ACOUSTIC BASS GUITAR ?

[Carl]

Hmmm... should have proofed the video before posting. Once I saw that it was the correct instrument, I posted it....

I don't know much about the background of the Bolon, but "originating in Conakry" definitely does NOT sound right....

C

[the kid]

I love that video. A brilliant performance of Yankadee and Maane. Souliman Camera sings his heart out and plays the bolon beautifully. I challange any one to find a better example of good bolon playing on the tube. Thanks.

Yankadee is from Boke Village in Guinea and Maane is from (I think Boke too)??

Lets have a look on last time

brilliant

[Paul]

Chill bro,

No one is dissing the man.. He sings nice.. The confusion is made by leading questions from the filmer..
However it is similar to how guys play the bungo, its an adaption of the dunun rhythm for singing..
lots of dunun players sit round at night and play bungo or bolon round the fire.. This dont necessarily mean its tradition,, but neither are a couple of irish lads playing drums, the point is its sweet

[e2c]

The confusion is made by leading questions from the filmer..

Exactly - that's what I was trying to get at in my previous post on this (about not everything the bolon player says being translated, etc.)

[the kid]

I usually skip the dialog

As far as i can hear, its a dutch guy speaking english with a french accent

And soliman 'replies' in french.

Any ways.... i'd believe that his performance is totally traditional and the songs are similar to what i've heard from many guinean artists. I don't know much....but i would regard Soliman highly as an artist and a traditional artist at that.

What isn't traditional about his performance???..... maybe the Cap

[bops]

For the record, the bolon player in the video never stated that the instrument comes from Conakry. He said that he himself comes from Boke region of "Guinea Conakry", which is the term that Guineans use to refer to their country, to distinguish Guinea from neighboring Guinea-Bissau.

He then describes some popular Guinean groups that use Bolon; such as Etoiles de Boulibinet and Les Espoirs de Coronthie. He names some other instruments that are played with Bolon in those groups - drums, krin, bongo [gongoma]. The interviewer asks if bolon is a griot instrument, and Souleman says no. Then he introduces Yankadi.

What I know about bolon is that it is very very old. Most likely it predates the kora or n'goni. I believe it originates from the predominantly Susu regions of Lower and Middle Guinea. Several rhythms, like Yankadi, were likely adapted for drums (bote) from the bolon.

[e2c]

bops, many thanks for the info. and clarification! (I don't know enough French to be able to successfully translate without help, and I was wondering what "Guinea Conakry" meant...)

[bubudi]

i agree with bops' translation. i'm unable to comment on whether the bolon predates the ngoni as both are considered very old instruments. it does, however, predate the kora and bala. please see the bolon topic for more info on this instrument and more videos.

[VagabonTribe]

Greetings. We actually use acoustic bass guitar quite a bit in our group and unless we are on stage at an outdoor festival or a larger venue we typically play on stage with it as an amplified acoustic instrument.

www.vagabontribe.com

[Paul]

Hi Rusty,

I had a look at your website, I like it.. I started out as a dunun player, then studied djembe, but my last two trips have been to Burkina for Kamelle ngoni... I am still mainly called out as a djembe player and teacher but I really want to bring out the ngoni..

The style of k n'goni I learnt was a mix of traditional and modern arangements, I learnt the ngoni part and bass accompaniements as well as breaks... I have really held myself back by just dealing with people involved in African music, there are no Mande Africans around here.. Perhaps I am better to deal with a great conga player rather than a mediocre djembe player.. And while I dont have a great singer like you have, I do work with a gospel choir.

Anyway a few questions..
Have you come across Bass Kam ngonis? (I want to but these lines onto western bass)
Do you change tunings in concert and how so? (its no a quick process)
Do you generally take a traditional line and work from it or compose original piece?

Any advice would be appreciated,

Paul

[VagabonTribe]

I always liked Burkina music but just decided to stick with Malian studies mostly.

I never learned the kamel n'goni. Just had an extra one sittin around and was lookin at a long winter in Iowa last year. Started teachin myself. I've played percussion with enough n'gonii and kora players to understand the technique. I play both techniques actually. I don't really play any traditional stuff, except for an arrangement of Bani that we did (not a kamel n'goni piece) and Wassalou Blues builds off a small part of a traditional Wassalou melody.

Most of my compositions come from rhythmic ideas I learned through Malian percussion, and I build a melody around that rhythmic feel. Amerikana Mali is built around the rhythm komo foly from the Baman bonkolo ensemble, mixed with some Americana concepts.

Don't know much about bass n'goni's.

We're not tryin to play West African music, but mixing different ideas to play fun music. Glad you like it. Those are just some samples. We are still working some of the solo lines and should have CDs by the end of spring.

[VagabonTribe]

The bolon is a hunter's harp from lower Mali. There is an interesting progrssion that took place in the string instrument development.

According to the hunter's and griot's I spoke with over 9 years in Mali the bolon is the original hunter's harp and was once used to play for the most honored of people. It is still used to play at funerals of very important people.

The bolon may have morphed into the 6 string doson n'goni (2 sides of 3 strings each, pentatonic scale), and the 7-string simbi (inline strings, minor scale).
This may have morphed into the 12-string inline chromatic soron.
Which in turn may have morphed into the 21-string kora

The kamel n'goni is a popularized version of the doson n'goni, which is reserved exclusively for hunters.

I currently play on a 12-string kamel n'goni and one can easily find 6, 8, or 10-string instruments all over. I actually play with both kamel n'goni and kora technique and I currently have a 16-string harp being made that will combine construction techniques of the two instruments. This allows me to tune to 3 pentatonic octaves, or 2 full octaves in chromatic.

Please don't confuse the jeli n'goni (a spike lute plucked and fretted like a guitar) with the kamel n'goni ( a lute-harp played with harp technique). Very different instruments from very different groups. In Senegal and Mauritania the jeli n'goni is called the Xalam (Halam - hard H).

You can hear my band playing the two together on a couple tracks. www.vagabontribe.com.

[Paul]

Nice one,

The kam ngoni is great like that, people constantly ask me to have a go on it and they approach it differently if they are from a string or drum background...And I see it has improved my creativity in djembe phrasing..... I've come across these kora/ngonis already, 16 strings in pentatonic... On my 12 string I use the middle 8 as the rhythmic core and the other 2 on either side for improv. This is how my teacher explained it to me and the bass kam ngoni is on this centre 8 also.

What kind of tunings you using. I started on standard gedca but found my teachers tuning to be similar but at about 450hz.. Just messing round with some different ones now.. Have you come across anything new?

Nice to hear some chat on the ngoni,, Plan to push it out there this year,, Burkina time!!!

[VagabonTribe]

started in CDEGA
went o C#D#F#G#A#

now in FGACD
and play also in F#G#AC#E
and F#G#BC#E

if you check out our page you'll hear diff keys
I never actually learned kamel n'goni so I just really know percussion from Mali. just taught myself over the past year. Take care