Hugh Tracey - Musical Instruments - 7 - Guitars 2

Hugh Tracey - The Music of Africa Series
- Musical Instruments 7 - Guitars 2
Kaleidophone - KMA 7 - P.1972






Side A

A1 Manwani kufiki wanda - Ilunga Patrice & Misobma Victor (Luba-Hemba, Kolwezi, Katanga, Congo) 2'44
A2 Kanelo - Ilunga Patrice & Misobma Victor (Luba-Hemba, Kolwezi, Katanga, Congo) 3'02
A3 Guabi, guabi - George Sibanda (Ndebele, Bulawayo, Rhodesia 2'48
A4 Kissicha moto-moto - J.P. Oden (Swahili, Kidumu, Kenya) 2'31
A5 Maza kilio-e  - Jean Bosco Mwenda (Swahili, Jadotville, Katanga, Congo) 2'53
A6 Shia bantwana aosela lagavia - Nomuswiti Citaumvano and Uvakutsiwo (Xhosho-Mpondo, Lusikisiki, Pondoland, Cap, South Africa) 2'56

Side B

B1 Masenga wa Bena Nomba - Ngoi Nono, Kabonga Anastase and friends (Luba-Songe, Kabongo, Katanga, Congo) 4'31
B2 Katikalepake, katikatobeke (About to snap, about to break) - Isac Matafwana and Sunkutu (Bemba, Mufulka, Zambia) 3'01
B3 Mpenzi wangu umepotea mjini - Lang Obierto and a group of Luo men (Luo, Yala in Gem, near Kisumu, Kenya) 2'54
B4 Safari ya baraka - Ombiza Charles with his wife (Swahili-Ngwana, Kisangani, Congo) 2'55
B5 Masenga - Ilunga Patrice & Misomba Victor and friends (Luba-Hemba, Kolwezi, Katanga, Congo) 2'53
B6 Nahawandi (Udi solo) - Bom Ambaron (Swahili-Nguja, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania) 2'47


Here is Guitar 2, to my knowledge the last of the Hugh Tracey series on Kaleidophone. I like these two volumes (the previous post and this one) very very much and they have gotten a lot of playtime over the years. To me much of this music seems very sweet and innocent and always puts me in a good mood. This is music for close by friends, played in a world where people are not full of pretence or deceitfulness. A lot of idealistic nonsense you say! Self deception! So what, I rather deceive myself that have other people doing it for me! Anyhow I will be posting many more records of African music, mostly field recordings and not always this sweet. Again, I hope you enjoy!



Music ▼ +

Hugh Tracey - Musical Instruments - 6 - Guitars 1

Hugh Tracy - The Music of Africa Series
Musical Instruments 6 - Guitars 1
Kaleidophone - KMA 6 - P.1972




Side A

A1 Masanga - Jean Bosco Mwenda (Luba-Sanga, Jadotville, Katanga, Congo) 3'01
A2 Mama na mwana (Mother and child) - Jean Bosco Mwenda (Ngala, Jadotville, Katanga, Congo) 3'00
A3 Ayu welele wa Mhalaka (Alas for a bachelor) - Ngoi Noao, Kabongo Anastase, and friends (Luba-Songe, Kabongo, Katanga, Congo) 3'04
A4 Mama Josefina - Ilunga Patrice & Misomba Victor (Luba-Hemba, Kabinda, Kasai, Congo) 2'48
A5 Antoinette wa Kolwezi - Ilunga Patrice & Misoma Victor (Luba-Hemba, Kolwezi Copper Mine, Katanga, Congo) 3'07
A6 Muleka mwene ngole - Kaseba Anatole (Luba-Shankadi, Kolwezi Copper Mine, Katanga, Congo) 3'04

Side B

B1 Muleka Mwene Yombwe - Ngoi Nono, Kabongo Anastase, and friends (Luba-Songe, Kabongo, Katanga, Congo) 4'00
B2 Nyon anyona (Walk proudly) - Lang Obiero and Luo men (Luo, Yala in Gem, near Kisumu, Kenya) 3'03
B3 Pini ochama (I was without hope) - Lang Obiero and Luo men (Luo, Yala in Gem, near Kisumu, Kenya) 2'43
B4 Anagikafu ragitake - Deab Rizgala (Nubi, Mbale, Uganda) 2'38
B5 A Desayo - Morris Kalala and an Ngala girl (Ngala, Kinshasa Congo) 2'50
B6 Iuwale-o-Iuwale (Start, o start the song) - Mbasela Kunda & William Munyanda (Lala, Setenje, Zambia) 2'43




I promised this one long ago and finally I took some new better photos and made a new rip to go along with it. Gutar 2 will follow shortly Hope you enjoy.

Guitars 1


It is not certain when guitars were first imported into Central, Eastern, a Southern Africa. They are likely to have been introduced along the seaboard by Portuguese sailors and traders during the seventeenth century, and still earlier by Arabs down the east coast - where the typically Arabian instrument, the Ud (or lute) is still played today by those who claim part-Arab ancestry. The popularity of the guitar among African players became established with the development of industries and the consequent movement of large numbers of people into urban surroundings, away from the normal sources of supply for traditional instruments.

By 1950 the use of a guitar had become the hallmark of ‘town’ music, as opposed to the more familiar forms of country music; the songs for the most part being distant imitations of foreign material set to vernacular wads.

The ability of African musicians to master the instrument varies considerably in different parts of the continent. The majority of players in the south use only the thrumming styles, limited almost exclusively to a ground bass of the three common chords; while players in the Congo and in parts of East Africa have developed the more distinctive styles of contrapuntal playing. Most African players make constant use of a capotasto on the second, third, or fourth fret in order to avoid the greater fingering distances of the open strings.

The proliferation of factories producing simple and inexpensive guitars for the African market has brought the instrument into prominence during the last decade but has added little to innate musicality or to the craft of indigenous instrument making; the skill of the guitar players featured in this record is the exception rather than the rule.

from the original liner notes on the back sleeve by Hugh Tracey

Music ▼ +

Musique du Mali - 1 - Fanta Sacko

Fanta Sacko - Musique du Mali - 1

Musicaphon Bärenreiter - BM 30 L 2551 - P.1971

Side A

A1 Jelike jan

A2 Ni Ko ni Kadissa

A3 Tita

A4 Tara

A5 Banankoro

Side B

B1 Kita Jeli

B2 Tubaka

B3 Jimbe wata Dabola

B4 Maliens be di yala.mp3

B5 Kankan Jarabi

Fanta Sacko, vcl

Foussenou Diabaté, gtr

Mamadou Tounkara, gtr

Wikipedia has only this to say:

Fanta Sacko is a Malian musician, whose debut, self-titled LP launched the bajourou music genre. She has helped establish a female singing tradition in Mali, which makes that country unique in West Africa, where female popular musicians are not generally approved of.[1][2]

1. Mark Ellingham, Orla Duane, Vanessa Dowell, ed (November 1999). Africa, Europe and the Middle East. World music. 1. London: Rough Guides. pp. 550. ISBN 1858286352.

2. Gikandi, Simon (2003). Gikandi, Simon. ed. Encyclopedia of African literature. Taylor & Francis. pp. 575. ISBN 0415230195. Retrieved 2010-04-14.

Bajourou (meaning 'big strings' or 'big tune') is the name given to a strain of Malian (Mali) pop music usually played at weddings and social gatherings. Though now predominantly electric, its roots were in 60's acoustic music that borrowed patterns from the kora and the donsongoni (a hunting harp/guitar) and transferred them to acoustic guitars. Lyrics moved away from the usual Manding praise songs to more secular, romantic concerns, mainly sung by women like Fanta Sacko who did much to develop and spread the music.

Bibliography

▪ Charry, Eric S. (2000). Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Mali. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

▪ Coelho, Victor (2003). The Cambridge Companion to Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

▪ Conrad, David (2001). Somono Bala of the Upper Niger. Leiden: BRILL.

▪ Eyre, Banning (2000). In Griot Time: An American Guitarist in Mali. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Fanta Sacko

Not much to read of biographical information on the web, but then again my good and knowledgeable friend Stefan, at wrldsrv.blogspot.com, who was kind to take the time to make the rip and the great scans, and also painstakingly edited and carefully pruned the files to get them as free from clicks as possible, has this to say:

By the way: most Malian musicians I have spoken with did not know this Fanta Sacko. Some say she must have slept with the producer (or another person in charge) to get this record made. Zani, who been in the business since the early 1960s, was sure she was Guinean, after hearing the record. Flani said it was a teenager girl from a village singing. At least it is certain that she was/is from the south of Mali or the north of Guinea.

Foussenou Diabaté & Mamadou Tounkara

The stringwork by Foussenou Diabaté and Mamadou Tounkara is most enjoyable and I much rather listen to this young girl sing than thousands of other boys and girls that gets recorded, especially as the music and the tradition is often stronger than the individual aspirations.

Anyhow, we all have our own ears, so I'll let you judge for yourself...

I must admit am a terrible "completeness" junkie and even though my collection of records is not small I don't have everything, so again thanks to Stefan for his good help to fill in this lacunae in the catalogue!

I am also hooked on having multiple version rips of course preferably from different copies but also experimenting with post editing. So because of that, I also give you two versions to choose from. The first one is probably more true to the original and may have a better lustre. But for those with a severe allergy towards hiss and clicks the second one may be tried for size.

Personally I just listen to the music and it seems my ears have grown their own filters over the years of listening to old crackly acoustic 78 rpm recordings from China, India and Egypt. The best school for that I think was the old worn Charley Patton recordings I listened to in the sixties.

Music ▼ + (wrldsrv handedit)

Music ▼ + (slightly declicked)