Koreduga, Koredugaw, Komodenu

[James]

koredugaw-chief-4.small.jpg (60.47 KiB) Viewed 1074 times

On my trip to Mali I encountered the Koredugaw quite regularly. I also played a Koreduga for dance class too in Bamako. So I'm interested in it right now, and I'm looking at writing an article on these clowns.


So any info / encounters on them is appreciated, as well as links to the rhythm. The use of Koreduga seems quite different to Komodeno to me, though they are the same. Any thoughts.

Komodenu is linked to the Komo, Animism and fettishes. I have a bit of reference material on the Koredugaw that I haven't read yet, so I'm not clear on their links to fetishes at this time.

This book looks good, but a bit expensive for me right now:


Thanks to ThisFabTrek for the Koredugaw photo

[EvanP]

Is this the same as kotedjuga, the song for the minstrals and "troublemakers" that interrupt serious ceremonies and won't leave until they get tipped?

[michi]

koredugaw-chief-4.small.jpg

On my trip to Mali I encountered the Koredugaw quite regularly. I also played a Koreduga for dance class too in Bamako. So I'm interested in it right now, and I'm looking at writing an article on these clowns.

Hey James, please do write about this! I only have sketchy information and, sadly, while I was in Bamako, didn't see any Koredjuga. Thanks for the awesome photo too, that's a great shot! Do you have any others? I'd love to see more…

So any info / encounters on them is appreciated, as well as links to the rhythm. The use of Koreduga seems quite different to Komodeno to me, though they are the same. Any thoughts.

I've been told that Komodenu is the name of the song that goes with the rhythm. Mamady says that, in Mali, it's "Koredjuga" and in Guinea, it's "Kotedjuga". (Different pronunciation of the same rhythm, played for the same reason.)

Cheers,

Michi.

[Michel]

I happen to have photo's from the same group. Made in 2008 on the festival sur le Niger in Segou.

[Michel]

I don't know why they are so big? Sorry for that.

[bubudi]

here they are reduced in size. thanks for those, michiel!

[Michel]

I'm interested too, so did some research with google:

My translation from a forum/website called donaba.net:

"The Koré is an initiations society, a ensemble for rites of passage, dance, music and koré masks (antilopeheads) etc. The koré are common in the Bamana-area, (especially the Ségou-region), the Sénoufo, Minianka (?) and Bobo. One of the initiation rites for youngsters in the Koré is to dress up in ridiculous clothes and go from village to village for shameless clowneries for amusing the villagers. (dancing the Koré Duga)
Depending on the ethnicity of the villagerts the are accompanied by different instruments (tama, dunun, bonkolo etc) Traditionally not by the djembé.
When the period of initiation is finished the group is going home, and stops the clowning."

From an description of an koré-mask on an antiquities website:
"The individual Kore Duga wearing the mask of the hyena does not take himself seriously. in his dance he gets a stick decorated at its end with a horse's head and carrying a wooden sword he claims in substance that in this world where one is animated by the passions everything is meaningless and that the man takes himself for what he is not: a master or a god .. The hyena mask parody the scientist who fights against human stupidity, which spares no one, even the most powerful in the world."

Still searching with google, but this is already some information.


[Michel]

And a text for a song of the Koré-duga group: (shows also which kind of initiations...when I saw the troupe of Koredugaw in Ségou I noticed some sexual movements)

"eh toi la jeune fille qui reçois beaucoup d'hommes...
...alors que tu n'as même pas un gros sexe!"

[Dirk]

[michi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s2LsHz2PHU

Thanks for the link! I don't recognize the rhythm they are playing. Definitely didn't sound like Kotedjuga to me. Anyone know what it is?

Cheers,

Michi.

[Michel]

It's not what we expect to be Koreduga, I agree. When I saw the group in Segou they played a 4/4 beat rhythm that I didn't recognize as well. For what I know it's supposed to be 3/4 at least...

Inibara

[Onetreedrums]

Looks and sounds like Korejuga to me (clothing, nearly everyone playing some form of shaker/yabara, circle dance, stick horses, dununba pattern). Korejuga has been adapted to a jenbe/dunun ensemble and the original instrumentation would vary by region and audience. This is very similar to the Korejuga ceremony I witnessed in Zambougou, Mali. While the instrumentation is different than the ceremony I experienced (chun, bonkolo, bari dunun, konkoni, yabara), the dununba is playing pretty much the same dununba phrasing Abdoul Doumbia outlines in his book, "Anke Dje, Anke Be."

[bops]

Yeah, that's korejuga all right. But definitely not the simplified version Mamady teaches It's the Bamana style... The dunun pattern is longer and a bit more complex. You can hear the 3 pulse in the bala and yabara. I got some nice video of a korejuga group from the Segou festival this year, who used the instrumentation Nate described. I haven't had a chance to go through my stuff yet, but I promise I will post it soon

PS. In my experience, it's sometimes harder to feel the pulse of the music when you watch a video of the event. When you're there, you can feel it much more easily.

[michi]

OK, yes, I can hear it now. I guess I got thrown by the unusual instrumentation, the slow speed, and the lack of the signature djembe accompaniment. Just goes to show how much there is for me to learn…

Michi.

[e2c]

Nate, bops - many thanks! (Looking forward to that vid, bops... )

I you're both right about us Westerners getting thrown at times because we only know the "djembe-ized" versions of a lot of the music.

As for the rest, I think listening to the duns is crucial. (I really like the music in the video that was linked to above; tempo, too.)

In my experience, it's sometimes harder to feel the pulse of the music when you watch a video of the event. When you're there, you can feel it much more easily.

I hear you!