The Djembefola.com CD for Feedback give away

[ubba]

A little late for the prize I know but here’s my 2cents, I think personal stories are fantastic and full of ideas for those that need a little direction. How did you get started, where do you drum, do you play with a group or make a living in a band. Just knowing how another person finally hit that perfect slap and the steps they too to get there, the perfect tone and the satisfaction of hearing it consistently. How many hours did you practice and what was easy or hardest for you, were there any people or places that became an obstruction, how did you manage it?

I think a few clips on technique would be fantastic, seeing somebody online break down a certain piece of music is fantastic when it is done slowly, it’s a real pleaser when you finally get a particular rhythm just right, one that you have possibly heard before and never quite got it screwed down in those memory circuits of your brain. Youtube is fantastic but I’m sure some of you guys have a lot you could show us especially since you were all beginners at one time.

[atam]

One more suggestion of interesting person for an interview: Lennart Hallstrom from www.djembe.net

[James]

Hi Guys, thanks for your feedback. I will freeze this at midnight central european time... and release the results in the morning...

James

[James]

Hi Guys,

News just in, the winner is Suzanne Davies.

Congratulations Suzanne! I will contact you to get your addresss.
the draw:



James

[Afoba]

Hello everybody,
a friend of mine made an interview with Rainer Pollak some years ago. I don't know what it was exactly about, but I try to get and translate it. Otherwise me or Lukas (my band fellow, who meets him regularly) could do a new one (his father is American, so it's no hard job for him to translate it). As you might know Rainer is a specialist for the 60s to 90s Bamako style who is about to die at the moment. He still plays with Juerg Wohlwender: http://www.myspace.com/bamakofoli
I could easily do an interview with Billy the next months, or with Victor who was one of the 4 first guys (well, 3 guys, on girl) who played with Famoudou on stage in Germany and organized his first classes in Germany and Guinee in the early 90s. Paul Engel himself is not up to any interviews anymore- he is very ill since April, when he nearly died. He can't even speak properly. I never met Johannes Beer who made the first Famoudou disc with Paul. Rainer Dörrer and Paul's former wife Sylvie (the two others of the mentioned 4 above ) are already dead. There's Ralf Dominick ("Ralle") who was the first German djembé player in Guinee one year before Paul (88 or 89, when they opened the country). The only Germans who had been there before are those from the east. But they weren't interested in culture, just in agriculture. Still there are some books concerning the 60s Guinea in german written by the socialist friends d;-). You can learn a lot about Guinea (CKY had about 60000 inhabitants then) and about communism and belief in progress d;-).
Tell me what you think about it.
Have a nice time,
Daniel

[Afoba]

I have to correct myself: His name is Rainer POLAK, of course, I wrote it like my mother's family name in the post above. We got Polak, Pollak and Pollack, maybe even Polack, and they are all from Czechoslovakia (though mostly Germans).
Greets

[bops]

Daniel, thanks. I would love to see the interview with Mr. Polak. I am aware of his depth of knowledge of Malian music. When you said "As you might know Rainer is a specialist for the 60s to 90s Bamako style who is about to die at the moment," you mean that style of music is dying off, correct? Not Mr. Polak, I hope?

I'd love to see interviews with anyone else you think would be interesting, too.

Let me know if you would like any help adding subtitles to the video.

[Afoba]

Nono, Rainer is quite well!
But when Juerg went to Bamako last time, he told me that there were very few guys left he was interested in - in fact during one month he made only one recording he really liked (but this one he loves!!). It seems the Bamako style (as if there was only one) is changing.
I'm sorry, concerning BKO I have to write what I've heard from Rainer and (much more often) Juerg, for I've never been to and I think that they know a lot from there (G. Kero has already been mentioned here, too, but I don't know him). Rainer (often called "Dr. Djembé/Jenbe" here) helds speeches at Universities for example. He's the single real djembé scientist in Germany (not a hobby scientist like us). But he's specialist for Bamako, he never went to Guinee for example.
see you,
d

[atam]

I would also really love to see/read a good interview with Rainer Polack - for me he did the best recordings there are !! I mean The Art of Jenbe Drumming vol.1. This is very sad for me to hear that this beautiful style is dying off (. But I believe there will still be some people who will keep it alive.

[michel weelen]

hey all ...

Just to say something about BMK .... First time i was there i thought " here is the missing link " ....
I went to Mali after Senegal, Guiné & Ivory Coast ...
I found more traditionnal phrases fitting the dance then anywhere else .... Like it seemed to be the place where it's started, the root ... the phrases were more simple, i approch them as basics movements from where one could develop his own... Like something you could start with & develop without being afraid to be "out off the clave" as the Cuban says ...
Mali & Guinée where part off the same Empire, before we, the french, came in & did a big mess with the boarders ... and for a reason i don't know the music in Mali kept it's "original" form, i guess the Malian people were less in a competition mode than the Guinéan ... They did not fall in a "communist" organisation ... & build up "an artistic structure" the way the Guinean did, I don't even know if Mali went to the PanAfrican Festivals that were organised every 2 years ?

I know Rainer was with him in Guinéa in the 80's, Ralle took part in the trip we made with Famoudou in Sangabarala, was on stage in Berlin & Stuttgart with Famoudou, Paul, Sylvie (rip), Rainer & Johannes ... steel hve pictures ... LOL i was young !!!!! It was first Famoudou Performance in Europe under his name ....

[Dugafola]

i guess the Malian people were less in a competition mode than the Guinéan ... They did not fall in a "communist" organisation ... & build up "an artistic structure" the way the Guinean did, I don't even know if Mali went to the PanAfrican Festivals that were organised every 2 years ?

i think this has a lot to do with it.

if they did build up the "artistic structure," it was not on the level as the neighbor to the west.

my friends who go to Mali regularly say things are changing a bit. there's more and more influence from CKY, Bobo, ivory coast etc creeping into the style of play and becoming more technical.

[bops]

I guess it doesn't help much that most jembe students are more interested in quantity than depth. More phrases, more rhythms, more, more. I wonder if, in the future, this current trend will continue, or if we'll see a return to the roots. I hope for the latter.

[Dugafola]

I guess it doesn't help much that most jembe students are more interested in quantity than depth. More phrases, more rhythms, more, more. I wonder if, in the future, this current trend will continue, or if we'll see a return to the roots. I hope for the latter.

[Afoba]

Hi Michel,
thank you for this posting!
Still: From what you say about "original forms" concerning Mali and Guinée I can't agree, I would have thought you never went to Upper Guinea, if you hadn't written it. you say:

"and for a reason i don't know the music in Mali kept it's "original" form, i guess the Malian people were less in a competition mode than the Guinéan ..."
This isn't true if you forget about Conakry a bit. It's the other way around: Upper Guinea is much more traditional than Bamako (and so is south western Mali, I guess). But Bamako has found it's own, newer, traditions much more than Conakry. Still in Upper Guinea (even in Kankan, I would say) there are much more different fêtes than in Bamako, the music is older, they have taken over much less other influences (but they have! other traditional and ballet influences). You go on saying:
"They did not fall in a "communist" organisation ... & build up "an artistic structure" the way the Guinean did"
That's very true, there hasn't been this instrumentalization of instruments (d;-) ) in other places than in Guinea/Conakry - but some drummers in Bamako (and many more in Burkina and Ivory Coast and even Senegal) have copied the Conakry ballet style. Actually there are many drummers who prefer Bamako to Conakry, but this is no reason to say that malian music was more traditional than Guinea - for the malian or guinean style doesn't exist.

Ca fait plaisir de te voir parler de Rainer (Dörrer, je pense, non?), Rale, Paul et Sylvie!
Après avoir lu ton message j'ai l'impression que tu ne sais pas que Rainer est mort il y a deux ans et que Paul est gravement malade depuis fin avril ( il ne sais même plus parler correctement). J'ai été à Berlin lui rendre visite il y a quelques mois avec Juerg. Ca allait, il a de l'humour, il rigole, mais il est nourrit par sa copine et des gentils gens qui s'occupent tout le temos de lui. Mon ami et collègue Benno m'a dit il y a quelques semaines qu'actuellement ca ne va plus si bien, tout dépend de son état d'ésprit actuel !
Victor par contre (qui avait fait ces premières tournées d'Allemagne avec Famoudou, Paul, Sylvie et Rainer et qui s'est beaucoup occupé de Paul cette année - je pense que tu le connais) va bien, il habit á Freiburg pas loin de la frontière francaise comme moi. Rale est à Berlin, je le vois rarement ou plutôt plus du tout depuis qu'on n'a plus le projet avec Paul. Je sais qu'il oue avec quelques Guinéens (et Burkinabé je pense) à Berlin.
Où es-tu localisé en France actuellement?
Désolé pour la réponse critique, meilleurs voeux et à bientôt ici ou ailleurs,
Daniel