Last day of teaching--the performance will be tomorrow.
The intermediate group finished Mendiani. Not easy to feel, and quite a difficult solo.
The advanced group quickly rehearsed Djigui and then moved on to one of Mamady's dununba compositions called Seli Mafo. "Seli" means celebration or prayer, and "Mafo" means good or happy. In other words, it means "Happy party".
On days of festivals and celebrations, there is a custom among the Mandingue people to have a group of drummers walk around the village to wake people up in a joyful way at 5:00 am (!) in preparation of the day's celebrations. I asked whether people wouldn't throw things at the musicians for being woken up at 5:00am by drums and the answer was "only money"
Normally, a variety of traditional party rhythms are played for this occasion; Mamady composed this rhythm...
[ Continued ]
