Mamadou Diabate
Seengwa
1 April 2022
Seengwa - a musical homage to the "talking balafon"
Hello, World!
Released on April 1st, 2022, balafon master Mamadou Diabate’s new album Seengwa is unique in the world music scene: Traditional West African music meets jazz and classical music.
Seengwa is a tribute to the almost forgotten musical traditions of the Sambla people of the region of the same name in Burkina Faso. The Sambla are one of the very rare peoples in the world who have developed a language with the xylophone (the Sambla call it balafon). This music is actually the tonal language of the Sambla people translated into music, a function known as surrogate speech. Musicians who don't comprehend this language are unable to master this instrument.
Mamadou Diabate connects them with the "here and now" by working with top-class musicians from Europe and his homeland. The renowned Austrian jazz saxophonist Wolfgang Puschnig is just one of the 6 musicians who complement Mamadou Diabate's 6-piece "Percussion Mania". In the song “Duniya banaba”, the balafon language is translated into French for the first time by the poetry slammer Malika La Slamazone from Burkina Faso.
Seengwa takes the listener on a rhythm journey - from tradition to modernity. Mamadou Diabate and Yacouba Konate provide the basic tone with their two balafon as lead instruments and lead into African spheres through djembe and calabash, enriched with wonderful melodies and polyphonic singing by two female vocalists, strings, piano and kora, as well as electric and bass guitars.
Mamadou Diabate's extraordinary creativity is a never ending stream of musical creations, keeping his important and special culture and music traditions alive. Without a doubt, his virtuosity will continue to enrich our world.
DETAILS
Title: Seengwa
Release Date: April 1, 2022
Label: Delicious Tunes
Publishing: Delicious Tunes Publishing by Stephanie Schumann
Artist: Mamadou Diabate
Genre: African Traditional, Balafon, World-Jazz
Version: CD, Digital
Length: 00:45:07
UPC: 196292544589
Territory: World
Composer & Lyrics: Mamadou Diabate
Arrangement: Mamadou Diabate; String arrangements on track 3, 4, 5, 9: Martin Gellner
Instrumentation:
Mamadou Diabate (Balafon, Vocals), Yacouba Konate (Balafon, Vocals), Wolfgang Puschnig (Saxophon, German Transfer flute), Hamidou Koita (Calabash, Vocals), Alexander Meissl (E-Bass), Klaus Ambrosch (E-Guitar), Seydou Dao (Djembe, Vocals), Stephan Maass (Percussion), Monique Adjohoun (Backing vocals), Malika La Slamazone (Vocals), Charlotte Tiendrebeogo (Backing vocals), Sebastian Evra Nguesan (Piano), Melissa Coleman (Cello ), Lena Fankhauser (Viola), Rusanda Panfili (Violin), Yacouba Kone (E-Guitar), Cherif Soumano (Kora)
Titles:
(1) Duniya banaba, (2) Saya te fali, (3) Farafin denw segenna, ( 4) Seengwa, (5) Noumou Faama, (6) Koko te so, (7) Chocolat ka di, (8) Frere Kanazoe, (9) Tengmen, (10) A yaala ka na
Press Reviews
"Mamadou Diabate: das weltmusikalische Faktotum aus Burkina Faso, das seit vielen Jahren die heimische Szene aufmischt. Sein bereits 14. Album ist Ausdruck dessen, was ihn so besonders macht: die Melange aus westafrikanischer Tradition und Verwurzelung, gepaart mit Jazz und klassischem Anstrich. Dabei ist Mamadou Diabate nicht bloß virtuoser Musiker, sondern Ethnologe, Brückenbauer und Botschafter von Musikkulturen und Völkern, wie hier etwa des Sambla-Volkes. Diabate versteht sich jedoch keinesfalls als musikalischer Museumswärter und Vermittler, sondern als proaktiver Künstler, der es versteht, Traditionen heutig und künstlerisch höchstwertig klingen zu lassen. ”— concerto, 02|2022 meissl
Der aus Burkina Faso stammende Mamadou Diabate hat eine frappant virtuose Balafon-Spielart entwickelt. Zudem setzt er sich gerne mit Jazzern und Rockmusikern aus Europa zusammen. Auf seinem 14. Studioalbum präsentiert er mit Gästen Rhythmen der westafrikanischen Musik und packt diese in mitreissend klangbunte Songs. — Kulturtipp No. 9 2022, Frank von Niederhäusern