cds by sebe kourouma

[bubudi]

sebe kourouma was born in 1962 in the malinke village of moriah in kankan. his father's family (kourouma clan) descends from the blacksmith bloodline, but includes hunters, fishermen, rice farmers, traditional healers and musicians. as a toddler he began banging away at inverted cans. soon he was given his first djembe. during his youth he worked in the rice field, learned to hunt and fish, traditional healing, carpentry and making musical instruments. but above all he loved to play the djembe. when he was in his early 20s he moved to the town of kankan and founded a group called 'benkadi' and they recorded with the radio station. soon they were well known in guinea. sebe was invited by the president of guinea to represent his country in countries such as senegal, ivory coast, liberia, gambia, nigeria and kenya. he also won many percussion competitions. he worked with sekouba bambino, saba soumano and djanka diabate. his instrument making skills were sought by famoudou konate, fadouba oulare, mamady keita and mamadou camara (mansa camio). people from all over began flocking to learn percussion from him: first guineans, then french, italians, dutch, portuguese and germans. during his late 30s, he moved to conakry when famoudou konate asked him to make instruments for him and his students. he spent the winter months in the capital, making drums by day and playing the djembe by night. sebe formed a band with nansady keita which famoudou konate sometimes took part in and they performed at concerts and celebrations. he also played for the dance troupe 'siri conde'. sadly, sebe kourouma passed away in 2007, aged 45.








denikelen, landaya, dja, deninyantani, dyandyon, mandjeni, conde, soliba, konkodounoun, dounoun

[martin73]

Bubudi....where can I find those CD's??

[bubudi]

Bubudi....where can I find those CD's??

email marion on: kourouma@gmx.de

[bubudi]

sebe kourouma with nansady keita and sayon camara, playing at famoudou's house in 2006. sebe is the 1st soloist.



thanks to t******9 for alerting me of this video

[Dugafola]

you get these discs yet bubs?

[Dugafola]

you get these discs yet bubs?

[Dugafola]

i have recently aquired 3/5 CDs.

they are recorded malinke fare style with percussion, bala, and women singers. the style and presentation remind me of my Bolokada playing in the village.

the quality is decent at best...most likely a mini-disc with one microphone.

the content is superb however. great dunun playing all around and Sebe's djembe phrasing is super clean with both speed and finesse in the malinke style.

he plays taama...i think somewhere on the board we discussed how taama could be a FK composition. the fact that it's on here doesn't mean anything either way since Sebe had close ties with FK.

other track highlights are konkoba, mamaya, and mendiani and a fakoly praise song sung over kadan.

the dunun CD has some mis labled tracks IMO. there's an "n'fakaba" that sound like kontemeru. the "kurusikolon" is dji/konowulen 2. The "konowulen" is taama(which isn't called taama on the other disc either, rather "kurundunun).

if you are a fan of the malinke village style, specifically from kankan/kouroussa, seek out these discs.

[bubudi]

the content is great for sure on all 5 discs, but a little repetitive at times. great all round playing from all musicians including bala and flute, and some super sweet solo phrasing from sebe. fair quality for a field recording of this kind made during its time but not by today's standards. i tend to skip some tracks due to repetition of the same rhythm but this work really represents the kankan and hamana styles. duga, try to get the other 2 discs.