Text by Sylvaine Leroux
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Because of your generous and continued help since 2014,L’École Fula Flute has secured a home in Conakry that is now humming with daily activity.
Recently, our students were once more invited at the Palais du Peuple to perform for the President. Our reputation is growing and our work is valued in Guinea.
Greetings Dear Friends,
Thanks to your generosity, our Ecole Fula Flute, in collaboration with the Centre Tyabala de Guinee, is doing well and enriching the lives of many kids in Conakry (Guinea).
We further our students’ individual and musical development and thus contribute to advance Guinean culture by bringing up a new generation of dedicated flute players thereby infusing a new life in this iconic instrument.
Photo by Mbarek AG
Text by Richard Bennett
Reaching beyond borders and cultures, KLOUB NSSA is a new collaboration between Brooklyn vocalist/percussionist/composer Paula Jeanine Bennett and the Moroccan all-women vocal/drum choir The Sufi Haddarattes of Essaouira. KLOUB NSSA means heart of women. The music of KLOUB NSSA illustrates this appellation with its potent blend of propulsive drumming and layered vocals.
Text by Banning Eyre
Photo by Banning Eyre
As reported last time, there is plenty of music going being played publically in Malian cities, especially Bamako, despite a State of Emergency. But the impression is deceptive. Crowds at nightclubs are thin. There are almost no foreign visitors to support clubs, festivals and concerts.
While street weddings are on, the families who sponsor them have less to spend, and are more
and more inclined to cut costs by hiring lower-rung artists, often not griots as they would have been in the past, and there is less money changing hands. For musicians, there is hardly any point in recording, unless you are one of the lucky few to have an international career. Cellphone technology has made swapping music files so easy that even the pirates who used to undermine artistic careers with cheap cassettes and CDs have a hard time making sales.
