Kouyate Oozes Sheer Excellence
Jun 19, 2003
Alliance Francaise has always given us a lot of surprises in art and music.
By Joseph Batte
Alliance Francaise has always given us a lot of surprises in art and music. But last Thursday went a level higher. The greatest and most exciting of them so far is the Senegalese Jazz musician Soriba Kouyate.
Walking into Club Obligato, we found it packed by fans ready to be taken on a journey of the unexpected.
Once it got started, we realized that though pop music seems to generate a lot of genres and sub-genres, the most exciting and intelligent of all will always be jazz.
The first group to drive this point home was our home-grown Misty Jazz Band made up saxophonist Moses Matovu, guitarist Frank Mbalire (Afrigo band) and sweet vocalist Angela Kalule.
Theirs was jazz all right. Talk about an artistic participation that can be likened to an improvised blues session, but far more intense.
After their set, very brief welcoming remarks from Alliance Francaise director Didier Martin ushered Soriba in at exactly 9:00pm.
He padded on stage, his prized Kora in hand, dressed in baggy white cotton shirt, dark-brown waist coat and trousers, cap firmly perched on his head. From that moment on, Obligato was engulfed in the sweet, tinkering tones of the kora, amplified by a microphone, as his deft fingers picked at its 21 strings.
For starters, he played the Senegalese repertoire that has made him famous the world over. The audience was hooked and transported to another world, where the surface thrills of bubble-gum pop music need not apply.
The jazz musician was excellent for an African like me, because his style is easily digested. Melodies like the Afro-Mandingo Jijigiji replay themselves in any listeners’ memory.
As the indomitable sound of jazz seeped through the skins into our soul, we noticed that Soriba is one with his instrument. With it he produced sounds that were in nature like the drips of water and a metallic guitar, including the slap-bass tones.
The West African also played familiar standards like Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone and improvised popular copyrights like Bob Marley’s lovers’ rock I Don’t Wanna Wait In Vain For Your Love, making them sound very new.’
Artistically, Soriba seems to work like a movie director. He freely manipulates the ingredients that make up a piece of music in order to use them to their dramatic best. Unexpected and brilliant slabs of arrangements and solos punctuate his numbers.
For that matter, not one of his four-piece jazz band tried to upstage anyone. His solos are stunningly dense and lightning-quick, yet beautifully articulated without exaggeration
Sega Seck on drums enjoys his role of a supporter and pacesetter as immensely as tasteful French bassist and rhythm driver Phillipe Gailot. The Cameroonian keyboard player stuck mainly to the root melodies, bridging would-be gaps. But given the spotlight by Soriba, he displayed his talent, brilliant phrasing and fluid arpeggios in of Arabic lute tones.
This was by all accounts a great concert. You could tell from the claps, head nods, thigh slaps and loud teen-like whoops that Soriba’s music is fun and conjures sunny images of lazing on the beach, just chilling and sipping a cold one.
“I don’t think I have heard an instrument that is as good as the Kora,†said a toothy-smiling colleague from The Sunrise called Lutaaya. Despite the corruption, the civil wars and despotic dictators, Africa never ceases to amaze artistically with musicians like Soriba Kouyate. Ends
Alliance Francaise has always given us a lot of surprises in art and music. But last Thursday went a level higher. The greatest and most exciting of them so far is the Senegalese Jazz musician Soriba Kouyate.
Walking into Club Obligato, we found it packed by fans ready to be taken on a journey of the unexpected.
Once it got started, we realized that though pop music seems to generate a lot of genres and sub-genres, the most exciting and intelligent of all will always be jazz.
The first group to drive this point home was our home-grown Misty Jazz Band made up saxophonist Moses Matovu, guitarist Frank Mbalire (Afrigo band) and sweet vocalist Angela Kalule.
Theirs was jazz all right. Talk about an artistic participation that can be likened to an improvised blues session, but far more intense.
After their set, very brief welcoming remarks from Alliance Francaise director Didier Martin ushered Soriba in at exactly 9:00pm.
He padded on stage, his prized Kora in hand, dressed in baggy white cotton shirt, dark-brown waist coat and trousers, cap firmly perched on his head. From that moment on, Obligato was engulfed in the sweet, tinkering tones of the kora, amplified by a microphone, as his deft fingers picked at its 21 strings.
For starters, he played the Senegalese repertoire that has made him famous the world over. The audience was hooked and transported to another world, where the surface thrills of bubble-gum pop music need not apply.
The jazz musician was excellent for an African like me, because his style is easily digested. Melodies like the Afro-Mandingo Jijigiji replay themselves in any listeners’ memory.
As the indomitable sound of jazz seeped through the skins into our soul, we noticed that Soriba is one with his instrument. With it he produced sounds that were in nature like the drips of water and a metallic guitar, including the slap-bass tones.
The West African also played familiar standards like Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone and improvised popular copyrights like Bob Marley’s lovers’ rock I Don’t Wanna Wait In Vain For Your Love, making them sound very new.’
Artistically, Soriba seems to work like a movie director. He freely manipulates the ingredients that make up a piece of music in order to use them to their dramatic best. Unexpected and brilliant slabs of arrangements and solos punctuate his numbers.
For that matter, not one of his four-piece jazz band tried to upstage anyone. His solos are stunningly dense and lightning-quick, yet beautifully articulated without exaggeration
Sega Seck on drums enjoys his role of a supporter and pacesetter as immensely as tasteful French bassist and rhythm driver Phillipe Gailot. The Cameroonian keyboard player stuck mainly to the root melodies, bridging would-be gaps. But given the spotlight by Soriba, he displayed his talent, brilliant phrasing and fluid arpeggios in of Arabic lute tones.
This was by all accounts a great concert. You could tell from the claps, head nods, thigh slaps and loud teen-like whoops that Soriba’s music is fun and conjures sunny images of lazing on the beach, just chilling and sipping a cold one.
“I don’t think I have heard an instrument that is as good as the Kora,†said a toothy-smiling colleague from The Sunrise called Lutaaya. Despite the corruption, the civil wars and despotic dictators, Africa never ceases to amaze artistically with musicians like Soriba Kouyate. Ends