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World traveler
The live side of Habib Koité
BY BANNING EYRE

Mali’s Habib Koité leads a new generation of African pop musician. He uses traditional music, but he’s no captive to ethnicity, and his songs never simply repackage existing genres. He’s studied Western music — jazz, rock, and pop — but he’s not so wowed by foreign sounds that he ever gets lost in them. He comes from a country where singing stars rule the roost and bands rarely stay together long; yet he’s nurtured a six-piece juggernaut that boasts the kind of ensemble and polish only years of performing together can produce. He sings beautifully, writes a hell of a song, and jams guitar with a fire and a passion to match any rocker’s. For all these reasons, his legions of loyal fans around the world continue to grow.

Koité, whose overworked 1995 debut, Muso Ko (World Village), drew on some 10 years of previously unrecorded material, has given the impression that for him songwriting is a chore. His two subsequent studio releases, Ma Ya (Putumayo, 1998) and Baro (Putumayo, 2001), offered more subdued, crafted songs, and it was no secret that he preferred burnishing numbers on stage to birthing them in the studio. Given this, and the way Bamada have matured, a live album made sense. When we hook up over the phone, he insists that the inspiration for his new double CD, Fôly: Live Around the World (World Village), came from the fans. "It was they who told us. People who know the group well on record and in concert had seen an evolution in the music. Everyone was saying, ‘You have to make a live album.’ It’s the old songs, but each musician has added things."

On Fôly, five-minute set pieces from the studio albums extend into eight- and 10-minute wind-ups with new musical segments, percussion breakdowns, and lots of tasty soloing by veteran balafonist Keletigui Diabate, and especially, Koité on guitar. "There is improvisation in many places. The basis of the music is set. Improvisation creates the magic, something new on the old base." Koité was always an original on guitar, finger-picking on a nylon-string acoustic and holding his own no matter how much heat his band generated. In recent years, he has blossomed into one of the most exciting ax men on the world-music scene, evoking traditional Malian string instruments without imitating them and bringing in sophisticated harmonies and racing rhythms. His finger-flying solos on these live versions of "Fatima," "Konime," "Cigarette Abana," and "Kunfeta" are worth the price of admission.

On both the first CD, which sticks to more introspective material, and the second, which fires through Koité’s most driving songs, Fôly puts the emphasis on musicianship. The players’ personalities emerge: the stolid warmth of bassist Abdoul Wahab Berthé, the youthful exuberance of percussionist Mahamadou Koné, the wily playfulness of sixtysomething Diabate on balafon. Koité points out that instrumentalists in Mali have long been second-class citizens. "I think that Mali has a great tradition of song. The Manding people played the balafon from way back. That’s the oldest instrument. But the balafon was always there to accompany the singer. It was the singer who counted, like the griot, or the funa — the one who speaks to draw the attention of the people. The players of instruments, even if they played very beautiful things, stayed behind in the minds of the public. It’s a phenomenon that has continued into modern times."

Koité is rightly proud of having kept his band together. Back in the ’70s, dance orchestras like the Super Rail Band were in vogue, but that era is gone, and today, no other major Malian outfit can match the longevity of Bamada. He says one problem in Mali is that there’s never been much incentive for players to stick with a singer who claimed all the royalties. "When a musician is called for a recording, he gets paid once, and that’s it. But now, there are a few instrumentalists who understand about interpretation, arrangement, and the importance of having this written down at the time of recording. Musicians need to earn more than just their pay for each concert." He now credits his band with arrangements for the songs, and at a time when the music market in Mali is "booming" (his word), this example could carry some weight.

And though songwriting may be a chore, Koité is nonetheless a gifted composer, and one looks forward to new material. In the meantime, Fôly is probably the best live African album ever recorded, and a welcome testimony to the power of a time-tested, road-seasoned band.


Issue Date: March 19 - 25, 2004
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