CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS

Saturday, October 11, 2014, 8pm Zellerbach Hall Afropop Spectacular Krar Collective & Bassekou Kouyaté

d r o f w a r C

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KRAR COLLECTIVE Temesgen Zeleke krar Genet Asefa vocals Amare kebero drums

BASSEKOU KOUYATÉ Bassekou Kouyaté lead ngoni Amy Sacko lead vocals Moustafa Kouyaté bass ngoni Mahamadou Tounkara yabara, tama Abou Sissoko medium ngoni Moctar Kouyaté calabash

Tonight’s program will be announced from the stage.

Cal Performances’  !–  " season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Krar Collective are Temesegen Zeleke on krar Bassekou Kouyaté is one of the true masters (a five- or six-stringed harp), singer Genet of the ngoni , an ancient traditional lute found Asefa, and drummer Amare. The unstoppable throughout West Africa. It is the key instru - trio, dubbed the “White Stripes of Ethiopia” ment for the griot culture. Unlike the kora , for their minimalist rocky sound, base their whose history goes back only a few hundred repertoire on traditional Ethiopian songs, but years, the ngoni has been the main instrument have created a unique style by radically re - in griot storytelling going back to the 13th working the material that creates a timeless century, during the days of Soundiata Keita, appeal. Vocals feature collective cadences and the founder of the Malian Empire. The reper - long solo poems; musical stops and starts cre - toire Mr. Kouyaté plays is Bambara music ate an organic syncopation, and the krar can from the region of Segu. Bambara music is alternate from being lead to rhythm instru - pentatonic in nature and as close to the blues ment. Ms. Asefa is magnetic in performance as you can get in Africa. and recording: her soaring ululations and per - Over the years, Mr. Kouyaté has collaborated fectly delivered melodies fill the spacious with many musicians from his homeland Mali sound. The ancient krar dates far back into and around the world. He was one of the key Ethiopian history. musicians on Ali Farka Touré’s posthumously An important part of the Ethiopian azmari released album Savane , having also previously minstrel tradition, the krar is steeped in the toured with Mr. Touré, stunning audiences practice of wandering troubadours perform - worldwide as the band’s solo ngoni player. He has ing in cafés around the country, while legend played in the Symmetric Trio alongside Toumani has it that the instrument itself descends from Diabaté ( kora ) and Keletigui Diabaté ( balafon ), King David’s lyre. Mr. Zeleke gives these tra - was part of Taj Mahal’s and Mr. Diabaté’s ditions a contemporary twist and, in his Kulanjan project, and features promi nently on hands, plugged in and strummed with hyp - Youssou N’Dour’s album Rokku mi Rokka and notic grooves, the krar becomes a gritty, an - Dee Dee Bridgewater’s Red Earth . cient rock guitar. Mr. Zeleke is a revolutionary Mr. Kouyaté was born in a village called krar player, and as a young student was men - Garana, alm ost 40 miles fr om Segu, in the re - tored and encouraged by legendary Ethio- mote countryside on the banks of the Niger River. jazzman Mulatu Astatke. He was raised in a traditional musical environ - The spellbinding rhythms of the double- ment, his mother a praise singer and his father headed kebero drum provide the trio’s back - and brothers exceptional ngoni players. When he beat. Traditionally used to accompany the wa s 19 years old, Mr. Kouyaté moved to ancient religious celebrations of the Ethiopian Bamako, where he met the young Toumani Orthodox church, the kebero finds a new Diabaté. By the late 1980s, M r. Kouyaté was part context in the energetic grooves of Krar of Mr. Diabaté’s trio, and they recorded their first Collective’s performances. albums together, Songhai and Djelika . In 1996 , About the krar (from Wikipedia): “The krar is Mr. Kouyaté married the singer Amy Sacko (the a cordophone, and is usually decorated with so-called “Tina Turner of Mali”), and they have wood, cloth, and beads. Its five or six strings de - been in high demand for the traditional wedding termine the available pitches. The instrument’s parties that happen in the streets of Bamako. tone depends on the musician’s playing tech - After many years being a “sideman” to many mu - nique: bowing, strumming, or plucking. If sicians both in Mali and globally, Mr. Kouyaté has plucked, the instrument will produce a soft tone. now put together his own band, Ngoni ba (mean - Strumming will yield a harmonious pulsation.” ing “the big ngoni ”), Mali’s first ngoni quartet.

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