Ethics and Aesthetics

1. Toumani Diabate "Kayira," Parts 1 - 5 [audio - field recording]

Part one:  ɲininkali (warming up)

Raising his head, illuminated by the soft hues of the convergent spotlights, the player explores the low register of his kora, executing rapid runs as his thumbs strike alternately up and down the instrument’s two planes of strings… Then, in a stepwise ascent spanning three octaves, he strikes the instrument’s highest pitch. It produces a piercing dissonance… he presses downward on the woven leather band at the bottom of the neck, flattening the pitch ever so slightly and tuning the string. (pg. 77)

Part two: kunbɛn (accompaniment)

On stage at the French Cultural Center, Toumani’s “Kayira” begins simply, with two thumbs playing on seven strings in the bass register of the kora… The two thumb patterns individually maintain distinctive rhythms, individual “musical feet” (fɔlisenw) that, together, produce a complementary, polyrhythmic whole. (pg. 80)

Part three: fɔlikan (instrumental melody)

Toumani begins with the unadorned kunbɛn of “Kayira,” lingering on the swinging bass line to let it sink it. Then, on top of this pattern, we hear a lilting antiphonal melody, rising and falling through two pairs of calls and responses, followed by a cadential phrase that lands on the tonal center in the upper register. (pg. 85)

Part four: fɔlisenw (hot rhythm)

At the concert, we have settled into Toumani’s delicate polyphonic play when the piece suddenly “heats up” (bɛ kalaya) in a flurry of rapid and punctuated off-beat phrasing, short staccato phrases that fill the gaps of the pendular rhythm established by the right thumb, periodically displacing or suspending the regular pulse by half a beat. (pg. 86)

Part five: bolomanboli (instrumental solo)

[R]oughly six minutes into the piece, one final corporeal feature comes forward in the mix: the “running by hand” (bolomanboli) of improvised solo up and down the two planes of strings on the kora. (pg. 87)

2. Nana Soumbounou, “Keme Bourouma” (Triton Stars rehearsal) [audio - field recording]

While addressed to her bandmates, Nana’s convivial message, articulated on top of a grooving musical accompaniment… seemed to speak (and sing) of a broader purpose: that those who encounter this group of musicians will “come together” and “be good”; that the discord that threatened conviviality at their rehearsal went beyond that space; that artists have an important role to play in confronting such discord in society: to reinforce social solidarity, bring people together, and promote social welfare. (pg. 96)