Djamakoyo

These days, I constantly find myself singing, humming or whistling the melodious 'Djamakoyo' by talented Malian musician, Adama Yalomba. This song is from his album Kassa and I am looking forward to discovering the other tracks on it. For now, here's Djamakoyo. 

The little booklet accompanying this excellent Putumayo CD states that Yalomba sings, "Whether you're a farmer, a fisherman or a breeder / Work from the heart / Let us do our work with compassion / If you keep working only for yourself, you remain alone".

Live version here.

Yé ké yé ké

Mory Kanté (born March 29, 1950 in Kissidougou, Guinea) is an acclaimed vocalist and player of the kora harp. He was born into one of Guinea's best known families of griot (hereditary) musicians. After being brought up in the Mandinka griot tradition in Guinea, he was sent to Mali at the age of seven years – where he learned to play the kora, as well as important voice traditions, some of which are necessary to become a griot.

Kanté is best known internationally for his 1987 hit song "Yé ké yé ké", which was one of Africa's best-ever selling hits as well as being a European Number One in 1988 making it the first ever African single to sell over one million copies. Kanté received unexpected fame again in 1994 when the German techno duo Hardfloor created a dance remix of "Yéké Yéké." He also appeared in 2006 as vocalist on British DJ Darren Tate's release, "Narama". More at Wiki.

Official Website.

Merci, H.

ECOWAS

This acronym puzzled me for months (Echoas, Echoise, Eckowass, I tried them all). Today's a day to say "Aha!". From Wikipedia:

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries, founded on May 28, 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos. Its mission is to promote economic integration. In 1976 Cape Verde joined ECOWAS, and in December 2000 Mauritania withdrew, having announced its intention to do so in December 1999.

It was founded to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for the member states by means of economic and monetary union creating a single large trading bloc. The very slow progress towards this aim meant that the treaty was revised in Cotonou on July 24, 1993, towards a looser collaboration. The ECOWAS Secretariat and the Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development are its two main institutions to implement policies. The ECOWAS Fund was transformed into the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development in 2001. ECOWAS is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community (AEC).
The current President of the Commission is James Victor Gbeho. The current chairman is acting President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.
It operates officially in three coequal languages (English, French, and Portuguese).

Official Website.

Tama's Snimbe

I must thank Putumayo for all the African music it helps me discover. My latest disvovery is Tama's Snimbe, a colloborative effort with one of my favourite artists, Susheela Raman.

Tama's Biography from Yahoo Music: Named after a Bambara word meaning "to walk," Tama consists of Malian vocalist Tom Diakite, percussionist Djanuno Dabo of Guinea Bissau and London-based producer/multi-instrumentalist Sam Mills. The trio met when they were playing with the hypnotic Bengali performer Paban Das Baul, with whom Mills had collaborated previously on albums like Real Sugar. Having some extra time at the recording studio led to the group creating impromptu songs that incorporated Diakite's West African musical heritage and Mills' roots in pop, avant-garde and world music, which stretch back to his days in 23 Skidoo in the late '70s and early '80s. The group's debut album Nostalgie was released in 1999 on the RealWorld label. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide.

Snimbe feature's in Tama's album Espace.

The Sahara Desert

• The Sahara ("The Greatest Desert") is the world's largest hot desert.
• At over 9,000,000 square kilometers (3,500,000 sq mi), it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe.
• The desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean.
• The Sahara divides the continent of Africa into North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
• To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel: a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna that comprises the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan Africa.
• The Sahara covers huge parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia.
• Here's a beautiful image of the Sahara.
• Read more here.

Vieux Farka Touré

Ali Farka Touré was one of the greatest African musicians. His son, "Vieux" Farka Touré decided to follow in his father's footsteps and is an acclaimed singer and guitarist. Here he is performing the beautiful number 'Ai Du' at Joe's Pub in New York.

More of Vieux's music on MySpace and check out his official website here.

Ali Farka Touré

Ali Farka Touré was born into a noble family in Timbuktu, Mali. His family did not approve of his choice to become a musician. In 1992, he recorded the famous CD Talking Timbuktu with American guitarist Ry Cooder. The album won a Grammy award. Touré was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”.

More: MySpace, Biography.

Amadou et Mariam

When I (first) discovered Amadou and Mariam on the list of performers at All Points West, I couldn't help but feel disappointed that I had missed them by an hour. This talented musical duo consists of Mariam Doumbia and Amadou Bagayoko, a blind couple who met at a school for the blind in Mali and got together because of their common interest in music.



The first A&M number I heard was "Je pense à toi", which is my favourite. I also love "Dimanche à Bamako". Their album with the same name is produced by Manu Chao. Check them out on Myspace and NPR.