Bolokada taught Djaa last night with a little arrangement.

interesting tidbit...Bolo told us that he loves Djaa because it's the rhythm/occasion that made him famous in his region. he is a folkloric specialist for all types occasions: weddings, safinamalos, dembadon, baptisms, circumcision, dennabos, kassa, mendiani, kawa etc...but the Djalaban is where it all started.

he explained there are two basic occasions for djaa: the first being the fete/party for young people and the second being the Djalaban - the last "dance" or "fete" for a young woman about to be wed. Djalaban is the first fete in the wedding sequence. the second is the safinamalo(i also got to play a safina...another blog for another time), third is dembadon, and the fourth is the actual marriage. the woman to be married doesn't even get to dance at her own party. she's not even really present until they process her out and her friends and family (all female) dance and sing around her. at the...

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Mandeng Djara is Mamady's last recorded album on Fonti Musicali. a lot of the rhythms are Mamady compositions with song, kora, balaphon and of course dunun. the songs themselves are traditional songs sung by the women and children in the villages near balandougou. listen to Balandougou Kan track 1 disc 2 and you'll hear some of the same songs.

i had a Mamady moment last weekend driving home from a concert in my altered state, i decided to put on this album for the 70 minute drive after calling my wife to tell her i'm on my way and after inhaling a turkey sandwich.

now i know there are Mamady detractors, but you simply cannot deny the tastefulness of some of those intro arrangements. it's a fine balance b/w precise percussion work without being over the top in regards to the overall melodies of the rhythms....especially when playing off the bala and kora. that's the main thing that blows me away about this album...

...you can also add the telepathic conversation b/w mamady and...

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NEW RUBBER FEET ARE AMAZING!!

I went to this website : www.eazi-stops.com. And from this website i bought rubber feet and they were prefect in every way. I realsied that they have different size and shapes and quantity's. so if your interested i think you should head over there. also their prices are so LOW and quality is AMAZING!!!

Just got back from Camp Menifanye.

This was the first time this camp was held, and the first time that Queensland has had a camp of such a high-calibre profile. Teachers:

• Lansana "Sana" Camara
• Mohamed "Bangouraké" Bangoura
• Sibo Bangoura
• Malin Sylla
• Aicha Keita

The camp was held at an eco-community in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, in beautiful bushland. It's a great venue for a camp. They have a nice hall for the classes, complete with giant screen for watching movies at night. (We watched Djembefola on the Saturday night.) Accommodation is very nice too—small dorms (four persons each), and a nice community dining hall.

There were around 25 drummers an...

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Day 10 (Friday) of the camp.

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...

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