the interlocking styles of the wooden keys onto the guitar strings. His elderly father, El Hadj Djeli Fode Kanté, taught him the balafon and initiated him into the strict oral art of the griots, but at the same time he went to French school and picked up the guitar. Guinea in the 1950s experienced a period of intense musical creativity, connected with the growing spirit of independence (which was finally declared in 1958). Both guitar and balafon played an important role in the pioneering of a local popular music in Guinea as well as neighbouring Mali, where Mory was sent in his early teens to stay with his mother’s sister, the singer Manamba Kamissoko. There he began playing regularly on the wedding circuit, though was still sufficiently small to have to stand on a table with his guitar and balafon, singing and playing the current favourite style of music, jamana dia (new age) and, later on, ‘Apollo’ (after the space mission).
‘Apollo music, it was progressive in spirit!’ he says. ‘All the while I was in the Apollos, I was doing my griot initiation. Initiation for the griots, that’s apprenticeship. It’s spiritual, it’s in the head. It’s the learning of the oral tradition, it’s very dense. So I was being initiated into progressive music and, at the same time, into the secrets of griotism.’
In 1970, Mory returned to Guinea long enough to produce some (now legendary) recordings with the Mini Orchestra de la federazione de Kankan. However, he came back to Bamako the following year, restless for more of that progressive music. By this time, he had developed a burning interest in the kora. While performing with Apollo groups, he hung out with the son of one of the great kora players of the time, Batourou Sekou Kouyate (accompanist of the famed woman singer, Fanta Damba). ‘We would wait until the old man had gone into town, then straight away we'd run for the room where he kept his kora. His wife pretended not to notice, and let us get on with it. I struggled with the twenty-one strings, and tried to play my balafon and guitar riffs on it. Nobody taught me. Directly, tout de suite, I had my own style.’
This explains why Mory sounds like no one else on the kora. It’s almost a different instrument in his hands – part-guitar, part-voice, part-saxophone… jazz riffs, modal tunings, and a bit of James Brown, whose music was then all the rage in West Africa.
Back in Bamako, the star of the Apollos found himself recruited as guitarist into Bamako's newly formed and (now) legendary Rail Band, which over the years featured some of Mali's top musicians, including award-winning guitarist Djelimadi Tounkara and singer Salif Keita.
What followed is one of the better-known stories of West African music. In 1973, Salif left Bamako for a couple of months to do a private gig elsewhere, and during his absence Mory was invited to take Salif’s place in front of the microphone. When Salif returned, he found that the charismatic Guinean had taken over as the band’s lead singer, and it wasn't long before Salif left to join the Rail Band’s main competitors, the Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako.
The Rail Band had a Cuban-style line-up, but their role, under the influence of Mali’s cultural authenticity policy, was to rework the griot tradition into dance music. Mory would try his hand at playing kora with the Rail Band from time to time. These were heady days in the mid-1970s, when the band became known throughout West Africa. Meanwhile, he also formed his own group of kora, djembe, ngoni and bolon, but instead of playing Mande griot music, they played covers of current pop styles and hits – a novel approach at the time, one for which Bamako was not quite ready.
By the late 1970s, the political and economic situation in Mali was no longer favourable for the dance bands. The Ambassadeurs had left the country for Abidjan, capital of Ivory Coast, which had a thriving music industry; and the Rail Band were on strike because they hadn’t received their government salaries. Mory was at a loose end. Madou Sanfo, a freight forwarder from Burkina Faso, was a long time fan, and sent him an air ticket to Abidjan. Eventually the entire Rail Band followed him there, where they were kitted out (by the same man) with a bus and a full set of new instruments.
Always restless, in search of new styles, and disillusioned by internal squabbles, Mory left the Rail Band to set up his own group again. As before, it consisted entirely of traditional instruments, but they played covers of contemporary pop and salsa songs. The novelty and brilliance of this (it included his half-brother, Djeli Moussa Diawara, on bolon, and the percussionist Zani Diabate) won him a regular gig at a fashionable restaurant called the Climbié, which was visited by expatriates and occasionally some famous musicians. Mory found himself playing there with the likes of salsa doyen Johnny Pacheco and even Barry White.
‘That was in 1980-1. At that time an American called Gerard Chess came with Stevie Wonder’s engineer Aboulaye Soumare, and they “discovered” me at the restaurant. So I signed a contract with Ebony Records, and we did Courougnegne (The Sound Of People Talking), and then mixed it in LA in 1981, where I met Stevie Wonder: it was a dream.’ Mory had made his first real breakthrough.
‘I can't say I was the first to use kora with a band, but I was first to do something big like this. People in Abidjan were crazy for modern music on traditional instruments.’
In 1984, Mory moved to Paris where, despite the difficulties of being a Guinean immigrant, he recorded the album Mory Kanté A Paris. An instant hit, it included the first version of ‘Yéké Yéké’.
The success of this song confirmed Paris as the new capital of Afropop and Mande griot music as a central player. It showed that the kora, an instrument played exclusively by the Mande griots, with its calabash resonator and twenty-one strings, was as comfortable in the world of jazz and dance music as it was in the deepest Mande griot traditions.
On stage, dressed in his trademark all white (whether a suit or grand boubou – the long robe of the Islamic West African countries), Mory Kanté’s shows are always high-energy. He dazzles audiences with his extraordinary virtuosity on the kora and his stunning voice, which pirouettes intensively around long drawn-out notes, then glides down at the ends of phrases into an indeterminately pitched sigh. And at most of his concerts there’s that special moment when he plays a more traditional piece, singing in true griot style one of the great classics of the Mande repertoire. These are sublime glimpses of the other Mory, the one who is steeped in the griot tradition. Sabou gives us a taste of both.
Lucy Duran
En 1984, un jeune griot, héritier des traditions guinéennes, fort d’une brillante carrière en Afrique de l’Ouest, arrive à Paris et domine instantanément les salles européennes. La formule de Mory Kanté est simple, mais révolutionnaire. À partir d’une mélodie d’amour traditionnelle mandingue, il crée une musique pop intégrant des accords funky, des rythmes de danse irrésistibles, des chœurs enchanteurs, des paroles profondes et émouvantes et de fascinants solos jazzy à la kora électrique. Yéké Yéké, son premier grand succès européen a changé toutes nos perceptions de la musique africaine moderne. Réenregistrée en 1987 et intégrée à son album Akwaba Beach, cette chanson a atteint le sommet des charts européens et vendu un million d’exemplaires. Depuis, elle a été reprise dans de nombreuses langues et remixée des douzaines de fois. Une version a été utilisée dans la B.O. du film The Beach.
Six albums supplémentaires ont suivi, tous dans un style de danse apparenté. D’excellentes réalisations artistiques certes, mais ses fans attendaient des enregistrements plus acoustiques. Finalement, en 2002, après l’immense succès de son concert semi-acoustique pour le festival Windows To The World de la fondation Dunya à Rotterdam, Mory Kanté a décidé d’enregistrer un album acoustique : Sabou.
Sabou signifie la cause, la raison profonde des événements de la vie. Ce mot exprime une gratitude envers ceux qui vous ont aidé sur votre chemin actuel. C’est donc un titre particulièrement apte pour le plus sublime des albums de Mory Kanté. Il revient à la source de son inspiration, la « cause » de son talent et de ses connaissances musicales : l’art des griots mandingues. Mais Sabou ne se contente pas de suivre la tradition. Sur la toile de fond des harmonies et des sonorités spécifiques de la musique guinéenne, Mory applique une riche palette et développe son style très personnel, inimitable d’auteur interprète, marqué par des chœurs féminins éthérés et toujours changeants, des cascades de mélodies à la kora, la flûte et le balafon, parfois soutenues par la basse électrique (comme unique concession) ou les appels retentissants du bolon (harpe basse à quatre cordes). Les djembe, doun et grattoirs propulsent la musique dans un univers de rythmes de danse inépuisables.
Cette approche contemporaine et dansante de la tradition témoigne de l’expérience personnelle de Mory au contact de deux mondes culturels : son propre héritage de griot, en Guinée puis au Mali, la découverte du marché international de la musique à Abidjan, puis les concerts à Paris.
Mory Kanté est né en 1950 à Albadaria, une sous-préfecture rurale de Haute Guinée, dans une famille de griots très réputés. Son grand-père maternel, Djeli Mory Sanda Kamissoko, était le chef des griots de la région. Il se produisait à l’occasion de réunions des dignitaires locaux, avec un groupe pouvant compter jusqu’à soixante musiciens. Il a donné son nom à son petit-fils et de toute évidence une bonne part de génie ancestral. D’après la tradition familiale, Mory aurait appris à chanter et à jouer du balafon avant même de parler.
Le balafon est l’instrument guinéen par excellence. Dans la famille de Mory, tout le monde joue de ce xylophone. Certains jouent également de la guitare sèche, en transposant en accords les frappes rythmiques sur les lames de bois. Son vieux père, El Hadj Djeli Fode Kanté, a enseigné le balafon à Mory et l’a initié à la rigoureuse tradition orale des griots. Simultanément, le jeune garçon allait à l’école française et apprenait à jouer de la guitare. Dans les années cinquante, la Guinée traverse une période de créativité musicale intense, animée par l’esprit d’indépendance alors en plein essor. L’indépendance de l’État guinéen est officiellement déclarée en 1958. La guitare et le balafon ont joué un rôle important dans la musique populaire locale guinéenne, ainsi qu’au Mali, où Mory a passé sa prime adolescence chez sa tante maternelle, la chanteuse Manamba Kamissoko. Il commence alors à jouer pendant les mariages, bien que sa petite taille l’oblige à se tenir debout sur une table avec sa guitare et son balafon, pour chanter et interpréter des morceaux de jamana dia (new age), le style musical préféré de l’époque qui sera suivi de l’Apollo (ainsi nommé après le programme spatial).
Mory : « La musique Apollo veut exprimer un esprit progressiste ! Pendant toute la période Apollo, je suivais les initiations de griot. L’initiation à l’art du griot, c’est spirituel, dans la tête. Vous apprenez la tradition orale, c’est très riche, dense. Donc pendant que je découvrais la musique progressiste, j’apprenais les secrets du griotisme ».
En 1970, Mory revient en Guinée où il reste assez longtemps pour produire quelques enregistrements (aujourd’hui légendaires) avec l’Orchestre Mini de la Federazione de Kankan. L’année suivante, il retourne à Bamako, impatient de retrouver la musique progressiste. Il se découvre alors une passion pour la kora. À l’époque où il jouait avec les groupes d’Apollo, il passait son temps avec le fils d’un des grands joueurs de kora de l’époque, Batourou Sekou Kouyate (accompagnateur de la célèbre chanteuse Fanta Damba). « Nous attendions que le vieux parte en ville et immédiatement on fonçait dans la pièce où il rangeait sa kora. Sa femme prétendait ne rien voir ni rien entendre et nous laissait à nos affaires. Je me bagarrais avec les 21 cordes, essayant de transposer les riffs que je jouais à la guitare et au balafon. Personne ne m’a rien enseigné. Tout de suite, j’ai trouvé mon style personnel ».
On comprend alors pourquoi le son de Mory à la kora ne ressemble à aucun autre. Entre ses mains, c’est presque un autre instrument, partie guitare, partie chant, partie saxophone… riffs de jazz, accords modaux, un peu de James Brown, dont la musique faisaient rage en Afrique de l’Ouest.
À Bamako, la star de la musique Apollo est recrutée comme guitariste par une toute nouvelle formation : Rail Band (devenue depuis une véritable légende). Au fil des ans, Rail Band a réuni les meilleurs musiciens du Mali, comme le guitariste oscarisé Djelimadi Tounkara et le chanteur Salif Keita.
La suite est une des histoires les plus connues de la musique ouest-africaine. En 1973, Salif quitte Bamako pendant quelques mois pour une série de concerts privés. En son absence, Mory est invité à le remplacer au micro. À son retour, Salif découvre que le charismatique guinéen a pris sa place de chanteur principal. Peu de temps plus tard, Salif devient le chanteur des Ambassadeurs qui jouent au Motel à Bamako et sont les principaux concurrents du Rail Band.
Si la composition du Rail Band dénote une influence cubaine, la volonté d’authenticité culturelle malienne oriente les musiciens vers l’adaptation de la musique traditionnelle griot en musique de danse. Occasionnellement, Mory s’essaie à la kora avec le Rail Band. Au milieu des années 1970, Rail Band traverse une période très intense, enivrante, et sa popularité grandit dans toute l’Afrique de l’Ouest. Ce qui n’empêche pas Mory de former son propre groupe incluant kora, djembe, ngoni et bolon. Mais au lieu de jouer de la musique griot mandingue, ils choisissent les styles de musique pop et les hits du moment. Cette approche est très nouvelle et le public de Bamako n’était pas encore prêt.
À la fin des années 1970, la situation politique et économique du Mali n’est plus favorable aux orchestres de danse. Les Ambassadeurs sont partis à Abidjan, capitale de la Côte d’Ivoire, où l’industrie de la musique est florissante. Le Rail Band est en grève parce que le gouvernement ne verse plus leurs salaires. Mory cherche alors une nouvelle direction. Madou Sanfo, transporteur international du Burkina-Faso et fan de longue date, lui envoie un billet d’avion pour Abidjan. Finalement, tous les membres du Rail Band le suivent et Madou Sanfo leur donne un bus et tous les instruments dont ils ont besoin.
Impatient, toujours à la recherche de nouveaux styles, désabusé par les disputes au sein du groupe, Mory quitte le Rail Band pour former son propre orchestre. Une fois de plus, il se compose entièrement d’instruments traditionnels, mais le répertoire couvre les titres pops contemporains et les chansons salsa. Le nouveau groupe réunit son demi-frère, Djeli Moussa Diawara (bolon) et le percussionniste Zani Diabate. Grâce à l’originalité et à l’éclat de leur musique, ils jouent régulièrement au Climbié, un restaurant à la mode fréquenté par des expatriés et occasionnellement par des musiciens célèbres. Un soir, Mory découvre parmi son audience le doyen de la salsa Johnny Pacheco et même Barry White.
« C’était en 1980-81. Un jour, un Américain du nom de Gerard Chess est arrivé avec Aboulaye Soumare, l’ingénieur du son de Stevie Wonder. Ils m’ont “découvert” comme on dit, dans ce restaurant. J’ai signé un contrat avec Ebony Records, et nous avons enregistré Courougnegne (“le son des gens qui parlent”), pour le mixer à L.A. en 1981, où j’ai rencontré Stevie Wonder… je vivais un rêve ». Mory venait de faire sa première vraie percée et obtient un succès continental.
« Je ne peux pas dire que j’ai été le premier à utiliser la kora dans un groupe, mais j’ai été le premier à atteindre la scène internationale. À Abidjan, les gens se passionnaient pour la musique moderne sur des instruments traditionnels ».
En 1984, Mory s’installe à Paris où, en dépit des problèmes posés par son statut d’immigré guinéen, il enregistre l’album Mory Kanté à Paris, qui inclut la première version de Yéké Yéké. Il remporte un succès instantané.
Le succès de Yéké Yéké confirme Paris comme la capitale de l’Afropop et le rôle central de la musique griot mandingue. Il démontre que la kora, un instrument exclusivement joué par les griots mandingues, avec son résonateur taillé dans une calebasse et vingt-et-une cordes, était aussi à l’aise dans le monde du jazz et de la dance music, que dans les plus pures traditions des griots mandingues.
Sur scène, toujours vêtu de blanc, (un costume ou un grand boubou – le long vêtement ample des pays musulmans d’Afrique de l’Ouest), Mory Kanté donne des représentations débordantes d’énergie. Il éblouit ses audiences par son extraordinaire virtuosité à la kora, sa voix stupéfiante, l’intensité de ses pirouettes vocales sur les notes les plus étirées, faisant glisser les fins de phrases en d’interminables soupirs tonalisés. Presque tous ses concerts offrent un moment spécial, où il joue un morceau plus traditionnel, chantant dans la vraie tradition des griots un grand classique du répertoire mandingue. L’audience pénètre alors pendant quelques instants dans l’autre univers de Mory Kanté, animé par les profondes racines de la tradition griot. Sabou est un album magique qui touche à ces deux mondes.
Lucy Duran
1 Nafiya 5:07
Lead vocals, kora, balafon accompaniment, calebasse, koro, carignan, carignan muet, cabassa, doun douns (small, medium, large), bolon: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Mama Keita, Hadja Maningbe Kouyate (courtesy of Frikyiwa Productions)
African flute, arc: Babagallé Kanté
Balafon solo: Adama Condé
Grin: Mohamed Bangoura
Congas: Mohamed Alpha Camara
N’gony: Moriba Koita
Tama: Moussa Sissokho
Nafiya/Bad People
This song is a diatribe against people who behave badly – whether spoken or physical misbehaviour, the results are always bad. Its purpose is to make people aware of the consequences of their actions. The song says, ‘Think twice before you do something bad, as it could turn against you.’
Les gens mal intentionnés doivent prendre conscience des conséquences de leurs actes « parce que cela pourrait se retourner contre vous ! », met en garde Mory Kanté.
2 Djou 5:33
Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, kora, balafon accompaniment, calebasse, cabassa, doun douns (small, medium, large), djembe, electro-acoustic bass: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Mama Keita, Hadja Maningbe Kouyate (courtesy of Frikyiwa Productions)
African flute: Babagallé Kanté
Balafon solo: Adama Condé
Djou/The Enemy
In many places, not only in Africa but all around the world, the greatest enemy is often hunger. It awaits the mother and her son who try to escape the war. For exiles and refugees, getting food is a constant preoccupation. The child calls to his older brother to help him: ‘Big brother, help! The enemy is chasing me.’ His brother responds, ‘Run, run, run and do not stop – the war eats everything!’ Hunger is also a concern for the patriarch, helpless when he hears the cries of his children. To comfort them, he holds them tight in his arms and says their names over and over again.
Mobilisé contre la faim dans le monde, Mory Kanté consacre cette chanson au fléau engendré par la misère, l’exode et la guerre.
3 Mama 5:02
Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, kora, balafon accompaniment, calebasse, daros, carignan, carignan muet, doun douns (small, medium, large), djembe, cloches, electro-acoustic bass: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Mama Keita, Hadja Maningbe Kouyate (courtesy of Frikyiwa Productions)
African flute: Babagallé Kanté
Balafon solo: Adama Condé
Congas: Mohamed Alpha Camara
Mama
Dedicated to the women in Mory’s life, in particular to his 20-year-old daughter Mama Tenemba Kanté, who lives in New York City. To her he sings his support, his love, and gives her the reassurances a young woman needs when she is far away from her family.
Chanson dédiée aux proches du griot, en particulier à sa fille Mama Tememba, qui vit loin de sa famille.
4 Diananko 5:24
Lead vocals, kora, balafon accompaniment, acoustic guitar (skank guitar), calebasse, cabassa, djembe, daros, grin, kesse kesse, carignan, carignan muet, electro-acoustic bass, bolon: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Mama Keita, Hadja Maningbe Kouyate (courtesy of Frikyiwa Productions)
Balafon: Adama Condé
African flute: Babagallé Kanté
Congas: Mohamed Alpha Camara
Diananko/What I Love
To find one’s partner in life is such a wonderful experience that one should not miss out on it. In life, there are also jealous people who you must be careful not to displease, for they will stop at nothing to spread their poison and try to destroy a couple’s love. In this song, Mory states in the Soussou language that ‘in love there is no place for stories’.
« En amour, il ne faut pas faire d’histoires ! », chante Mory Kanté, car garder auprès de soi l’âme sœur est souvent plus difficile que de la trouver.
5 Sabou 4:59
Lead vocals, guitar, bolon, cabasa, carignan, daros, doun douns (small, medium, large), koro: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Mama Keita, Hadja Maningbe Kouyate (courtesy of Frikyiwa Productions)
African flute: Babagallé Kanté
Balafon: Adama Condé
Congas: Mohamed Alpha Camara
Djembe: Mohamed Bangoura
Tama: Makan Sissoko
Wassamba: Babagallé Kanté
Sabou/Cause
There are many problems gnawing at the African continent, yet there is still hope, found in the daily kind and good actions of the people. Sick people, orphans and the elderly see hope in the kindness of their neighbours, their family and village. The African people stick together and help each other, forming an essential part of African life.
L’union et l’entraide sont les derniers remparts des Africains contre les maux qui accablent le continent.
6 Kènkan 5:19
Lead vocals, kora, calebasse, daros, cabasa, carignans, carignan muet, doun douns (small, medium, large), bolon: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Mama Keita, Onane Lydie ‘Olyza’ Zamati
African flute, arc: Babagallé Kanté
Balafon: Adama Condé
Congas: Mohamed Alpha Camara
Djembe: Mohamed Bangoura
Kènkan/The Good Intentions We Have
In Africa, well-intentioned people have kind and protective words for those close to them. This song gives an example of the friendship between two peoples – the Sankaran and the Kouranko. The fraternity is so great between them that they can harass each other without needing to take cover. They provide a good example for others nearby who are cold to each other.
La fraternité qui unit les peuples, comme les Sankaran et les Kouranko, est un exemple à suivre.
7 Möko 5:27
Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, bolon, calebasse, koro, daros, cabassa, carignan, carignan muet, doun douns (small, medium, large), acoustic guitar accompaniment: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Keita, Onane Lydie ‘Olyza’ Zamati
Balafon: Adama Condé
African flute: Babagallé Kanté
Congas: Mohamed Alpha Camara
Möko
For Africans, the act of helping each other is mutual and therefore infinite. You help your neighbour, who cannot close his door to you when you are in need, and vice versa. In joy or in sadness, you must help those who have extended a hand to you. Even though this is the custom, ungrateful people do exist – those who make us regret having been generous. There is an African saying, ‘The rain wets the dog because of his master’, meaning that even a dog recognizes the care given to him by his master.
La gratitude et la reconnaissance doivent toujours suivre un service rendu.
8 Loniya 6:05
Lead vocals, kora, cabassa: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Mama Keita, Onane Lydie ‘Olyza’ Zamati
African flute: Babagallé Kanté
Balafon: Adama Condé
Tama, n’gony: Makan Sissoko
Bolon: Gerard Poumaroux
Loniya/Knowledge
Knowledge is a precious gift, which God gave us to share. Presidents, religious men, farmers or healers, they all have knowledge that can be of use to the people. Presidents know how to govern a country well, religious people know the holy words that give meaning to life, and farmers have food knowledge – so precious in Africa. For those who have it, knowledge is a divine gift.
Le savoir est un don divin que les hommes ont appris à partager.
9 Désolé 5:05
Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, kora, bolon, calebasse, daros, doun douns (small, medium, large), cabassa: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Mama Keita, Hadja Maningbe Kouyate (courtesy of Frikyiwa Productions)
African flute: Babagallé Kanté
Balafon: Adama Condé
Djembe: Mohamed Bangoura
Congas: Mohamed Alpha Camara
Carignan: Tchemse’ Kanté
Désolé/Sorry
This song is a play on the French word ‘désolé’, meaning ‘sorry’. Do not be surprised if you hear the word ‘sorry’ occasionally, for there are many situations where this word can apply.
You want to climb the mango tree and due to the rain it is slippery – ‘sorry’;
or in a love story, the relationship ends and one of the lovers wants to get back into the relationship but he other has moved on – ‘sorry’.
« Désolé » est un mot employé en amour et dans la vie quotidienne et qui peut faire mal.
10 Biriya (Rythmes Du Mandingue) 6:54
Lead vocals, calebasse, daros, cloches: Mory Kanté
Backing vocals: Mariamagbe Mama Keita, Onane Lydie ‘Olyza’ Zamati, Hadja Maningbe Kouyate (courtesy of Frikyiwa Productions)
African flute: Babagallé Kanté
Balafon solos: Adama Condé
Balafon accompaniment: Lyba ‘Lenke’ Condé
Doun douns (small, medium, large), cloches: Losseni Koné
Djembe solos: Tchemse’ Kanté
Djembe accompaniment: Losseni Koné, Mohamed Alpha Camara
Biriya/The Transition To Adulthood
The passage to adulthood of young boys in the village is an occasion for a big ceremony, where the chants and rhythms of the Mande people resound. They prepare themselves to be circumcised and initiated into manhood – the women elders and the men of the village prepare the soliba ceremony, and for a long time dancing dominates the village.
Dans les villages, le passage à l’âge adulte des jeunes garçons est l’occasion d’une grande cérémonie où les chants et les rythmes du peuple Mandingue tiennent une grande place.
This album is dedicated to Mory Kanté's home town of Albadariah, Guinea
Cet album est dédié aux habitants du village natal de Mory Kanté : Albadariah en Guinée.
Appearing on this album are:
Adama Condé
Babagallé Kanté
Gerard Poumaroux
Hadja Maningbe Kouyate (courtesy of Frikyiwa Productions)
Losseni Koné
Lyba ‘Lenke’ Condé
Makan Sissoko
Mariamagbe Mama Keita
Mohamed Alpha Camara
Mohamed Bangoura
Moriba Koita
Mory Kanté
Moussa Sissokho
Onane Lydie ‘Olyza’ Zamati
Tchemse’ Kanté
Thanks to all those who have contributed to the production and realisation of this album
Special thanks to my family and friends around the world, Phil Stanton, Sandra Alayón-Stanton and all at World Music Network
A World Music Network production
Author, composer, arranger and artistic producer: Mory Kanté
All songs copyright © Mory Kanté 2004
All songs published by Riverboat UK Music, MCPS
Executive Producer: Juan R. Yriart
Recorded at Studio Melissa Music: Montreuil by Jacky Reggan ‘Le Grand Sorcier Blanc’, Nicolas Atlan and Afo Nunga
Preparation for the mix by Alain Gandit
Mixed at Studio Tex Avril – Ivry sur Seine by Paul Borg for Z Management
Assistants: Guillaume Robert and Gwenael Hervochon
Mastered at La Source Mastering, Paris, by Jean-Pierre Chalbos and Jean-Sébastien Dupuis
Sleeve notes by Lucy Duran and Mory Kanté
French translations by Vicky Spalter
Photography by Youri Lenquette
Design by Undertow, coordinated by Duncan Baker
Visit www.morykante.com for further information and tour dates for Mory Kanté
Further information on Riverboat Records can be found at www.worldmusic.net, where you can also listen to sound samples of all World Music Network and Riverboat Records releases
Mory Kanté Management
c/o International Stage Productions, Inc.
PO Box 8001
McLean
VA 22106-8001, USA
T (USA) +1 703 995 4546
T (Europe) +33 1 53 01 38 53
E management@morykante.com
W www.morykante.com Hide Description » |
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