naby camara - balafon instruction vol 1

[bubudi]

this is the first english language susu bala instructional dvd. naby is a famous balafola and djembefola from guinea. naby is a djeli (griot) and was born and raised in kanteli, a coastal village in guinea. he travelled to mali, gambia, senegal, guinea-bissau, sierra leone and cote d'ivoire, broadening his knowledge of the traditions and of music. he performed with les merveilles de guinee, bala et ses baladins, les ballets africains, mande yagha and fatala. he now lives in seattle, washington, usa.

the rhythms naby teaches on this dvd are: soli, mane, lasidan, yankadi, lamban, guinee fare, sorsonet and kebendo.

available from:
earthtribe percussion
+1-509-760-6224
earthtribepercussion@hotmail.com

cost: $25

[Eason]

I got this DVD about 2 months ago,
it's very nice!
each rhythm Naby teach 2 or 3 patterns,
Very good for any balaphone lover.

[bubudi]

eason, is it easy to follow? could you please rate it out of 5 stars in the poll above. thanks.

[Dugafola]

this is probably the first instructional DVD for bala.

good production with clean pictures and sound. multiple views for each accompaniment.

he basically just plays accomps for each rhythm. since tuning and number of keys can be different, he doesn't say where to start each part. you have to figure it out by ear.

my only gripe is that there's now 'ensemble' take with all the accomps played together and definitely no solo. there's also no reference to a beat or pulse, although if you are familiar at all with the djembe rhythms, it's easy to place.

[bubudi]

this is probably the first instructional DVD for bala.

not the first for bala, but the first for susu bala that i've seen.

did you find the accomps easy to follow?

i agree that an ensemble track would have been good for practice, but i suppose you can get that from any cd that has the same rhythms...

[earthtribe]

Well thanks for the input everyone. This DVD was my first project and I have many other projects in mind so any input is great. I filmed, produced, and edited the DVD myself so I was a little in the dark about making it. Allthough I am just a djembe player myself I did my best. These projects will get better as I go. Naby did not want to play any solo. I am not sure why other than that a "solo" DVD could open up the possibility of other projects. Anyways if anyone has any complaints or compliments on the DVD I would love to hear.
Michael
Earthtribe Percussion