hunters' music performances - videos

[e2c]

For all you donso ngoni fans.. There's no information available regarding where this was shot, or the names of the performers, unfortunately.

Update - a commenter at the freedomblues blog said -

In the first two videos sings the great Sekouba Traoré in the third from 2.44 minute change to another Donso singing Magnoumako with a chorus that seems I have heard singing in the Zani Diabaté band.

Mark Hudson of The Guardian visits an International Hunters' Music Festival in Bamako: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/jun/19/popandrock3

* Hat tip to nauma of freedomblues.blogspot.com for the videos and article.

[Parenthetical note: a lot of these gents would fit right in at a Gnawa lila! I wonder if hunters have ever been invited to any of the Gnawa music festivals in Morocco? Would be a great jam session for sure!]

[e2c]

More from the same YouTube channel (lassaniare). Apparently this man's name is Koniba Diarra:

[bubudi]

thanks, e. i posted the 6 part series and others in the bamako string jam thread, meaning to split those into a separate topic, but never got around to it. the donso definitely merit their own thread. i'll move some of the donso ngoni posts here in due course, in the meantime feel free to check them out in the other thread.

[e2c]

i thought I'd run across them here, but a search on "hunters" didn't turn them up - and hey, they deserve their own thread.

If you check the article from The Guardian, you'll be able to get the name of the man who records and sells hunters' music in Bamako; also some info. on a hunters' radio talk show!

[dleufer]

I saw a performance like this in Bamako in February. It was part of some cultural festival that I don't remember the name at a location I don't remember the name of. Great.
Anyways it was craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy! We just arrived and heard guys playing n'goni and shakers etc. and were pushing our way through the crowd to get a better look and next thing "BAAAAANG!" some lunatic shoots his gun right behind us! We hadn't even seen the hunters. One of my friends had to go home she was so scared by it. We went there in a group of about 12 people, a mix of course participants and Guineans who were helping out with the course. After about 20 minutes of absurdly loud gun shots far too close to us 9 out of the 12 people were either scared and upset or completely bewildered. They left and only me, Brian and Mamady (a griot from Guinea and Fam's sangbanfola) stayed. I wasn't too gone on it to begin with but after about 30 mintues I started to find the gunshots pretty exhilirating. Mamady was going nuts every time they shot! Screaming "C'est la vrai musique des chassuers!" (That's real hunter's music!). The gunshots got progressively closer as the night went on and the whole spectacle seemed really out of this world. At the time I didn't think it was REALLY amazing but in hindsight it might have been one of the best musical performances I saw on the whole trip. Nothing like old guy in a dirty cowboy outfit shooting a rudimentary gun into a mango tree above your head and covering the crowd in leaves and smoke to get you excited!

[e2c]

I've heard/read about those guns exploding - supposedly, a lot of them are locally-made.

But I'd love to hear some hunters' music live, like you did.

[michi]

After about 20 minutes of absurdly loud gun shots far too close to us 9 out of the 12 people were either scared and upset or completely bewildered.

As a side note, shooting a gun into the air is a seriously bad idea, especially in a large city like Bamako. The bullet will go up, following a parabolic arc until it eventually reaches its maximum altitude (which can be more than 3km, depending on calibre and size of the charge) and then will fall back down again. On the way down, the bullet is accelerated by gravity until it reaches terminal velocity (somewhere in the vicinity of 200mph, depending on calibre and angle). That velocity is high enough to be lethal if the bullet happens to hit someone. (There are confirmed cases where people have been killed by bullets fired into air, with police being able to match the bullet to a particular gun via ballistics analysis.)

Cheers,

Michi.

[Michel]

At the Ségou festival I saw a gun explode in the hands of one of the donsow. He had luckily hardly any injuries. That must be their magical power: there are lots of stories about donsow who can take bullets and survive. The biggest risk of the arms is for the hunters themselves. In audiences they don't load them with bullets, but the guns are very old, more one shot guns which they load with only gunpowder. They have to load them before every shot with a long stick to push the powder. There must be a name to use for it in English, but I can't think of it.

Michiel

[michi]

AThey have to load them before every shot with a long stick to push the powder. There must be a name to use for it in English, but I can't think of it.

Muzzle-loaded long guns are called Muskets. They were used in West Africa as early as 1620 and were in widespread use by the end of the 17th century.

Cheers,

Michi.

[Michel]

Well, it looks like some donsow are still using those muskets. it takes an hour to load them, and then BAM : you're deaf.