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Globetrotting Guitarist
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TimeOFF, Globetrotting Guitarist >>
The style is hard to pin down — a little bit of Caribbean, Spanish or Cuban influence here, mixed with West African rhythms there, a touch of rap as well as virtuoso finger-picked guitar and violin solos reminiscent of progressive rock.
Folks who love the lengthy hypnotic grooves of various American jam bands should also enjoy the eclectic sounds Habib Koité and his band Bamada lay down. The multi-talented Malian guitarist will come to McCarter Theatre in Princeton Feb 10. Internationally acclaimed Moroccan vocalist and sintir (lute) player Hassan Hakmoun will open.
The appearance is a stop along a month-long American tour to celebrate the January release of Mr. Koité's first live CD, Habib Koité & Bamada — Foly! (Harmonia Mundi/World Village). The tracks on the two-CD set were recorded mostly in Germany and Switzerland last winter, and reflect the rigorous globetrotting Mr. Habib and his band have been through in the last seven years. The CD's liner notes mention the ensemble has performed more than 560 shows in that time, in such far-flung and frigid locales as Sweden, Finland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Yugoslavia.
However, it was in sunny Southern California where Mr. Koité experienced the most chilly reception in recent memory. Reached in his hotel room near San Diego, the cosmopolitan musician sounded weary and perplexed at the new airport security measures he encountered coming into the United States, such as fingerprinting and eye scans.
"There were no problems getting a visa, but once you get here, if you're African it seems like a visa isn't enough," Mr. Koité says. "You spend a lot of time in a special room, where you sit for a very long time, at least an hour. This is something new to me."
A few hours of playing his infectiously animated music should help him recover his high spirits. Mr. Koité bases a lot of his compositions on the "danssa," a popular rhythm from his native city of Keyes. He combines this with a danceable version of "doso" — hunter's music, which belongs to one of Mali's most powerful and ancient musical traditions.
"Nobody really taught me to sing or to play the guitar," Mr. Koité says. "I watched my parents (both griots, or West African storytellers) and it washed off on me." He says he was headed for a career as an engineer, but an uncle recognized his talent and urged him to study music at the National Institute of Arts in Bamako, Mali. Mr. Koité says he's glad he took his uncle's advice, although he had never imagined himself in a conservatory either.
"I was surprised to be in an institution," he says. "I didn't think I wanted to go, but when I got there (I realized) it was a great place for me, the best place for me. I learned only music. I was in my place and everything went right, very well. At the end of four years of study I was at the (top of my class), and they chose me to stay on and teach."
Mr. Koité is known for his unusual approach to playing the guitar, tuning his instrument to the pentatonic (five-note) scale. He plays on open strings as one would on a "kamale n'goni," a traditional four-stringed instrument associated with hunters from the Wassalou region of Mali.
The Spanish influence some listeners hear might come from Mr. Koité's studies with Khalilou Traoré, a veteran of the legendary Afro-Cuban band Maravillas du Mali. His vocal style is restrained, light and friendly, with varying cadenced rhythms and melodies. Physically, Mr. Koité has a large frame and a headful of dreadlocks and is known for his charismatic, rock-star-like stage presence.
His artistry and powerful personality earned him the adoration of fans such as Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt, who invited Mr. Koité to record on her latest album, Silver Lining.
Mr. Koité has been featured in People, Rolling Stone and Rhythm magazine and on The Late Show with David Letterman, National Public Radio's All Things Considered, World Café — recorded and broadcast from WXPN-FM at the University of Pennsylvania — and Public Radio International's The World. In 2002, Mr. Koité won a "Kora" Award, Africa's equivalent of a Grammy, for Best West African artist.
In Mali, normally a musician would only play the music from one's ethnic group, but during his 20-year career, Mr. Koité has become renowned for the way he marries numerous ethnic styles of music from his native country.
"I lived in Bamako, the capital city of Mali," he says. "Everybody — people from all ethnic groups — live in Bamako. So I listened to the music being played and I learned from that."
"I'm curious about all the music in the world, but I make music from Mali," he writes in the liner notes of the new CD. "In my country, we have so many beautiful rhythms and melodies. My job is to take all these traditions and to make something with them, to use them in my music."
Habib Koité and Bamada perform at McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton, Feb. 10, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $29-40. Hassan Hakmoun opens. For information, call (609) 258-2787. On the Web: www.mccarter.org 02/06/04
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