Their music was magic from the first notes out of Habib Koité’s guitar on Wednesday evening, November 13th at The Cedar Cultural Center. A quartet of West African musicians graced the stage and bestowed the audience with sounds from Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal.
Habib Koité on guitar, Aly Keita on balafon, and Lamine Cissokho on kora, and Mama Kone on calabash and djembe held the attention and entertained over 200 people for nearly two hours.
These musicians created a pop-up band and went on tour titled Mandé Sila to celebrate both Koité’s 30th anniversary as a professional musician and also to celebrate their shared Mandinka heritage.
It was instantly apparent how the calabash gourd connects all of them. The gourd is an integral component of all their instruments except the guitar. Its dried out shell serves as the main body for the kora, the body of the drum for the calabash, and dozens of them in various sizes serve as resonators to amplify the sound of the keys of the balafon.
When Events Manager and Volunteer Coordinator Jared Hemming introduced the band he told the audience we were about to hear music not heard anywhere else in the Twin Cities. With some exceptions, he was spot-on. The Cedar consistently offers space for international acts of the highest caliber that also offers their original sound on traditional instruments.
The band performed more than a dozen numbers, some of them solos, most of them collaborative, often ping-ponging off of one another or challenging one another in a call and response style.
The second song, Benkau, featured Keita playing the balafon so fast, the mallets visually appeared like hummingbird wings hovering. The number was both exciting and inspiring.
They moved straight into an unusual tune, Fimani, that included a duel between Keita’s balafon and Habib’s vocals as he used both falsetto and whistling. The audience offered warm and richly deserved appreciation.
The spell was cast on all of us and we were riveted to our seats luxuriating in the sounds. I wanted to pinch myself I was so moved by their music. The dedication and skill of these musicians was readily apparent.
Koité offered his solo at this point, which I recorded in part and played back later only to put it on repeat. The song is like a warm embrace that could go on forever.
The band trouped back on stage and they played Mandé followed by Batmabe. I conclude Keita must have impressive biceps hidden under his shirt-sleeves. His playing of the balafon and how he wields those mallets is very physical and powerful.
Likewise, Kone on percussion leaves us mesmerized. The polyphonic rhythms that he produces is melodic in its own right even as he appears to attack his instruments with energy.
The band’s music makes a person happy to have ears to hear them. Several people dancing were glad for their feet as well. We’ll take these warm memories into the winter as mental sustenance.
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About Susan Budig
Susan is based in Minneapolis and reports on general assignments for Mshale with a focus on entertainment. In addition to reporting, she is also a writer, poet, teacher and coach.
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