Kensereni

[James]

Around here everyone calls a kenkeni a kensereni. I think it comes from Amara Kante.
He grew up in Cote d'Ivoire and is from Baro. Not sure if that has something to do with it. They certainly sound similar, but I wonder at the differences. Anyone heard of a kensereni or have come across the word before?

[Dugafola]

kensereni and kensedeni are the actual names for the smallest drum of the 3.

kenkeni is the actual name for the bell.

somewhere down the line, kenkeni became an acceptable name for the drum as well.

[Afoba]

yeah,
kensedeni(n) (what some people especially from Sankaran, the south of Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire would spell kensereni) or Kensedene(n)/kenserene(n) is the normal name of the smallest drum.
The name "kenkeni" spread over the world from the Conakry drummers and comes (probably) from the name of the bell (kenken), so it means "little bell" in malinke, or (less probably) from the Bamako word "konkoni". The "real" name kensedeni has come to the US through Amara Kanté, because he is he first drummer from Guinee to put his step there who has spent more than 5 days in a village (his village: Baro) during the last 20 years d;-).
The second might be Namory Keita from Sangbarala, do you know any others?

In Kouroussa they might call it sangbani (small sangban) and I wouldn't be surprised, if someone just called it dunduni/dununen (or everything between), for in the end everything is a dundun (so you had dunduni, (normal or prototypical) dundun and dundunba) and maybe even the word sangban is originally a Susu word (I hope I can tell you more in ne or two years d;-) ).

I got the impression that different drummers in Bamako call their dunduns differently, too (konkoni/dunun). Some say konkoni for the small one, others call a single dundun "konkoni". What are your experiences with it (for I've never been to BKO)?

Greetings
Daniel

[Afoba]

I forgot: there are people who say that this is just the sound that the small drum gives most time:
ken-seden--ken-seden--
that makes sense for every djembe or dundun sound (except the closed sangban stroke) becomes nasal when spoken, if there's one pulsation not played after.
The other theory/idea, that the Kensedeni says "n'ne kelen" (me alone) doesn't respect that. Still I love it, too.
Greets, d

[Dugafola]

yeah,
The "real" name kensedeni has come to the US through Amara Kanté, because he is he first drummer from Guinee to put his step there who has spent more than 5 days in a village (his village: Baro) during the last 20 years d;-).
The second might be Namory Keita from Sangbarala, do you know any others?

n'fa famoudou also calls it kensedeni.

[bubudi]

kenkeni in susu means 'small' and it's a common nickname. applying it to the kensedeni makes sense because it's the smallest of the 3. since susu is the dominant language in conakry, it became the most well known name for the drum. as for the original name in hamana/gberedu, kensedeni (or variants thereof), i also heard the 'ken-seden' explanation from a number of sources, including famoudou. 'ken-seden' is the phrase played by the kensedeni in all the dunun (dununba) rhythms.

[Afoba]

hello Bubudi,
have you got an idea what they call the smaller bote then?
I only know the name bote for both.

[Waraba]

When I was in Mali 15 years ago the littlest was konkoni, as mentioned, but the sangban was called "jiledunuba." Jile=singer griot, and of course "dunuba"=big drum. The great player was Fasara Sako, featured in Ibrahima Sarr's band. Great guy. Really, really nice.

[bubudi]

hi waraba, that would be jelidununba (not jiledununba).

initially the konkoni was the only dunun in djembe music in bamako (as well as further afield in mali, with a few exceptions such as didadi music), and it took on the same role as the sangban in guinean music. you can hear some older recordings from there with only konkoni and one or two djembes. the jelidunun was not traditionally part of the djembe ensemble. it is played in music of the jeli (griots). around kita (west mali) there is an ethnic group called the khassonke who have the jeli play all the music. jelidunun does the lead playing in this music, marking the steps of the dancers. djembe was not traditionally a part of this ensemble, but has been incorporated into it in recent years. due to the ballets this influence also went the other way, in that the jelidunun has become integrated into bamakois djembe music.

more recently (last 5 years or so) i have been told by several people that a lot of the traditional malian repertoire is being played in bamako with 3 dunun. i think this reflects a change due to increased exposure to westerners as well as to the guinean repertoire.

[Dugafola]

it is played in music of the jeli (griots). around kita (west mali) there is an ethnic group called the khassonke who have the jeli play all the music. jelidunun does the lead playing in this music, marking the steps of the dancers. djembe was not traditionally a part of this ensemble, but has been incorporated into it in recent years. due to the ballets this influence also went the other way, in that the jelidunun has become integrated into bamakois djembe music.

kita is still bamana country.

kayes is where the khasso tradition is strongest.

[bubudi]

you're right, duga. i meant to write kayes (the perils of writing late at night!). but from what i have been told there are khassonke around kita also.

[Afoba]

before they played with one dunun and one or two djembés in BKO, they probably had already used two dununs. the now classical" (but today already fading away) BKO style with smaller goups (2 or 3 drummers) where a new developpment of the late or post-colonial economization (don't know if this word exists. well, they wanted to make more money and do it as their one and only job).
When I asked Rainer Polak once, how people could start to play with music, if there was/is no acc. dunun as the kensedeni in Guinea, he told me that most of them had already started playing in their villages, what makes the "classical" BKO style a kind of F1-hybrid. That's to say it can't rebuilt itself and has to be fed by other styles from regions around.

[Waraba]

[quote="bubudi"]hi waraba, that would be jelidununba (not jiledununba).

The guys I was with pronounced it "JEE-lay," regardless.

[Waraba]

Actually, more like "JEE-LEE"