Thursday, December 20, 2007

Famoudou Konate's Home in Guinea: Where it all began

The work of Hooked on Drums began here, at Famoudou Konate's home in Guinea, in 1988, when I traveled to Africa for the first time:

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These images from those early years--1988/89, the first year Konate hosted European students at his home in Simbaya, and 1990/91, the year recordings were made for the now classic Konate CD: Rhythmen der Malinke--are too precious for the slideshow format.

Here is the baobab: you could see it for miles around, a signpost--wherever you were in the surrounding area, you could just look for the baobab and go in that direction to get "back home" to Famoudou's house.

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By the time I returned to Simbaya in the year 2000, the tree was in severe distress. By 2002, it was gone. Diablo's deeds, so they said.

One of my first days in Guinea--a festival in Conakry, where Famoudou Konate was playing, with Douda Kourouma on Doundounba.

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Nanyuma in the kitchen, 1988



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Nanyuma in the kitchen, 1988



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Nanyuma and Djakka in the courtyard, 1988



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Nanyuma and Adama preparing dinner, 1988



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Fanta Kaba with German workshop participants, 1988



Billy Konate in 1988
Billy Nankouma Konate, 1988


I returned to Guinea in 1990/91: the year that Paul Engel was contracted by the Ethnomusicological Museum of Berlin to make field recordings for the now classic inaugural Famoudou Konate CD, Rhythmen der Malinke. If you look closely at this shot from the recording session in Dubreka, you can see the mike attached to the chair:

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Here are photos from another recording session. Former members of Les Ballets Africains can be seen here, as well as the legendary djembefola Fadouba Olare

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Legendary Djembefola Fadouba Olare, 1988



This recording session, behind the Konate compound (in the area that now houses the classroom and Konate's private lodging), was interrupted by the death of one of the drummer's sons who drowned in a well that day.

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The Konate family at the home of Famoudou Konate in Simbaya, 1990/91



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Bijou Konate, 1990/91



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Billy Konate, Djakka Konate, Bijou Konate, 1990/91



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Billy Konate, Djakka Konate, Bijou Konate, 1990/91



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Fode Konate preparing the head on my first doundounba, 1990/91; Billy, Djakka and Bijou watch

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wow, thanks for sharing these pictures, they really are priceless. I just got back from Guinea myself, and wish I was still there... thank you for the great work you're doing.