Mamar Kassey
Encyclopedia
Mamar Kassey is a jazz
-pop
-ethnic
band from Niger
. It is named after a legendary warrior who extended the Songhai Empire
into the Sahara
.
Yacouba Moumouni
. The group combines traditional Hausa
, Djerma
, Fula
and Songhai rhythms, instruments such as the molo
(a lute with a skin-covered body), and modern instruments such as the electric bass. Their sound also incorporates western jazz, Moroccan and Latin music.
in 1998.
They are one of the few Nigerien musical acts
known internationally, and much beloved in their home country.
folk musicians under the name Makida Palabre. The collaboration included Breton musicians Pierre-Yves Prothais, Ronan Le Gourierec, Laurent Carré, and Youen Paranthoen playing Breton/Celtic, western jazz, and West African instruments.
in 2000 included:
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
-pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-ethnic
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
band from Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
. It is named after a legendary warrior who extended the Songhai Empire
Songhai Empire
The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city...
into the Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
.
Style
The band's leader is singer and flautistFlute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
Yacouba Moumouni
Yacouba Moumouni
Yacouba Moumouni is a singer and flautist, leader of the jazz-ethnic band from Niger, Mamar Kassey. Moumouni is probably the best known Nigerien musician outside the country, and is much beloved in his home country.-Biography:...
. The group combines traditional Hausa
Hausa music
The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, Niger, Sudan, and in many West and Central African countries. Their folk music has played an important part in the development of Nigerian music, contributing such elements as the goje, a one-stringed fiddle...
, Djerma
Djerma
The Zarma people , are a people of westernmost Niger and adjacent areas of Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana and Nigeria. The Zarma language is one of the Songhai languages, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family...
, Fula
Fula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
and Songhai rhythms, instruments such as the molo
Xalam
Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. The xalam is thought to have originated from modern-day Mali, but some believe that, in antiquity, the instrument may have originated from ancient Egypt...
(a lute with a skin-covered body), and modern instruments such as the electric bass. Their sound also incorporates western jazz, Moroccan and Latin music.
Musical career
An eight-piece group formed by Maumouni and guitarist Abdallah Alhassane in 1995, Mamar Kassey have released two albums internationally and toured Europe and the United States multiple times. They came to attention in France after an appearance at the Festival des Nuits Atypiques in LangonLangon, Gironde
Langon is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Geography:Langon is in the southern part of the department southeast of Bordeaux on the left bank of the Garonne river...
in 1998.
They are one of the few Nigerien musical acts
Music of Niger
The music of Niger has developed from the musical traditions of a mix of ethnic groups.-Traditional musical styles:Hausa, Beriberi, Songhai, Djerma, Dendi, Fula, Wodaabe, and Tuareg traditions, most of which existed quite independently in the colonial period, have begun to form a mixture of styles...
known internationally, and much beloved in their home country.
Makida Palabre
In 2004-2005, musicians from Mamar Kassey toured with a group of BretonBreton people
The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...
folk musicians under the name Makida Palabre. The collaboration included Breton musicians Pierre-Yves Prothais, Ronan Le Gourierec, Laurent Carré, and Youen Paranthoen playing Breton/Celtic, western jazz, and West African instruments.
Musicians
The members of the band have changed over the course of the group's existence. The group that performed at the Festival des nomades in BeninBenin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
in 2000 included:
- Abdoulaye ALASSANE, (ABDALLAH): guitar.
- Adamou DAOUDA, (NAGOULI): kalangou.
- Boubacar Souleyman MAIGA, (BARI): percussion, calabashCalabashLagenaria siceraria , bottle gourd, opo squash or long melon is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, the calabash is widely known as the bottle gourd...
. - Harouna ABDOU : electric bass guitar.
- Housseïni Namata CHIBAKOU: molo lute.
- Yacouba MOUMOUNI: flute, vocals.
Discography
- Denké-Denké, Daqui, Harmonia Mundi, (1999)
- Alatoumi, Daqui (2000), Harmonia Mundi (2001), World Village WV470003 (2001)
- Via Campesina, Daqui, Harmonia Mundi (2006)
- On va voir ça, Daqui, Harmonia Mundi (forthcoming, 2008)
External links
- photos from the Fêt'arts festival in Burkina Faso, 2003. Performance at the Alliance Franco-Marocaine d'El Jadida, Morocco (2007). Radio programs and performance photos, 2006 at Radio France International.