AfroCubism

Those familiar with the curious story of the Buena Vista Social Club recordings in Havana in 1996 will know the original intention was to record a collaboration of Cuban and Malian musicians. When the West Africans couldn’t make it, the fact that one of the most inspirational, successful and legendary albums was recorded instead was thanks to quick thinking on the part of the production team, the rich musical talent on hand in Cuba and extraordinary good fortune. 

But what about that original Cuba Mali concept? AfroCubism (2010), released some 14 years later, is something close to the original idea.

The core trio of musicians includes guajiro Cuban singer and guitarist Eliades Ochoa, whose profile had grown enormously thanks to the success of Buena Vista Social Club.. It also features the two Malian musicians, Bassekou Kouyaté, master of the ngoni lute, and legendary guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, leader of the celebrated Rail Band.

World Circuit’s Nick Gold found a recording window in December 2008 when, by coincidence, almost all of the musicians were on tour in Spain with their own bands.  Only guitarist Djelimady Tounkara had to be flown in from Mali and the musicians finally came together – twelve years after originally planned – at Madrid’s Sonoland studio.

Joining them are Eliades’ Grupo Patria, amongst Cuba’s longest running and most revered bands, legendary Malian griot singer Kasse Mady Diabaté, innovative balafon player Lassana Diabaté and kora genius Toumani Diabaté, who’d also joined the World Circuit roster, recording with Ali Farka Touré in 2004.

Speed and spontaneity were the order of the day. ”After waiting so long, in the end it came together incredibly quickly and easily,” says Gold, who produced the album, with engineer Jerry Boys at his side. Seventeen songs were recorded in five days, with all the musicians playing together in one room and overdubs kept to a minimum. A second session was convened seven months later and produced a further nine songs.

The resulting album of 14 tracks is far more than musicians playing each others’ material, but a real coming together of West African and Cuban musical thinking – hence the title AfroCubism. This is largely thanks to the way Cuban musicians construct their music while keeping clearly defined spaces for improvisation.

Eliades Ochoa and his group Cuarteto Patria, which he’d been leading since 1978, were the musical backbone behind this. They first met Compay Segundo in 1986 and recorded the album  Chanchaneando with him, which featured the original version of ‘Chan Chan’. Eliades toured frequently as part of Buena Vista, but has recorded several albums under his own name and tours with Cuarteto Patria.

Toumani Diabaté is one of the most significant musicians in Africa, coming from a long line of kora masters and hereditary musicians. Aged just 21 he recorded his first album Kaira in 1986, the first album of solo kora music and the start of a remarkable international career.  Since 2004 he has recorded a series of releases for World Circuit, including two Grammy-winning albums of kora-guitar duets with Ali Farka Touré, the solo kora collection The Mandé Variations (2008), and the kora duo with his son Toumani & Sidiki (2014).

Ngoni player Bassekou Kouyaté also comes from a musical family and started playing on the local wedding party circuit.  He worked with Toumani’s Symmetric Orchestra and also recorded with Ali Farka Touré, before creating his own group Ngoni Ba (Big Ngoni), a ngoni quartet plus his vocalist wife Amy Sacko, with whom he’s recorded six albums.

Veteran singer Kasse Mady Diabaté (1949-2018) performed with the Super Mandé orchestra and went on to become lead vocalist with National Badema (previously known as Las Maravillas de Mali) who had worked for eight years with Cuban musicians in Cuba. Kasse Mady was recruited to give them a more Malian sound. He released four solo albums of traditional music before his death, aged 69, after a stroke.  

One of the finest guitarists in Africa, Djelimady Tounkara joined the now legendary Rail Band in the early 1970s playing at the Buffet Hotel de la Gare in a line up that included the singers Salif Keita and Mory Kante. He remained the Rail Band’s arranger and lead guitarist throughout its glory years and in its later revival as the Super Rail Band. He’s appeared on all the Rail Band recordings and released several solo albums.

Lassana Diabaté is recognised as the outstanding balafon (Malian xylophone) player of his generation. Born in Guinea into a family of virtuoso balafon players, he grew up studying the instrument in the country’s traditional style before moving to Mali where he took advantage of the greater freedom with which the balafon is played there. He’s currently leader of the Trio Da Kali, who recorded Ladilikan with Kronos Quartet in 2017.

Not only a master of the tamani (talking drum), Baba Sissoko is equally adept at playing the ngoni, kamelngoni and other percussion.  In 1991 he founded Baba Sissoko & Taman Kan, incorporating traditional Malian influences with blues, jazz and rock. He played ngoni on the solo album Echu Mingua (2005) by Cuban conga player Angá Díaz. And he’s worked many years with Malian bandleader Habib Koité.

When it was finally released, AfroCubism received great acclaim: “The top table Afro-Cuban team-up that Buena Vista should have been,”  reported MOJO, “thrilling and impeccably produced,” said the Boston Globe. There were many concerts across Europe and North America.

The freshness and spontaneity of AfroCubism is given a parting endorsement in the final track, ‘Guantanamera’, probably the most over-covered of Cuban songs. It takes some time to realise what it is and is playful and elegant from the trio of musicians, Eliades, Bassekou and Djelimady, who were supposed to record the original album.here