Traditional Khasso Foli by Dramane Diabate

[bubudi]

dramane diabate is one of the best khassonke dunun players. also known as bill dra 'gaucher' (lefty), he was dunun soloist of the ballet du mali since 1998. his father and teacher was djelimoussa diabate, former dunun and ngoni soloist for the ensemble instrumental du mali.

late last year his long awaited debut cd, traditional khasso foli, was finally released. the cd was recorded in studio bogolan in mali. it features 9 tracks of dra's arrangements of the khassonke style, featuring vocals, khassonke dunun, tantango, bala, ntama and djembe.

dramane 'bill gaucher' diabate

dradiabate.jpg (11.56 KiB) Viewed 347 times

to order email:
dramanediabate05@yahoo.fr
dragaucher06@yahoo.fr

some videos of dra in action can be seen here.

dra also featured on francois dembele's cd, san toro.

here's a sample from the cd. the rhythm is take, the dance of the blacksmiths.

[bubudi]

what? no comments on the mp3 sample?

[e2c]

What are the names of the vocalists? Any info. on what the lyrics are about?

Overall, I like this very much. Makes me want to get a couple of tama, actually, although I'm completely sold on the way that all the low-pitched drums work with each other. (Wish there was someone within 500 miles who knew this style - it appeals to me much more than a lot of the Guinea-style djembe music that's around, though I like that lots, too.)

[8aardav8]

(Wish there was someone within 500 miles who knew this style...

Where are you?

[bubudi]

has anyone got this cd? what did you think?