Treasures of the CTMD Archive - Keba Cissoko

Keba Bobo Cissoko (1962-2003) was a master of the kora (gourd harp), and major exponent of the jaliya (hereditary singers/bard) tradition from Guinea Bissau. He was noted for an emphatic singing style and florid kora playing. Cissoko was born in the Bafata region of Guinea-Bissau and began learning kora at an early age from family members, including his grandfather, Bouly Gelissa. in 1981, he moved to Conakry, Guinea, where he joined the National Instrumental Ensemble. He also formed his own band, Le Tamalalou ("The Traveler"). In 1986 he met Kemoko Sano, the choreographer of Les Ballets Africains, who widened his musical practice from the jaliya repertoire to the more diverse styles of performance required of a national repertory ensemble, in which performers play several instruments and take dramatic roles from different regions. Cissoko learned to play other instruments, including the dundun bass drum, the djembe and the bala, and in 1989, he joined Les Ballets Africains. After six years in the company he toured Europe and the United States. In 1996, he settled in New York, where he rejoined Les Merveilles d' Afrique. In 1998, he founded a New York-based version of his Le Tamalalou. The band joined jalilu and North AMerican musicians in a combination that translated the western Manden repertoire into an interculturally accessible music. Cissoko was featured in CTMD's Badenya West African Community Cultural Initiative in the late 1990s, and appears on recording Badenya: Manden Jaliya in New York City produced by CTMD for Smithsonian Folkways.
In honor of CTMD's 45th Anniversary in 2013, we are pleased to present Treasures of the CTMD Archive, a 10-part series of video shorts posted weekly to this page and to CTMD's Facebook site beginning May 1.
Treasures of the CTMD Archive features rare, one-of-a-kind video of leading masters of immigrant music and dance traditions that have been recently digitized from our Archive. Most of the artists presented in this series are (or were) based in the New York metropolitan area. Sadly, a number of these masters are no longer with us, and so the CTMD Archive provides vital, and sometimes singular, documentation of their artistry and traditions.
To view the entire series go to www.ctmd.org/archives.htmer with us, and so the CTMD Archive provides vital, and sometimes singular, documentation of their artistry and traditions.
To view the entire series go to www.ctmd.org/archives.htm
Information on Keba Cissoko written by Tom Van Buren, Ph.D.

Category : Guinea-Bissau Music Videos

#treasures#ctmd#archive#keba#cissoko