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| Page 7 | Music - Pop | February 2004 |
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African Guitar Summit,
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By Alidė Kohlhaas A year ago, nine musicians gathered at CBC headquarters in Toronto for the African Guitar Summit . Although residing in different cities across Canada, these musicians all hailed originally from various parts of the Dark Continent. One, Alpha YaYa Diallo, is a Juno Award winner, and another, Mighty Popo, is featured on a CD previously reviewed in this magazine. Eight of the nine provide vocals for this African Guitar Summit CD, while Kofi Ackah is the percussionist, and Naby Camara plays the balafon, an instrument related to the xylophone. Its wooden keys are set on a frame with gourds underneath them to give the instrument's sound a unique resonance. This is achieved by a combination of small and large gourds that allow an amazing texture of sound.
Six of the CD's artists are expert in playing the guitar, an instrument that found its way to Africa sometime in the 19th century. It may even have reached the continent earlier, but it really took roots through the Kru people of southern Liberia. These experienced fishermen were employed by European sailing vessels, where they learned to play not only this instrument but also the harmonica, penny whistle and accordion. As the use of the instrument spread across Africa, each region, each different tribe developed a personal style, although the two-finger plucking technique appears to have been particularly strongly developed in West African regions. Although the nine musicians have different backgrounds and speak different languages, they managed to develop a fine sounding band within three days of their meeting. They gave a concert at Glenn Gould Studio on the fourth day. Three more days were spent recording their music live off the floor, in one or two takes. That, in itself, shows that here are some very good musicians at work. The resulting CD, named appropriately African Guitar Summit, features 13 tracks of lively, sweet, and mostly joyful music. Not being an expert on African sounds, I can only say that I found this CD very listenable, its rhythms enjoyable, and some of the songs definitely invited me to move my feet. The liner notes contain a good essay by John Collins, head of the music department of the University of Ghana. It is very enlightening, and makes one aware of how many very different peoples and musical styles exist in Africa. One just wished that someone had been a better editor at this end and placed the apostrophe in dates in the right place. It is not the 1930's but the 1930s, not the 1940's but the 1940s, etc. etc. etc.
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The off-beat illustrations used for the CD
cover and for the liner notes are by Kurt
Swinghammer, who is himself a composer. He, with designer Dan Bryk, captures
the feeling of the music and its origins very well. I do not usually remark
on the cover art, but this one somehow asks to be talked about. The whole
project is part of the Global Village, the series featured regularly on CBC
Radio Two on Friday evenings.