Black Bear Moon Music and Cultural Project

Artist: Toumani Diabaté’s Symmetric Orchestra
Concert Date: March 29, 2007
Location: Somerville Theatre, MA

The first time I heard the enchanting sounds of the kora, a 21-stringed instrument from West Africa, being played by Toumani Diabaté, it was on the the album New Ancient Strings, and it featured a simply but beautifully produced selection of pieces arranged for two koras.

The sound of these traditional instruments weaving ageless, intricate melodies around each other was like watching a spider weave a web: almost impossible to comprehend the dexterity and innate knowledge that makes it possible to achieve such a feat. The sounds I was hearing seemed as vast and delicate as nature itself.

The instrument itself is ancient, and its story is intertwined with the very story of the peoples who play it — the people of the old Mandinka empire that once spanned across the Western part of Africa. Belonging to the tradition of the djelis (or griots ), the kora is steeped in tradition, and the songs that eminate from it paint the story and collective history of the people who play it.

To me, the kora and its music have always felt like something untouchable and mysterious, like mist rising off water, or smoke wisping off the darting tongues of a fire. Like much of Africa’s musical traditions, its deep history seems to draw upon a source that reaches into the collective story of all people, our very beginnings.

The traditional approach to the kora by Malian virtuoso Toumani Diabaté, on albums like Djelika, New Ancient Strings, and his recent collaboration with now late Malian guitartist Ali Farka Touré on The Heart of the Moon has always reinforced this awe and reverence that I have felt. As such, I was initially surprised when I learned of Diabaté’s foray into a musical project that blended this ancient tradition with modern instruments with his Symmetric Orchestra.

Surprise could not have turned to pleasure more quickly, upon entering the Somerville Theatre on March 29 to the sounds of Toumani Diabaté’s carefully assembled Symmetric Orchestra. Featuring some of West Africa’s finest musicians, from countries like Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Mauritania, the Symmetric Orchestra seemed at once to be uniting again the old empire that existed in the 13th century.

Combining Diabaté’s dazzling kora playing, the balafon (the “grandfather” of the xylophone and piano), the ngoni (the world’s first guitar), the powerful djembe, and Fulani flute, with modern instruments like electric and bass guitars, keyboards, and kit drum, the Symmetric Orchestra utilized the talents of musicians deeply steeped in their own traditions to tell a new story: the story of an old Africa, intact with its traditions and history, moving boldly into a new world.

In creating the Symmetric Orchestra, Diabaté and his troupe drew upon the vast resources found within the pages of their collective history, without trying to re-write it. Boldly and triumphantly, these musicians have begun to write a new chapter for the old Mandinka empire.

I think the old Mandinka king, Soundiata, would have been proud of his children.