Afropop Worldwide Folgen

Hip Deep in Mali: Growing Into Music in 21st Century Bamako Airdate: 5/19/2016 #731 Produced by Banning Eyre This program presents a musical portrait of Bamako in the wake of crisis. In 2012-13, Islamists occupied the north and a coup d’etat threatened a recent history of functioning democracy. With borders restored and a new elected government in place, we find musical life returning with festivals, nightclub shows and street weddings. But that picture hides darker realities. Ethnomusicologist Lucy Duràn has been studying the oral transmission of music in various countries, notably among griot families in Mali. With her guidance, we explore the precarious lives of griots in today’s Bamako, focusing on the upbringing and education of children in these hereditary families of historian-entertainers. Elders and traditionalists say the griot tradition has been corrupted beyond hope, and even advise their young to pursue different professions. Others persist, within an environment where growing religious conservatism puts increasing pressure on the lives and careers of all musicians. We meet three extraordinarily talented griot children. We hear music and reflections from kora master Toumani Diabaté and his massively popular songwriting son, Sidiki. And we get a fascinating historical perspective from Gregory Mann, professor of history at Columbia University.

We follow a carnival comparsa through the streets of Santiago de Cuba and hear the Haitian-descended Tumba Francesa. Son 14: Fue el Rey de la Rumba. NG La Banda: La Expresiva. Orq. Original de Manzanillo: Comenzó la Fiesta. Revé y su Charangón, live at the amphitheater of Guanabacoa: “Te confundieron con león . . . ¡gallina!” Dan Den: No Me Carezcas. We talk to Carlos Alfonso of Síntesis. Síntesis: Oyá. Mezcla: Ikiri Addá. Los Van Van live: Que Domingo. 1990 Photo via Telemundo

Features Ned Sublette’s exclusive live recording of Los Van Van in February 1990 in Havana, with “Titimanía” and an extended version of “Aquí Él Que Baila Gana.” We talk to Van Van founder Juan Formell and to Elio Revé of Revé y su Charangón, and visit a rehearsal by Los Muñequitos de Matanzas. We talk to Juan Formell. Revé y Su Charangón: Changüí Clave. Revé y Su Charangón: Más Viejo Que Ayer, Más Joven Que Mañana. Son 14: Tal Vez Vuelvas a Llamarme. Grupo Sierra Maestra: El Dulcerito. Los Muñequitos de Matanzas: Congo Yambumba. 1990 Photo by Adalberto Roque via AFP