Vieux Kanté is not an uncommon name in Mali, but it can get very confusing when, such is your fame, your name is adopted by others to help them get a gig. This, anecdotally, is exactly what happened to Noumoussa Soumaoro aka Vieux Kanté. As Afropop Worldwide editor Banning Eyre writes:-
“Vieux
Kante was born in 1974 in Niesmala in the Sikasso region of Mali.
Though blind from childhood, he participated in musical activities
like other kids, starting at the age of seven on djembe drum. Vieux’s
talent was immediately obvious to all. When he was eleven his
brothers would go out to work in the fields, leaving him alone in the
house. Vieux took to borrowing his brothers’ six-string harp, the
kamale n’goni (youth harp),
and learned to play the things he had heard
on the radio and at local parties, where the kamale n’goni was then
king.
This
instrument was not restricted by the secrecy and taboo
surrounding hunter’s culture and, in fact, was something of a youth
itself, having only been invented in the 1960s. But in a few short
years it had transformed village recreation throughout the Wassoulou
region. So Vieux tapped into a deep vein of popular emotion when he
emerged as one of the hottest young players.”
Towards
the end of the 90s and by some accounts, aided by a Dutch hotel
owner, Vieux Kanté visited Europe where he recorded with saxophonist
Hans Dulfer, and also made a cameo appearance on ‘Mali Jazz’, the
1999 album by pioneering big band, Fra Fra Sound, where he’s
credited as “Moussa ‘Vieux’ Kanté”. From 1997, a grainy
YouTube clip shows him sharing a stage with both the Fra Fra Big Band
and Lester Bowie.
Back
in Bamako he proved an innovator who helped to develop the
instrument, and by 2000 his kamale n’goni boasted 12 strings. As
Banning writes “These modifications gave him more than an octave
and a complete major or minor scale. As for the remaining notes, the
“jazz notes,” Vieux said that although they are not on the
instrument, he could play them - ”You have to do those yourself,”
he said, “using your own head.” “
By
this time Vieux Kanté’s fame in the villages and fields of the
Wassoulou region that extends across southern Mali, northern Guinea
and parts of the Ivory Coast, was assured. Songs were written in his
name and, as noted, other performers either already had, or had
adopted, his name.
“When
we met Vieux (Banning
notes) he
demonstrated amazing techniques … (and)
it
was obvious why he was considered one of the most dynamic and
accomplished solo players in the country. At the time, he was leading
his own group and word was they had recorded a cassette, but it had
yet to hit the market. Then, just a few months later,
we
heard that Vieux had died after a sudden illness.”
It’s been a long wait, but finally that Mali-produced cassette finds an international audience on Sterns Africa as “The Young Man’s Harp”
The
following is from an interview with Kabadjan Diakite by Abdramane
Fall and Modibo Diarra in early 2016
MD:
Good morning, can you introduce yourself?
KD:
My name is Kabadjan Diakite. I was in the Orchestre National of
Guinea, ‘Les Badial’. When I came to Mali to see my senior
brother Sékou Kanté who was with the ‘Rail Band’, I first met
Vieux whom I naturally admired.
MD:
As a matter of fact, let us talk about Vieux. How did you come across
him?
KD:
My senior brother Sékou asked me to accompany him to Zani Diabaté’s
so that he could introduce me to him. That was when Vieux entered and
I immediately noticed him and said ‘Nkoro, who is the person who
has just entered?’. He answered that it was Vieux but made no other
comment. And without seeking to understand, I told my senior brother
that I wanted to work with that man.
I
went to him at Torokorobougou, but could not meet him then and so
asked his sisters to give him a message. When I finally did speak to
him, I said that I’d seen him on television and admired him
greatly. I let him know that I came from Guinea Conakry but lived in
Mali and that, absolutely, I wanted to work with him.
At
that time he was performing at the ‘Hotel Les Arbres’ and I was
performing at ‘Mande Hotel’, and so I often went to see him at
sessions in ‘Les Arbres’ which continued until the early hours.
It was there he suggested that he come to visit me in my house, and
so we became friends. Later he proposed that I accompany him on at
the ‘Hotel Les Arbres’ and the important ladies who came to watch
us meant we could really do great things.
And
me, filled with wonder about his talent, I asked him if there was a
ghost in his kamalé ngoni, because I knew other guitar, kora and
ngoni players, but I had never met anyone like Vieux.
He
was the head of the band, I was his deputy. My senior brother even
suggested I leave ‘Le Super Diatabande’ so that I could work with
Vieux, but I couldn’t as I considered this a kind of betrayal.
Nevertheless I continued working with Vieux and we recorded at the
studio of Salif Keita at Dielibougou. We recorded seven songs, of
which he sang four such as
“Tènè
tounou tchinnou,
Haaannnn
loni deni fari ne wala di ...”
and
I sang three among which were ‘Kono’
“Hééééé
kônô kônô kônô
Mande
Kalou la Kônô bôlén dé Guinée
Djin
djin djin ...”
and
‘Sinamon’
“Karamô
Kê nana
O
ki yala kounngo le kônô
Sina
mousso ni djou dô wilila
Ka
fô kara mô ke yé”
The
wicked co-wife who wanted to set a dangerous snake against another
wife, but the snake bit her and she herself died. The moral of the
song is that when you want to harm somebody you may possibly harm
yourself.
He
said that I had a golden voice, and I told him “Heeee Vieux, me I
am afraid of your talent, and now you want to be afraid of me?!”.
He then suggested that I should become the head of the band because I
am experienced and have been to foreign countries, but I refused
saying that to lead is a matter of destiny.
MD:
Did you tour together?
KD:
Yes, thanks to Mr Zalé, the ex-mayor of the district V of Bamako, we
toured almost throughout the whole Mali (Timbuktu, Gao and
Bandiagara) as well as Burkina Faso.
MD:
Can you tell us about when Vieux died?
KD:
If I have a good memory, he died between 2005 and 2006, for our
collaboration started in 1998, the year of the African Cup of Nation
in Ouaga. His wife died a year before him and they left behind a son
bearing the name of Mamadou.
His
death really shocked me. But despite all, I continue performing. I
perform very well with the musical band, even at present.
MD:
What is your conclusion?
KD:
I thank you journalists for having come over so that we can talk
about the death of my friend and brother. I equally greet all the
artists, who all know me more or less directly, either by my name or
by my work. I greet you and confide in you for the future. I thank
you.
