"Sir" Sidiki Camara

[davidognomo]

mr. coolness...

mind the speech with wich he interrups his djembe kan

love the part where he corrects "the possibilities" to "my possibilities"

[Michel]

A.k.a. Fabla. He is a real master. Thanks for posting.

[antelope]

Very nice Djembe Kan!!! Thanx! ...but although that Sidiki is a Malian guy his solo is influenced a lot from Mamady's DjembeKan....and I think that he is not a Master yet. For us, for the whites, of course we can learn a lot from him, but, because of the ''term'' Master there is in Africa also, I think that he is not yet. But he is a very respectable and nice musician....

[Michel]

That Sidiki has been the solo djembe player of the National Ballet of Mali for years..... And played with Mamady Keita in Sewa Kan. Have a look in the 'djembefola' section for a bio and decide for yourself if you would call him a master. He doesn't call himself a master though....

[bubudi]

more to the point, you have to see and hear him playing in a group. i'd say he's pretty close to mastery. i wouldn't consider myself qualified to say definitely whether he is a master or not. mamady definitely taught him a lot, but the fact is that sidiki was already a very accomplished drummer (1st soloist of the ballet national du mali) before hooking up with sewa kan. i think out of the people that mamady recruited to the group, ntoman was probably the most accomplished, then sidiki.

[antelope]

Sorry, I didn't want to be misunderstood! Let me explain... I love African Music. I'm researching, playing and working hard with the djembe about 10 years (it's not a long period, it's not a short, I'm teaching also, I will be a student for ever also...anyway I have a level and I know or can understand some things). Ι am really very humble, I believe that only if I continue practicing for 24 hours per day for 100 years from now I will manage to have 1% of Sidiki's playing, I know the bio of Sidiki, and I know that there are Malian and Guinean djembefolas that Sidiki can bow immediately, but that is not the point. I respect and like Sidiki a lot as many other musicians and persons, BUT, I don't like and I don't respect Africans (as personalities) that come to Europe or America and because of playing fast, or having a good and clear sound, they say that they are masters (Sidiki doesn't say that, and that's respectful, because that shows that he is honest) and most of all I DON'T like whites that when that happen (an African who "just" play very very good) they say "woooooahhh!!!-amazing he is a real master". We are (the whites) very small to say who is a master, but there are real Masters and only Africans can decide who is who. Djembe is a very ''deep'' instrument with secret powers that only a true Master can use and show. I have experience a Master's playing and I couldn't believe that a djembe drum can be heard like this and I couldn't imagine that djembe drum has so many possibilities as an instrument. Sidiki and many many others who play so good also can not give me this special feeling. Finally, I want just to say that we can learn from everybody for sure but be carefull, Master is such a serious word-level and look more carefully for who is who.....

[davidognomo]

maybe we could discuss this thing that Sidiki is trying to do.

You know: showing that the djembe, in this case, can be a versatile instrument, and that with the tradicional african musical codes, one can aproach, let's say western music styles.

Here are my thoughts about it:

when I first started playing djembe, that would be one of the things I would do more: playing with hip hop and funk phrases. With the lack of african references, that was what was available to me.

When I see a real djembefola doing that, what I tend to think is that it is not interesting (for me, at least). What I find interesting in this not too pretencious djembe kan by Sidiki Camara, what makes me widen my eyes, ears and spirit is when he gets out of the base rhythm he's reproducing and hits it with rockin' solo phrases. But when he does that, he's using the djembe, traditional, african repertoire of phrases and techniques.

I believe that with a w african ensemble, the duns, bells, djembes and all, one could make a really nice approach to western rhythms, and that might be interesting, to lend a more rustic patine(french word - don't know if it is used in english), texture to the sound.
But when I see a real, african, trained, skilled djembefola reproducing a hip hop phrase in a djembe kan, I can't help thinking that that was what I used to do when I couldn't do anything else, and I start thinking "why is he using his clean sound and hand skill to reproduce this rhythm, wich seems not to have any real proper development beyond itself?"

On the other hand, and this could be a controversial statement here, I find most of the times w african music played by western groups unintersting aswell. Seems almost every time like an archeological or folkloryc reconstitution.
As a western djembe lover I find this feeling very disquieting. I think to myself: "ok, I get to gather a group of people, duns, djembes, we get to play the rhythms, we even get to do some nice solos, nice variations, nice w african music... and then what? - what do we do with that, beside having some private fun (that can be a lot)?

And this gets me to the other question that is: what is the role, the function of the now so popular w african music and the djembe, beyond what was the "mission" of the grand master Mamady Keita, the spreading and preservation of w african music and percussion?

[Michel]

antelope wrote:

Sidiki and many many others who play so good also can not give me this special feeling.

That's a matter of taste. He certainly gives me a special feeling when he plays. Try a workshop with him. And how it works with the word master: You don't call yourself a master, other masters do.


davidognomo wrote:

On the other hand, and this could be a controversial statement here, I find most of the times w african music played by western groups unintersting aswell. Seems almost every time like an archeological or folkloryc reconstitution.

Haha! Lol! I totally agree.... But having fun is also very important!

And this gets me to the other question that is: what is the role, the function of the now so popular w african music and the djembe, beyond what was the "mission" of the grand master Mamady Keita, the spreading and preservation of w african music and percussion?

Do you think it's so popular? On this site, ok, but elsewhere? I think we are all busy with this mission!
And when it comes to your remarks on hiphop-rhythms sounding like w-african rhythms: I don't really get what you mean related to Sidiki's djembekan. I think that all hiphop-rhythms have w-african roots.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Michel

[James]

but although that Sidiki is a Malian guy his solo is influenced a lot from Mamady's DjembeKan

I disagree. That's one the most original djembekan's I've seen

[the kid]

I agree with James. Thats a very origional djembekan.

What skin do you guys guess he's using.

I'm thinking calf on djalla. dry and crunchy.

Sidiki ..... can not give me this special feeling

Sorry Atelope but i wonder did you see and hear Sidiki playing live or are you commenting after seeing some youtube videos. I think there is a big difference. I can form an opinion of a players style after seeing a few videos but i really couldn't comment on whether or not they have the mastery.

[Michel]

About the skin: I'm almost certain he only uses goat. But he told me he has some drums with bush-antilope as well.... A tradition-lover, this man.

[e2c]

Very, very nice solo!

It looks and sounds to me like he's been studying other types of hand drumming: Middle Eastern (darbouka), or maybe Indian, or even Persian - or possibly all three. (Does anyone know for sure?) His finger rolls near the rim are perfect... sound very much like they have a Persian classical influence... although maybe it comes from something else? He is amazingly versatile and I love the different sounds he's getting; very musical style of playing.

Beautiful way to combine styles and influences. I want to hear more! (And I see from James' interview with him that he plays many different kinds of music: http://djembefola.com/blog/interviews/t ... iki-camara )

[Michel]

He has been taking tabla-lessons, played with South-Korean and Japanese drummers... After traveling through Mali to learn all the Malian tradition for the National ballet, he did almost the whole world. And we had a laugh when he told me he really liked Irish music as well. I don't know many african drummers with such an open (musical) mind. One year I discovered him on the North sea Jazz festival as jazz-guitarist Bill Frisell's percussionist, with whom he did also some tours.

[bubudi]

as a matter of fact, he recorded with bill frissell. look up 'intercontinentals' on itunes. great album.

well, some people say he is a big traditionalist, and i would agree, he really knows the djembe tradition in mali (also in a more folkloric sense, guinea and ivory coast) and sticks to the roots when playing the traditional stuff, while putting his own unique musical flavour into it. but at the same time, he is expanding to so many other styles of music, he has his own calabash/djembe/kpanlogo/cymbal setup that he plays in most of his gigs (the ones with his bands who aren't playing real traditional stuff), he studies other kinds of drumming and gigs and records with jazz musicians and those playing other genres. few other djembe players have shown such versatility. adama drame comes to mind, though i certainly don't compare the two.

michel, is that indian or egyptian tabla that he's been studying?

[Michel]

Oh, is there an egyptian tabla? I didn't know. We were talking about Indian tabla last january. And the complicated rhythms that come with it. I hardly know anything about tabla, (except that it makes me nervous) but he was telling about strange beats like 17/32.
This september I invited Sidiki to come to Amsterdam to give an advanced intensive workshop for a weekend. Can't wait!