Source with Abdoulaye Diabate at RAG
If it’s August it must be African dance party time at the Roxbury Arts Group. On Saturday, August 18, the fusion group Source with Abdoulaye Diabaté will perform. Everyone should expect an energetic and happy evening of great music from this astonishingly diverse yet cohesive band. $12. Cash bar. Plenty of room on the dance floor. Call 607 326-7908. Members of the group will play a free concert for children at The Fresh and Local, Art Under the Tent event at the Patatakan Farmers Market at 1 pm.
SOURCE w/Abdoulaye
Diabaté was created by Quebecois flutist Sylvain
Leroux, pioneer of African music collaborations in North America, as an improvisational
group with a standard jazz formation of bass, drums, keyboard and wind, but
was soon reborn as an explorative jazz unit with the advent of Mandeng vocalist
and guitar great, Abdoulaye "Djoss" Diabate from Mali and Guinean
fula flute Master Bailo Bah.
The current configuration includes Israeli keyboard virtuoso Shai Bachar who imparts jazz sophistication and contemporary atmospheric groove, and a solid rhythm section held down by Senegalese bassist Mamadou Ba and French drummer, Robert Bonhomme. Conga player Daniel Villeneuve, also French Canadian, has recently joined the band, adding a sensitive Caribbean touch to the skins.
Abdoulaye Diabate's voice soars with the depth and conviction conferred upon him by his legacy as a griot and his own infectious good nature; Bailo Bah's virtuosi playing of the 3-holed tambin flute combines phrasing and expression that reach emotional and textural heights. Source W/ Abdoulaye Diabate delivers a message of human spirit, of individual and collective creativity, demonstrating how different cultures can meet and communicate through their personal relationship to music. "...this is a splendid group whose sound and spirit capture a unique moment of African emergence and synthesis in New York City" — Banning Eyre Afropop.org
Abdoulaye “Djoss” Diabaté, singer, guitarist was born in Kela, Mali, to the Diabaté family. A clan reknowed as battlefield djialys (griot), they would accompany the warriors in battle to recount what took place. They have a reputation as powerful vocalists. Raised in the heart of the Mande tradition, Abdoulaye has also spent two decades performing contemporary and traditional music. His career led him to a fusion of these styles. In 1973 he joined the Tenetemba Jazz in Bamako, Mali. Later still, he was noted as the lead singer of the Koule Star Band of Kouchala. In 1975 he moved to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he formed his band: Super Mande. In this band some of the greatest luminaries of West African music circulated as bandmembers: Salif Keita, Mory Kante, Kante Manfila, Ousmane Kouyate and many more... In 1978, Super Mande released its first recording: Wahabia-Ke Daschi. The album was banned from airplay because the title song criticized some "marabout" religious leaders. In 1992, he joined the World famous Ballets Koteba as a singer and guitarist and toured the world playing guitar with Les Go de Koteba and singing with the Ballets. .In New York since 1996, he was noted in 2002 as one of the stars of the Smithsonian Folkways compilation: Badenya, Manden Jaliya in New York City, he was featured on the cover of the album wearing his irresistible smile.
Sylvain Leroux flute, tambin (Fula flute), alto sax, guitar was born in Montréal He studied classical music at Vincent d'Indy School of Music and at the University of Montreal. He attended the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY where he was exposed to World music, participating in workshops led by world- class artists. In Montréal, he worked with Yaya Diallo in performances and recording of the LP "Nangapè" and founded and led the group Mysterioso, dedicated to the music of jazzman Thelonious Monk and performed at the Montréal International Jazz Festival (1983). Concurrently, he was a member of Bantamba a group that broke new ground in the meeting of traditional and modern African music. In New York since then, he has been free lancing for many groups and dance companies in the Afro-Brazilian, African and African-American fields.In 1995, he took a trip to Conakry, Guinea (West Africa) to study the tambin, the peculiar flute of the Fulani people. He since has become one of the rare outsiders to master this astonishing instrument.
Bah Bailo, tambin, was born in Guinea of a Vietnamese mother and a Peul (Fulani) father. They had met in Indochina where his father served in the French Army during World War II. Bailo learned to play the tambin from his grandfather in the village. One day the grandfather called everybody and declared that he was tired, wasn't going to play anymore and that his grandson was his successor. A ceremony ensued and Bailo played all night until sunrise. At age 15, having lost all his relatives, mother, father and grandfather, he left his village on foot with one flute in his hand to try his luck in Dakar. The trip took him through much of West-Africa: Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, all the way to the Ivory Coast where he became a great flutist in Abidjan, the capital of (French) West African music. Bailo participated in countless festivals, recordings, and tours around the world. He toured the World as a soloist for the Ballets Koteba for more than twenty years. In 1988 in Vancouver's International Exhibition, he participated in the "World Drum" event with the Compagnons d'Akati, dance company.
Shai Bachar, piano and keyboard, was born in Jerusalem and began playing music at the age of five. Growing up in a multi-cultural environment exposed him to a wide variety of influences such as Middle Eastern traditional music, Classical music and Jazz. His rare ability to absorb these influences and mold them into his own unique voice won him world wide recognition and led to collaborations with such notable artists as Sheila Jordan, Bob Moses, Oliver Lake, and Bill Dixon from the USA; Othello Molineaux from Trinidad; Sekouba Bambino and Ibrahim Sumano from Guinea, West Africa. As a member of the Tarshish Ensemble, an American-Israeli project led by the esteemed American saxophonist and composer Steve Horenstein, he has toured the USA and Europe.
In 1996, Shai joined Meira Asher for a European tour. The following year he began to collaborate with bassist and producer Yosi Fine on his latest project: The Exentrics, which led to performances in Makor Theatre in New York City and venues in Israel. Shai has been living and playing in New York City since 1998 where he is an active and highly appreciated musician. For the past years he has been performing extensively nationwide with Orlando Marlin's Afro-Cuban Latin-Jazz group, and touring with world renowned guitarist Yosi Piamenta's Oriental Sephardic Jewish Music group, in Europe, South America and the Far-East. Currently, Shai's main works are influenced by the rich traditions of world music and contemporary sounds.
Mamadou Ba, bass,was born in Dakar, Senegal. He is a self-taught bassist who came to prominence while working with the group Keurgui that he created with his brother. They toured West Africa and Europe and collaborated with great artists such as the American saxophonist Archie Shepp. He toured the world with Ismael Lô's band.In New York, he joined Harry Belafonte's orchestra and eventually became musical director. He is a well loved and appreciated bass player.He has worked with Richard Bona, the Barrio Boys and is a member of the African Blue Note Band.
Robert Bonhomme, drums,was born in Pittsburgh on a Fourth of July, and grew up in the Parisian suburbs. He is is appreciated for his non-nonsense, fundamental approach to rhythm and impeccable timing.He relocated to New York in 1994 after completing the Dante Agostini music school. Here, he became a regular in the pop-rock music scene playing for many different artists, singers, and songwriters.He won a Bessie award for best music composition with the band "Fellahen", toured the US with the band "Kilgore Trout", recorded many albums and soundtracks in New York, Paris and Los Angeles. He also worked and performed with African Artists such as Abegasu Shiota with the "Admas Project" and Dawit Mellesse from Ethiopia.
Daniel Villeneuve, congas, was born in Quebec City, Canada. He started playing congas early as a teenager - in the company of now famous Canadian percussionist Francine Martel . A celebrated visual artist he is currently devoting all his artistic energy to music. Possessing a Creole soul, his travels to the Carribean and West-Africa influenced his playing.