Passionate percussionist, mostly West African influence - main instruments jembe, doundouns, balafon. Grandmother, gardener, traveler, writer, bodyworker, 5 years 'out' caring for elderly parents, now back to the music full time. Was manager of Toumaranke Percussion, a group of Guineans based in The Gambia. Now Toumaranke UK, in the UK with Moussa Sylla, largely a duo but watch this space....
Martin and Hadja left yesterday so I am now without cook, other female or English companion. Everything feels very strange as Moussa and I are still at the lodge, no-one else is here apart from Maty and staff, and we’ve got nowhere else to go as we don’t have a house at the moment. We’ve not managed to get anything since last year when we had to leave yet annother suitable place. Finding somewhere which is musician tolerant as well as having basic facilities, like a well or a tap inside or geographically close, that isn’t too expensive is a hard task; … Continue reading The Toumaranke Recording Project Diaries – Day 13, Almost the End of Everything!
Thurs 20th November 2014. Day 11 It’s breakfast time now, Martin is up and at the table. Jonny the dog, who went home with the band last night, has arrived with Kossy and Moese and is now pestering Martin for … Continue reading Toumaranke Recording Project Diaries. Day 11
Wed 19th November 2014. Day 10. Hopefully yesterday was the last day of the full-band recordings and we’ve just got the overdubs to do and then some general fiddling around. The idea is to start today with a listening session … Continue reading Toumaranke Recording Project Diaries. Day 10. Difficulties.
Tuesday 18th Nov 2014. Serious shopping this morning. We ordered Cherno and his taxi and went into town to buy mayo, sugar, eggs and various other things, eggs being particularly tricky on the bikes. I can do short distances with a tray of eggs on the back but the potholes make it very challenging. I always feel a bit uncomfortable shopping this way as I feel being seen in a taxi in town gives people the wrong idea of our finances, and most people already have the wrong idea about our finances. We dropped the washing off to Kaddy on the way, who conveniently … Continue reading The Toumaranke Recording Project Diaries. Day 9.
Monday 17th November 2014. Well it’s been a whole week now since we started work on this CD. Everyone seems to be getting on generally ok. Martin is comfortable with his work, the band, Sanyang, Gambia in general (although we’ve … Continue reading The Toumaranke Recording Project diaries. Day 8. Palm wine
Today is a half day so that everyone who wants to can go to mosque. Rough night for both of us; me with heavy bleeding, menstrual cramp and headache and Moussa with headache and general discombobulation. He was in and out of bed endlessly. Both of us are very tired today.
Session wise we did a couple of repeats of the last track we did yesterday which M is calling Temedi (literal translation ‘baby girl’ but used as a general term of affection for women – lovers, sisters, friends). I suspect this is going some way to addressing my having asked for a balance to the Tellamou Tellamou track critiquing the way some women behave as it ‘advises’ men to treat women properly. I’m on shakers for this. This is much less terrifying than playing balafon as I’ve played shakers in bands here for years and it feels very familiar. Also I can move around while I’m playing and for me that’s easier.
Toumaranke Percussion recording. Right to left: Chris Sylla basket shakers, Mamadou Ba balafon, Yamoussa (Kossy) gongo, Moese Tumba and Moussa Sylla Bundu.Toumaranke Percussion recording. Right to left: Mamadou Ba-balafon, Oka & Souleymane- bolons, Kossy & Moese-drums
Then we did some work on Sourima. This is a version of something Moussa was working on with Kamodu last year, I recognise some of the lyrics. We had to do quite a bit of work on this as Kossy was finding the off beat drum parts a bit tricky. Sourima is what the Guineans (or maybe just the Susu) call the Iles de Los, the islands near Conakry. This is the place that Moussa and Oka (plus various other musicians, some of whom I know) began their journey out of Guinea seeking to make their living as a group of musicians. This track is partly about the dangers of the life of fishermen. Oka comes from fishing people. When M and I went to Roum, then to Okas’, smaller, isle (Boum I think but it’s so tiny it isn’t even on the map) a couple of years ago I was struck by the bigness of the sea the smallness of the boats and the skill of the men controlling them.
Toumaranke UK 