John Kruth by Marilyn Cvitanic
(39 Years Hence)
by John Kruth
Category Archives: NY Musicians
The Healing Force of the Universe (Part 1): Albert Ayler’s Life and Legacy
Adam Rudolph and his Go: Organic Orchestra
Adam Rudolph the hand drummer
Performances
Since 2001 composer and handrummer, percussionist and conductor Adam Rudolph has conducted both Los Angeles and New York based versions of Go: Organic Orchestra a 15 to 30 piece woodwind, brass, strings and percussion group including concerts with special guest performers Yusef Lateef, poet Saul Williams and hand drum legend, Big Black. The group was chosen by the LA Weekly as “Outstanding World Music Group” in both 2003 and 2005.
Hassan Hakmoun – the Gnawa maestro!
New York-based Hassan Hakmoun, one of contemporary Moroccan music’s most notable figures, was born in Marrakesh in 1963. At age seven he began to study tagnawit, the traditional arts, folklore, and rituals of the Gnawa tribes, former slaves originating from the Sudan whose arrival in Morocco was marked by their conversion to Islam.
The Gnawa people act as intermediaries in the spirit world and also as entertainers; Hakmoun initially studied their dances and songs, later graduating to drumming, litanies, and chants. He left school at the age of 14 to travel in the pursuit of other Gnawa masters, eventually ending up in France; upon returning to Marrakesh, Hakmoun’s repertoire continued to grow — later including songs of Arab and Berber descent — and he performed as a m’allem, or master musician of the derdeba, a trance ritual held to placate the spirits. Hassan became a Master of the Santir (a three string,long necked lute).
ABDOULAYE “DJOSS” DIABATÉ
The seeds of Mandé tradition germinate in the New World
Abdoulaye “Djoss” Diabaté is a Malian musician born to a famous West African griot family. Little brother to the great, world-renowned singer Kassé Mady, he grew up in the celebrated griot village of Kela, Mali. His mother, Sira Mory Diabaté, was a singer who defined her generation.¹ His mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters² were, and still are, at the heart of Mandé culture: the cream of the country’s instrumentalists, singers, dancers, historians and story-tellers. His extended family reads like a who’s who of Mandé music in Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea Bissau.
