Banning Eyre is an American guitarist, writer and broadcaster, and a regular contributor to Afropop Worldwide http://www.afropop.org/wp/ . A lifelong student of African guitar styles, his curiosity for the unique playing styles found across the continent has taken him to West and Southern Africa, and he has generously shared the many lessons he has learnt in shady compounds in his book African guitar atlas.
In 1995 he packed his guitar, and shipped a Roland keyboard amp (the preferred amplifier of many African guitarists) to the Malian capital Bamako . The amplifier was both a gift and down payment for an intensive musical apprenticeship with the great Malian guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, with whom Banning was to live and study for seven months, a story told with humility, insight and honesty in his book In griot time.
Evoking a Bamako of late afternoon wedding parties where bright cotton clothes are softened by the deep ochre soil, In Griot Time follows the passage of the dry season as it progresses alongside Banning's understanding of Manding guitar towards the arrival of the first Bamako rains.
Asserting that "to learn African music, you must immerse yourself in the social world that produced it, a world that encompasses ideas, beliefs, rituals and values", Banning's holistic approach unfolds in an engaging narrative that introduces us to the extended family of his host and mentor Djelimady Tounkara, as well as an all star cast of Malian musicians including Oumou Sangaré and Sali Sidibe.
The system of patronage that exists in West Africa and from which many griot earn an income is frankly examined, and we learn the true story of the project that became Buena Vista Social Club, originally conceived by World Circuit's Nick Gold as a collaboration Djelimady and Cuban musicians, later realised as AfroCubism.
Whether describing Djelimady's graceful and deft guitar playing; "a stately cycle of notes, bristling with a tough certainty", or a female praise singer "the jelimuso's first note scored the air like a steamship horn announcing entry to port", the story is told with an excitement and reverence for the music and musical culture that will resonate with anyone who has delved into this tradition and experienced the epiphanies, frustration, and joy of learning music in West Africa.
In 1995 he packed his guitar, and shipped a Roland keyboard amp (the preferred amplifier of many African guitarists) to the Malian capital Bamako . The amplifier was both a gift and down payment for an intensive musical apprenticeship with the great Malian guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, with whom Banning was to live and study for seven months, a story told with humility, insight and honesty in his book In griot time.
Evoking a Bamako of late afternoon wedding parties where bright cotton clothes are softened by the deep ochre soil, In Griot Time follows the passage of the dry season as it progresses alongside Banning's understanding of Manding guitar towards the arrival of the first Bamako rains.
Asserting that "to learn African music, you must immerse yourself in the social world that produced it, a world that encompasses ideas, beliefs, rituals and values", Banning's holistic approach unfolds in an engaging narrative that introduces us to the extended family of his host and mentor Djelimady Tounkara, as well as an all star cast of Malian musicians including Oumou Sangaré and Sali Sidibe.
The system of patronage that exists in West Africa and from which many griot earn an income is frankly examined, and we learn the true story of the project that became Buena Vista Social Club, originally conceived by World Circuit's Nick Gold as a collaboration Djelimady and Cuban musicians, later realised as AfroCubism.
Whether describing Djelimady's graceful and deft guitar playing; "a stately cycle of notes, bristling with a tough certainty", or a female praise singer "the jelimuso's first note scored the air like a steamship horn announcing entry to port", the story is told with an excitement and reverence for the music and musical culture that will resonate with anyone who has delved into this tradition and experienced the epiphanies, frustration, and joy of learning music in West Africa.
"In Griot time" by Banning Eyre - ISBN 1566397596
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