After the Bela Fleck/Toumani Diabate show at Jazz Alley Monday night, I ran into Toumani in the hall. In my rudimentary French, I thanked him for the show and asked him to wait for me for one minute. I ran around the corner and grabbed Seattle kora virtuoso Kane Mathis, with whom I had watched the show (along with Michael Goude of Earthtribe Percussion and my sister, who just happened to be in town).
I then had the great pleasure of introducing Kane and Toumani.
A little background. There is a running joke in Kane’s circle about how Toumani better watch his back because Kane is gunning for him. Now Kane is a great kora player, but, really, he’s a first-generation student of the instrument, whereas Toumani represents the 71st generation of a griot family that dates back to the dawn of the instrument. So, there’s little reason to think that Toumani was shaking in his boots.
A little more background. The same night that Toumani played here last year on the main stage at the Triple Door, Kane was playing out front in the Musiquarium lounge. Other obligations and the timing of his performance prevented Kane from seeing either of Toumani’s shows, but Toumani had glimpsed Kane’s show and was interested in meeting. Toumani was also interested in seeing Kane’s Jeff Bodony kora. But it didn’t work out that time.
So, anyhow, last Monday night I introduce Toumani and Kane, and Kane starts chattering away in Mandinka, which, he told me later, a Bambara speaker like Toumani would be able to make enough sense of to hold a conversation. They chatted for quite some time, and then Toumani invited Kane to the sound check the following day. Michael and I, of course, asked to ride Kane’s coattails, and he was agreeable, traveling, as he does, with a posse to most events.
The three of us, along with one of Kane’s main musical collaborators, Andrew Oliver, arrived at Jazz Alley at 4:00 on Tuesday and settled in to wait for Toumani. He still hadn’t arrived when I had to leave about 45 minutes later, and I don’t know if he ever did arrive. But Michael, Andrew, and I were treated to some nice kora playing and impromptu ethnomusicological discourses from Kane while we waited. (Sorry about the bad lighting in these videos – the lights weren’t on at Jazz Alley, and I was using my cheapo Flip video camera.)
In this video, Kane Mathis talks about the relationship between the sabar clave and kora music.
Kane and Andrew are talking about a cut on Ali Farke Toure and Toumani Diabate’s “In the Heart of the Moon” when I pull out my iPhone and play the cut that they’re talking about, freaking out Michael in the process.
I don’t know the name of this kora song, but it sure is nice.