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openmind
who: Saikouba Badjie
what: Bougarabou-Solo Drumming of Casamance
when: 000-00-0000
where: Village Pulse
sound like: Ethnic
and on: nov.-13-2004
resulting in: 10 tracks
which makes: 94,4 MB
using lame at: VBR kB
and some more:
About the Music
ABUKO, THE GAMBIA--Sitting on the ground in front of
his mud house, repairing a boom box with a broken pair
of pliers and an improvised screwdriver, Saikouba
Badjie hardly looks like an international recording
artist. But Saikouba is a master of the solo drumming
tradition that is a hallmark of his people, the Jola.
And this month [June 1996], the world is seeing the
release of a digital recording devoted to Saikouba's
artistry. Saikouba's recording has perhaps become the
first published in-depth recording of bougarabou, the
traditional one-person drum orchestra of the Jola.
In carrying on the bougarabou tradition, Saikouba ranks
among the hardest working drummers in West Africa.
Unlike drummers from neighboring cultures, who
generally perform in troupes of three or more, Saikouba
drums alone, accompanied only by the bells on his
wrists and the singing and clapping of the dance
circle. When he performs, Saikouba typically starts in
the evening and plays through the night, without
stopping. For some occasions, he plays for several
days, pausing only for light meals.
Saikouba finds plenty of work. He and the handful of
other professional bougarabou drummers provide much of
the dance music for the Jola communities in Senegal and
the Gambia. Like other West African peoples, the Jola
incorporate dance into many aspects of their lives.
From the frequent naming ceremonies for infants to the
grand funerals for elder women, dancing and drumming
weave through Jola life.
The bush starts here
Saikouba can't tell you how old he is. Though he lives
only a short walk from the large Gamtel satellite dish
along the Gambia's southern highway, the sandy path to
his thatched-roof house crosses into the rural world
that West Africans call the bush. Here, written records
mean little.
The birthdate on Saikouba's national identity card
indicates he is in his 60s, but the stamina of his
performances suggests the date is off by 20 years. "His
mother just maybe make up something," explains Mamadou
Ly, who served as a consultant for the recording. A
founding member of the National Ballet of Senegal,
Mamadou grew up not far away.
This afternoon, Saikouba tinkers in the shade of a
mango tree, while two chickens walk around his
outstretched legs. A friend sits on a salvaged tractor
seat, brewing strong green tea over a small charcoal
brazier.
The real work begins at dusk
Saikouba's real work starts at dusk. This evening, a
group of farm women have hired him not for a special
occasion, but simply for a night of entertainment.
Saikouba heats two drums by a small fire to brighten
their tone, then leans them and two larger drums
against a wood frame. The women form a circle with him,
and he begins a performance that will last until dawn.
As the women take turns dancing in front of him,
Saikouba teases their sense of the pulse with a driving
but unpredictable bass, while improvising melodic
conversations by juggling the tones and overtones of
his drums. Each dancer seems to float for a few
seconds, as the conversations unfold against the
swirling sound of the bells on his wrists and the
steady pattering of his hands.
An assistant mops Saikouba's face with a rag to keep
the sweat from blinding him and holds a jar so Saikouba
can sip a tea-colored extraction of indigenous roots.
"The Jola root makes you strong," explains the
assistant.
"Outside West Africa, few people realize that
traditional music is still so popular there," says
Village Pulse producer Carl Holm. "If you grow up
dancing to grooves that have been refined over
generations, it's not easy to settle for any other type
of music--not even for the drum music of the culture
next door."
Reviews
"It's a physiological fact that listening to the
Village Pulse label's Bougarabou: Solo Drumming of
Casamance actually gets my heart racing faster than my
morning cup of mud. Playing the disc at work is a
disaster, because I end up zipping through jobs in
record time, defeating the whole purpose of charging by
the hour. This collection of solo pieces by Saikouba
Badjie, member of the Jola people of Senegal's
Casamance region, is anything but stark. Saikouba
augments his superkinetic hands with bracelets of
jangling banana-shaped bells and the women accompany
him with palm-frond clackers, clapping them in double
or triple time and contrary to his rhythms for a
dizzying dose of complexity. Shouts and other
vocalizations also add to the excitement. A four-cut
improvisation is the centerpiece of this pristinely
recorded cd, functioning as a virtual history of
bougarabou drumming as Saikouba begins performing on a
single drum then progresses to all four. Until this
century, according to Adam Novick's liner notes, the
Jola played just one drum, adding two later, then
finally graduating to three or four in the late '70s
perhaps as a response to the popularity of Cuban salsa
in the region. Solo Drumming is a terrific disc, but
don't play it if you're trying to cut down on
stimulants."
--Bob Tarte, The Beat
This is a stunning recording of traditional bougarabou
drumming... If this stuff doesn't get your pulse
racing, you'd better check it to make sure you have
one.
--PJL, Dirty Linen
"Highly recommended."
--CMJ New Music Report
http://villagepulse.com/bougarabou.html
track list:
│ 01 Mansaba
│ 02 YΘyΘ (medley)
│ 03 Adama et Saikouba
│ 04 Improvisation, 1 drum
│ 05 Improvisation, 4 drums
│ 06 Improvisation, 2 drums
│ 07 Improvisation, 3 drums
│ 08 Improvisation, 4 drums
│ 09 Sibangal
│ 10 Kujeleku
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