Djagbe/Djagba/Madan

[bubudi]

i think it would be better to keep this topic for discussing madan/djagbe and discuss this in the dununba topic. i have put my response there.

[geraldinedjembe]

I just want to make a correction to one of the above posts re. Nansady Keita (the post from Afoba on 3rd March 2010) said “Nansady and Famoudou are only relatives due to Famoudous wife N'na Nagnouma Camara I think”

Nansady’s mother is Djouba Konate, and she is the elder sister of Famoudou - so Nansady and Famoudou are blood relatives, Nansady is Famoudou’s nephew.

Inike. Ambe cofe.

[bubudi]

thanks, that's what i was told. i was also told by a few people that nansady spent a lot more time in the villages than famoudou's sons (billy, ibro, diarra, etc) who basically grew up in conakry. famoudou's sons know a lot about the village traditions from their visits to the village and from their father, but nansady has more first hand experience in the village. so while it's true that famoudou has very much influenced nansady's playing and understanding of the music, nansady has witnessed first hand a lot of what goes on in sangbarala village as well as other villages in the hamana/gberedu region. i would not have any reason to doubt any information that came from famoudou, nansady or any of famoudou's sons. they take the task of transmitting traditional knowledge very seriously and are well aware that inaccuracies are easily propagated among the larger community.

[dleufer]

Here's what i learned about Djagba from Famoudou.
So...it's in the Mamaya family. This is how Famoudou said it. I guess you can say it's in the same family as Mamaya but he specifically called it "the Mamaya family".
When we were in Sangbralla the old women of the village danced Mamaya for Helen Bond to thank her becuase her charity, the Benkadi project, built a vegetable garden for the old women. During that "mamaya dance" Famoudou told us to listen out for the Djagba he had just taught us. Afterwards however he said that they hadn't played it because this new generation of drummers (including Kabba!) have started playing a differnet/modified/new version of Djaba as part of this set. When we came back from the village he taught us the new version! He called it Djagba 2 but said that it's also called Sankaramba.
He said that every 2 years when the Barati change, everyone goes to the bush and this rhythm is played. Everyone stands in a circle and a chicken or sheep is placed in the centre. Any young girl can come and take the animal, signifying that she takes on the duty of cooking food for the Barati at all their fetes, a great honour but great expense too.
FK seemed to be saying that the new generation of drummers have abandoned the old Djagba and Djagba 2/Sankaramba has replaced it in the repertoire.
Unfortunately I lost the recording I have of this Mamaya fete but if I can find it I'll post it.

Here's a rough tab of the basic sangban parts for Djagba and Djagba 2

Djagba
x.x.x.x.x.xx.xx.
o.c.o...c.oo....

Djagba 2
x.x.x.x.x.xx.xx.
c...c...c..o..o.
x.x.x.yxx.xx.xx.
c...c..oo..o..o.

(Had to put the first bell stroke of the triple in as a "y" because it filtered "[spam removed]" as spam!)

[Afoba]

@Geraldine
thanx for that, didn't know that. I knew that Nansady's mother's name is Dyuba (Djouba), but I didn't know she's a Konaté (shame on me d;-) ).

@Bubudi
Yes, Nansady has grown and learned in the village (Famoudou wasn't his teacher, he had already left), Famoudou's sons have grown in CKY. It was Fodé who spent more time in Sangbarala than the others and it's Billy who's interested most in the village style by now.

@dleufer
concerning Dyagba: they still play the "old version" in Sangbarala, even if it has changed a little bit.
it's /x ssb x b s x x / now (s=sangban, b=dundunBa), I saw it 3 weeks ago. I dont really recognize you're notation, is it possible that you turned it around (1st pulsation=3rd pulsation)?
Babila and Baro version is completely different (here again the Fissadou version http://www.youtube.com/user/mamadykamar ... D9dfhvZrbA ). And they play madan, too, for the dyagba/mamaya fêtes.
Sankaranba is a (special) dundunba. As you said, it's a rhythm to honour the little girl that is a kind of symbol of the barati during one big fête and who's family has to cook for the baratis.
Strange that they played it for Mamaya, what is a fête for women (mostly a "groupe fête" - laden tolon, women organized in small groups who use to party together). But there can be special Mamayas for big fêtes, for election parties or marriages. The Babila and Koumana Sankaranba (I think Baro and some more villages, too) is what is known as "donaba".
The barati dont change every 2 years, each generation stays for 5 years at least. last change in Sangbarala was in 2006. Sanankörö (neighbour village) changed two weeks ago.

Greetings from the Rhine river
Daniel

[Afoba]

forgot to mention that there is one very special Baro Sankaranba on our disc, it has hot a very strange length. I've never seen it played there, so I don't know if it's (old or new) traditional or just an idea of Camio's
d

[bubudi]

does this sankaranba rhythm bear much resemblance to djagba? just checking, because there is a sankaranba dunun (dununba family), also known as douwa.

[dleufer]

Hmmmm...
I knew there was a dununba called Sankaramba but Famoudou was calling this Djagba rhythm "Sankaramba" also. Maybe it's a version of djagba that's played at the same occasion as the Sankaramba dununba rhythm.
I thought alright that 2 years was quite a short time for the Barati to change. Famoudou told us it was every 2 years but if you say it's 5 then sure, I am no expert.
I was actually in Sanakoro while the Barati changed in February, I think it was the 7th. We were invited to the ceremony. In the morning the old Barati danced for hours and sacraficed a bull. After lunch the two groups danced together in a kind of stand off. Very very impressive stuff. Here's a few pictures

[Afoba]

hello dleufer
interesting that you say you were at the changing party, while I heard that it was just now. That's something we should keep on asking for. I haven't been at the fête myself for I was ill that day, I was just passing through in the afternoon, when there was a break. But I think Lukas and Stephan were there, Lukas is gonna be back in two days, gonna ask him. Maybe they just did a fête now to get some practise for the new barati. Or Famoudou prepared a second fête for "his whites" when he heard that there s gonna be the generation changing soon (in 2006 he had been telling his students about the change in Sangbarala since the beginning of the year, but it wasn't until the end of the year, octobre, novembre, that they did it).
Concerning the "sankaranba dyagba" really no good idea, why they should mix up these two names. Only: names are dangerous and often fool us, for sometimes they only use them to tell us a nice little story, most rythms ain't got names that are known or used by more than 5 guys, it's for us that they are invented and (sometimes otherwise) reused. To be continued...
Thanx for the nice photos, gonna try to put some, too.
greets, Daniel

[Afoba]

so here's two photos of the "after dalamon dyagba/mamaya" 2010 in Baro. Fête played by Moussa Kourouma of "Sabunyuma" or the "Baro rebels" as some French say and others.

[Afoba]

In the mood to do a little Mamaya or even Soliwulen dance after Germany's victory!
Beg your pardon, Michi. Maybe the Ghana guys don't play football better than djembé...
Greets
dpk

[Afoba]

again and smaller

[Djembe-nerd]

In the mood to do a little Mamaya or even Soliwulen dance after Germany's victory!
Beg your pardon, Michi.

I am not so sure of that, Michi might clarify if he was cheering for Germany or Australia.

Maybe he drank one beer for Germany victory and one whisky for the loss of Autralia. Either way he got what he needed, alcohol

[michi]

In the mood to do a little Mamaya or even Soliwulen dance after Germany's victory!
Beg your pardon, Michi.

I am not so sure of that, Michi might clarify if he was cheering for Germany or Australia.

Don't know really--I have to admit that soccer is my 44th favourite sport...

Maybe he drank one beer for Germany victory and one whisky for the loss of Autralia. Either way he got what he needed, alcohol

Since when do I need an excuse to have a drink?

Cheers,

Michi.

[Dugafola]

i have a field recording of the gberedu Sabunyuma group.
great stuff. the djembe playing is more to my liking than the other Baro 'folas. the dunun playing is nice too.