jeli ngoni

[bubudi]

anyone own one? are there any teachers of this instrument in the west? many years ago before i had even heard of the ngoni, i was deeply drawn to the hajouj (aka sentir, guimbri), a bass lute played by masters of the gnawa sufi brotherhood which was started by descendants of black slaves (mostly from mali) living in morocco and algeria. it's similar to and probably descended from the ngoni ba (large ngoni), only the hajouj has a longer neck with a little segesege (metal resonator) on the end of it. there is a smaller jeli ngoni called ngoni micin. you can see both sizes below:



the jeli ngoni is one of the oldest instruments of the jeli (griots) and predates the balafon and kora. most jeli ngonis have 4 strings but this can vary. one feature of playing this instrument, as with other lutes, is that the bass strings typically are not pressed down on the neck to change the pitch - this is only done with the treble strings. the bass strings therefore have a drone like effect. the picking techniques which involve thumb and index finger are often quite ornamented and include percussive knocking (like with the kora and the arabic oud). these days some players even use picks. since it is a fretless lute the ngoni moved seemlessly from maninka society (where heptatonic melodies are played) to bambara society (pentatonic). a lot of microtonal modes are also possible without retuning the instrument. however, many tunings exist.

other variants of the ngoni include:
xalam (wolof), molo (fulbe), gambare (soninke), kontingo (mandinka), konou (dogon), tidinit (moor), njurkel (songhai), tehardent (tuareg), garaya (hausa), akonting (jola).

if you know of any resources or teachers out there for jeli ngoni, please share them.

[bubudi]

one of the biggest jeli ngoni players is bassekou kouyate from mali. here's a picture of his posse, called n'goni ba:



another one is baba sissoko who is also a great percussionist (especially on the tama). baba played ngoni and tama on mamady keita's live at couleur cafe performance which you can watch on dvd.

other notable players include female singer rokia traore, andra kouyate, mamah diabate, issa conde and cheick hamala diabate.

videos to come...

[Carl]

Ngoni is a great little instrument! I've had one for a few years, and have self taught a couple of basic grooves, and a couple of intro lead lines.

As of the last time I looked, there was very little online for resources. And since I live in New England, no access to teachers...

Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba have a cd called Segu Blue. It's awesome! It seems to be western influenced, with the orchestration and arrangements. But I haven't been able to get a hold of any "traditional" cds to compare it to. I have seen a couple traditional cds discussed online, but haven't been able to track down copies for myself.

I have been using Toumani Diabate's "Djelika" for inspiration. Basekou Kouyate plays ngoni and the legendary Keletigui Diabate on bala! If you don't own this CD you owe it to yourself to get it. It is on my short list of all time favorites.

I can "jam along" with quite a few tracks, and I can hit a couple of the intro's (the easy ones!) This is the instrument I pick up if I just want to play for myself, to improvise. I have found that the cora and bala basic techniques are a bit too demanding of me, so when I work on them I WORK. But with the Ngoni, I've learned enough in the scales and what not to be able to make things up pretty quickly. It helps if you have played some guitar or bass or other stringed / fretted instrument.

A few details. There are two strings which you press down with your fingers like a guitar (but no frets!), then there is a lower bass "drone" and one or more upper strings which you pluck like a harp. (Mine has one bass and three upper "harp" strings with two 'fingered' strings plus one more harp string which is positioned below the fingered strings, but sounds above them... hard to describe, but if you look into the instrument you'll figure it out)

www.kora-music.com has a section on it which covers some of the tuning possibilities and gives the traditional names for the strings and what not. A good place to start.

Kora-music's software also has a few ngoni songs on it (if you purchase the software, I don't think that they are in the freeware version, but I could be wrong) I looked at them once, but haven't had the time to learn any of them in detail.

The traditional tuning system is a bit tricky, very much like the traditional cora tuning system (leather wrapped around the neck) Once you get used to it, it isn't so bad...

If I run across any cool websites or CDs I'll pass them along (now that I have an excuse to look those things up again...!)

C

[bubudi]

carl, according to the kora-music website, there are typically 2 bass strings and 2 treble strings. you can see in the picture in my first post that the 2 bass strings are tied above the 2 treble strings on the neck.

if i recall correctly, rusty eckland studied this instrument and might be able to teach it or recommend a teacher in the states.

[Carl]

Let's start with the "traditional" jeli ngoni. this is what they describe on kora-music.com

short string Dendiourou, the highest string, away from the player, plucked with right forefinger outward and inward
long string Diali Diourou, one fourth above Badiourou, plucked with right forefinger outward, shortened with left fingers
long string Badiourou, the deepest string, plucked with right thumb or forefinger outward, shortened with left fingers
short string Kodiourou, deeper than Dendiourou, close to the player, plucked with right thumb or forefinger outward

Think of this as the "basic instrument" probably the oldest configuration, and with this you could play the traditional repertoire. There are many variations on this design when you get out there looking at instruments.

My ngoni came through drumskulls. In addition to the above named strings I have an extra "bass" string which can not be "shortened with the fingers" it sounds lower than the Badiourou and it is placed "closest to the player" physically above Kodiourou. Additionally, after the Dendiourou I have two more strings, tuned above the Dendiourou, when play in succession they make a short scale fragment.

If you were to look at someone holding the instrument it the strings would lay out like this

Bass (not named, plucked like a drone string)
Kodiourou (plucked, but not fingered with the left hand)
Badiourou (able to be fingered with the left hand)
Diali Diourou (able to be fingered with the left hand)
Dendiourou (plucked, but not fingered with the left hand)
Extra string 1 (plucked, but not fingered with the left hand)
Extra string 2 (plucked, but not fingered with the left hand)

There might be names for the extra strings, but I don't know them

I find that with playing things off of Djelika those extra strings are mandatory! Just for the range.
Also, with the extra high strings, some strumming affects are available that you can't quite pull off on the middle strings. Also, the extra bass string helps with some 1 - 5 - 1 type bass lines.

Ok, I think that we've just about exhausted my knowledge on this very cool instrument. As with the djembe, cora and bala, there is a lot more information out there. Saddly it is rather difficult to come by! Somewhere in my readings, I have a list of primary repertoire. If I remember correctly there is some overlap with cora and bala repertoire as well.

Speaking of which, there is a chapter on it in Charry's Mande music which would have more info... (my copy is at the studio)

C

[Carl]

From my notes... taken from Mande Music

Ngoni / Koni

3 - 7 stringed lute of West Africa

Tuning Schematics: (drawing showing how to tune the strings)
Mande Music Pg. 162 - 163

Tunings are based on specific songs that they are best known for.
Tuning songs:
Tutu Jara
Lemba (Mali Sajo, Asiminka)
Taara/Mandig Taara (Sunjata, Maki, Lagiye
Taara ardin (ardin = lead?)
Da Monzon
Kumbemba/Bala Niame (Hama Ba Jata)
Gesere Serahuli (Bakari Jan)

Players:
Dembele, Daouda
Koita, Moriba
Kouyate, Moussa
Kouyate, Modibo
Sissoko, Bazoumana
Tounkara, Mady

Recordings:
1st recording containing an ensemble of all jeli instruments
Koita, Moriba (1997) - Clearest best recording of a Ngoni.

Band leaders with Koni in band
Diabate, Kasse Mady
Damba, Fanta

[bubudi]

thanks for the info, carl. i'll try and dig up some material from those performers. in the meantime, here's some that i've found so far.


mamah diabate from rokia traore's band soundchecks his ngoni at music meeting 2009




cheick hamala diabate during at maryland masters showcase 2009




mama sissoko improvises for an africa channel series




singer mah soumano accompanied on ngoni by andra kouyate who did the musical arrangement




another mah soumano production arranged by andra kouyate

[bubudi]

bassekou kouyate










doco during the making of segou blue

[e2c]

I *know* this is hair-splitting, but what they hey...

tidinit (moor)

Actually, tidinit seems (as far as I can see from Google) to be in Hassaniyya (aka Hassaniyya Arabic).

Check here for a partial list of languages and dialects spoken in Mauritania: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MR

[bubudi]

quite right. the moors are a mixed and mysterious ethnic group who speak hassaniya arabic.

[bubudi]

cheick hamala diabate (one of the ngoni masters mentioned above) is living in maryland, but is a fixture at festivals around the country. check out his website for contact details. cheick hamala has released 2 solo cds:

ake doni doni (take it slow) [2008]
kele manyi de [2006]

he also collaborated with bob carlin on their grammy award winning cd, from mali to america [2007]
other collaborations include salif keita, bela fleck, kandia kouyate, ami koita, toumani diabate and more.

[e2c]

quite right. the moors are a mixed and mysterious ethnic group who speak hassaniya arabic.

I personally think the word "Moor" is very misleading, but that's just me...

[guedom]

Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoniba are very good!! I saw in etnosur festival this July, they has a great performance and the crown were moving all concert.

About Moors.. umm moors are the people who live in Morocco Kingdom, are not a specific ethnic group.

[e2c]

In English, "Moor" can refer to people from sub-Saharan Africa (like the title character in Shakespeare's play Othello), or the people who conquered southern Spain (al-Andalus) - who were Berbers and Arabs, but still, they're referred to as "Moors," in Spanish, Portuguese and English.

And then, a lot of English-speaking people refer to Mauritanians as "Moors." There's a terrific CD on World Circuit (out of print now) called "Moorish Music from Mauritania."

It's all very confusing, I think!

[guedom]

Hola e2c thanks for the tips.
I live in Granada, where was the Nazari Kingdom, the last one of Al-Andalus. For us moors are the people that live or come from Morocco, arabs the people from Arabia.. and Ververs are a specif ethnic and many of them live in Morroco. Perhaps your word moor refer to verver They live in many countries of Africa like Mauritania.