Why are the Malians always punching way above their weight in music? There may be some historical reasons. The French always were more welcoming to the culture of their empire than the Brits (and more used to foreign-language music), while Paris became a great centre of West African music, from where it was disseminated over Europe. It’s also true that some of the most influential gatekeepers here – such as Lucy Duran (who presented this concert and has been to Mali about 50 times) are ardent Mali-philes. But it’s probably as much to do with the richness of the music which seems so deeply woven into the country (one reason why it seemed so shocking that music could be banned by the invading Islamicists last year).
This concert saw the debut of a highly appealing “chamber” Malian group Trio Da Kali, who play classy Mandé griot music – the trio consist of bass ngoni (lute), balafon (wooden-keyed xylophone) and the sweet, clear voice of Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté (daughter of a legendary Malian singer). The pared-down line-up was a tremendous showcase for the sinuous and natural musicianship of the group. Often when you see a larger ensemble like the Symmetric Orchestra the colours are so varied they can become a blur.
In fact, it was in the Symmetric Orchestra that I first caught the evening’s headliner Bassekou Kouyaté (in a Bamako club heaving with locals dressed up to the nines and dancing with nonchalant elegance). Bassekou has established himself over the last few years and three albums with his ngoni-driven group Ngoni ba. The impression was of something both bang-up-the-minute but with roots going back centuries. They have created an intense group energy and a real authority, able to tranfix both vast festival crowds and the less obviously conducive surroundings of a 25-minute set in the Albert Hall with festive songs like the title track of their last album Jama Ko, as well as pre-colonial songs like “Simaly”, while touching on Mali’s recent problems in “Ne me fatigue pas”.
The other performers were on a completely different tangent, playing Mugham music from Azerbaijan. The performance was the culmination of this year’s World Music Academy in which a young musician gets mentoring from an established one, in this case 18-year-old Fidan Hajiyeva, who lives in London, and the established master of Mugham from Baku, Gochaq Askarov, whose dramatic voice was certainly impressive (Hajiyeva and Askarov pictured above right).
The quartet of musicians - including the four-stringed kamancha, oud and the oboe–like balaba - certainly intrigued and had moments of real atmospheric beauty, but they didn’t have quite the ease of group dynamics as Ngoni ba, whose bluesy music is naturally more accessible to a European audience. A problem for Askarov is that Alim Qasimov, one of the world’s great singers, also performs in this style. Coming in his wake must be akin to following in the footsteps of Bob Marley or Fela Kuti. Whereas Qasimov combines an academic approach with shocking fire and passion, this group were relatively bloodless, however accomplished as musicians. As for Fidan Hajiyeva, she isn’t the finished article but clearly has enormous talent and potential, and the freshness and sweetness of her voice was one of real highlights of the night.