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The Indelible Mark of the Mbira

October 11, 2012 By Boima Tucker 2 Comments

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The multi-named thumb piano is quite an important foundational instrument forcontemporary music all over the world, although its perhaps not always recognizedas such. In Congo, colonial era missionaries banned the instrument from theirservices, saying that its association with traditional spiritual practices sullied thesacredness of the choral music they were adopting to the musical cultures of thepeople they sought to convert. But, the instrument lived on in Congolese pop asguitarists in Kinshasa adapted the style to their finger picking Cuban-son infusedRumba. The instrument has also travelled far and wide beyond Africa. Ive seenversions of the thumb piano in historical photos of Jamaican Mento bands, and it iscommon in Latin American musical history as well. I wouldnt be surprised if a fewthumb pianos made their way to the American South helping to influence the bluesguitar style that originated there.

Today in the wake of the international stardom of such groups like Konono N 1, thethumb piano has made somewhat of a resurgence in contemporary pop music. I tendto be wary of the exoticism that sometimes accompanies the flash popularity groupswith strange traditional instruments, so its funny to me how much tha t sameinstrument has figured so centrally in my life recently.

For the past week Ive been touring with Sierra Leonean Kondi virtuoso Sorie Kondi.He and bandmate Ibrahim finally arrived at my house last week after his SierraLeone based producer Luke Wasserman and I spent several months working to bringSorie to tour in the United States. Our initial intention was to structure the touraround the SXSW music festival in March, which we ra ised money on Kickstarter for,but the timing didnt work out since the U.S. Immigration office waited until the lastsecond to grant Sorie his visa. But, I have to say the wait was worth it as Ive beenhaving such a wonderful time with the Sorie Kondi crew this week.

My relationship with Sorie Kondi began one morning in Oakland, California when Isaw a link to the video for his song Without Money No Family sent by my friendBanker White . I knew instantly that I wanted to remix his song: firstly because thesound of the recording was so sparse ready to remixed; secondly because I knew thata larger audience than those interested in Sierra Leone (literally 5.5 million of us)needed to know about the musical genius of this man; and third the intelligibleEnglish lyrics carried a social message that I knew audiences in the North couldunderstand (and perhaps transcend ideas of exoticism). I found the album availableon iTunes, downloaded it, remixed the song, and passed a rough version of it to aGerman DJ, who put it in a mix .

The unfinished draft of the remix sat on my hard drive for a couple years, until Ireceived an email from Luke, who had been working with Sorie since 2007. Luke hadhelped Sorie record his album Without Money No Family , and was now looking forother opportunities to promote his music. They had just finished recording his secondstudio album at Big Fad studios in Freetown. I thought about remixing the album orcoming to Sierra Leone to work on some original tracks with Sorie. Luke mentionedhe wanted to bring Sorie to the U.S. for a tour, so at that moment the wheels to bringSorie Kondi to America were set into motion. I finished the Without Money NoFamily Remix, put it on my release African in New York , and one kickstarter

http://duttyartz.bandcamp.com/album/african-in-new-york-e-phttp://www.thefader.com/2009/04/29/ghetto-palms-exclusive-tim-turbo-blend-lexie-lee-douster-sorie-kondi/https://twitter.com/WeOwnTVhttp://audicaentertainment.com/soriekondi/http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soriekondi/get-sorie-kondi-to-south-by-southwesthttp://ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu/journal/volume/16/piece/460http://africasacountry.com/2012/09/19/yasiin-bey-plays-an-mbir/http://africasacountry.com/2012/02/01/very-african-and-very-modern/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumb_piano

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campaign, a couple visa applications, and a trip false start later, Sorie Kondi is inAmerica .

So far weve played shows in Washington DC and Philadelphia where Sorie andIbrahim wowed audiences with their Sierra Leonean version of cultural dancemusic. The event in DC, hosted by Mothersheister, DJ Rat, and DJ Underdog atTropicalia was warm and welcoming, and the crowd danced the night away to SoriesKondi and his bass box boom pumped up to sound like a House music club. The showin Philadelphia really made me sink into thoughts of blurring of the lines betweentraditional, folk, or world music and contemporary pop, electronic, or dance music.The venue was an old church in West Philadelphia, whose acoustics made the Kondireverberate off the walls and back into itself creating waves of tones that soundedlike the rising of arpeggiated synths. There was an impressive amount of soundcoming from that small wooden box.

Beyond the amazing musical aspects, the cultura l exchanges that happened on theroad were inspirational in themselves. One highlight of the gig hosted by theTropicalismo crew and Sonic Diaspora in Philly, were the exchanges that happenedbetween the Sorie Kondi team and Colombians Explosin Negra who performed andpartied with us late into the night on Saturday. While neither Sorie Kondi norExplosin Negra could communicate through spoken language, and this separa ted thecrews in every other space, on the dance floor it was a Champeta Soukous, TemneTechno, Chirima Soca dance celebration! Not to harp too much on the clich but itwas really amazing to be part of a such a moment where the universality of musicwas so evident. I really believe that it is during these types of moments that this newlightweight and mobile, do-it-yourself global bass club scene (or whatever you want tocall it) is at its best.

Sorie Kondi is in New York this week, and if you are a music lover of any genre, fromfolk to Techno (or like me, the amalgamations that blur the lines between them) thenyou dont want to miss his performance at Public Assembly in Williamsburg Brooklynthis Saturday October 13th . Well be celebrating the release of Lamin FofanasAfricans Are Rea l project (which I have a remix on as well) who will be performinglive alongside Brooklyn rappers Old Money, and DJing will be Binyavanga Wainaina,Clive Bean, GiKu, Matt Shadetek, and myself:

http://soundcloud.com/chiefboima/lamin-fofana-africans-are-realhttp://www.duttyartz.com/2012/africans-are-real-new-laminfofana-ep-out-today/http://www.duttyartz.com/2012/change-the-mood-even-more/http://soundcloud.com/explosion-negrahttp://www.sonicdiaspora.com/http://www.facebook.com/groups/252944392839/http://www.switsalone.com/17052_sierra-leones-sorie-kondi-chief-boima-on-us-tour-this-october-finally/

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If you miss that one, or you arent in New York this weekend check all of his tour dateson Vickie Remoes site .

The other major way the thumb piano has appeared in my life is in the Zimbabweanform, known as the Mbira, via Shabazz Palaces beat maker Tendai Mara ire. Talkabout pushing the boundaries between traditional and contemporary, ShabazzPalaces have been able to challenge music fans of all backgrounds with their mindblowing videos , inspiring live performances , and futuristic Hip Hop beats wrappedaround Tendais skilled live percussion and Mbira playing. Sometime this summerTendai called me up and said that he wanted me to do a mix for him after hearingsome of my work. Just by coincidence the first mix of mine he listened to started outwith the a plinking Mbira, and he said he knew right away that he knew he hadfound the DJ to work with.

After we discussed details of the project, I really took up the challenge to try and findany Mbira playing in the old records I have collected along the way, and may have notlistened to that closely. I th ink the most exciting rea lization to make was tha t onerecord that I had once bought in the discount bin at Amoeba records in San Francisco(and later saw on sale in the premium section for $60 I wondered, and still wonder

http://youtu.be/Y0J7ZElyAfchttp://africasacountry.com/2011/12/02/music-break-friday-bonus-edition-3/#more-37451http://www.switsalone.com/17052_sierra-leones-sorie-kondi-chief-boima-on-us-tour-this-october-finally/

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