Brikama Griots

[smilinggambia]

Love country i love it. And nice music to. Have been there from 30november till 19 december 2011. Wanne stay but work is calling me here in holland.

[deaththugage]

this is ma uncle



[TheJakedead]

hermosoo



[Miiaa123cute]

Oh my goodness.. pa bobo Jobarteh is simply the best and if you agree thumbs up for the jobarteh kunda family!!!

[mandinmory]

Its nice to see Pa Bobo all groung up. He is a legend in making he knows how to play the Kora at a very early age what a talent.

[Miiaa123cute]

so cute to see dad and his boy doing a clip together....nice

[MelvinWren]

sounds like theres one more instrument or is that big thing playing both string parts the bass and high parts?

[leftysergeant]

@MelvinWren The instrument is called the "kora," and it does have that wide a range. Twenty strings, on alternating sides of a very high bridge.

It has a bit of flexibility. I have not heard it introduced into any genre of music, from classical to rock, where it did not fit. I think it will last a few centuries more.

[Rorodrigue]

very cool, like it. le genie musical

[Zovalista]

electric effect through my body, awesome

[bass109]

Jesus christ loves you all, he is coming for you all soon.

[nchant]

this is amazing

[Doleafol]

Grassroots music...played by seemingly ordinary folks. This is music at a very visceral and beautiful level. It makes me want to go Gambia to experience this music first hand...where it bursts forth spontaneously on the streets.

[rikfalk]

@Doleafol

these are not seemingly ordinary folks. Griots are all but ordinary in western africa.

please don't mystify what is not enveloped in your own myths!

[rikfalk]

@Doleafol

these are not seemingly ordinary folks. Griots are all but ordinary in western africa.

please don't mystify what is not enveloped in your own myths!

[Doleafol]

@rikfalk

I simply enjoyed the music very much and attempted a compliment. I did not say that they were, in fact, ordinary but that they "seemed" to be (by their appearance...by their dress). I know that griots hold a special place in West African society. Is each person in the video, a griot? I don't know. Anyway, I don't exactly know what you mean by "don't mystify what is not enveloped in your own myths..." I don't know what you mean by that. But, let me say, that I apologize.

[argybarg]

@Doleafol I think the confusion here is that this is presented as just a random street scene, the sort of thing you see everywhere in this part of the world. Actually, these are high-level and celebrated musicians in their culture — notice the related videos for Pa Bobo Jobarteh. This is not the equivalent to, say, people on a porch in Appalachia fiddling and picking the banjo or a busker in the subway station.

But I agree that your original comment had only a good intent.

[Doleafol]

@argybarg

Thanks for the explanation and clarification. You shed some light on the performance in this video. 

[Junior1luv]

Dope

[mExloKo13]

thanks very much!

[skaskia]

bai tank you very much for de music ,i love. may be you remmber me brikama,but long time you dont see me.momodou lamin bayo

[Recordstak]

That's my Kora Teacher Malamini Jobarteh singing in the purple!

[nicodagger]

I can hear medieval music from Europe in these sounds, like the psaltery.

[BabatheStoryteller]

What a beautiful rendition of Kelefaba! Thanks for posting this.

[believeunisexdayspa]

Amazing!!!

[storyb23]

my god this is beautiful

[mandinka323]

Ali ning baara, ali ning ke, jatoolu!!! Ali yaa kata le. Nying diyaabata le ali la kango, ali la kora aning djembe kosoo bee ka diyaa le.

[daddino93]

BEST VIDEO I HAVE ESER SEEN. 

[Urdunchimeg]

Lovely!

[coolhype]

One of the BEST videos EVER on YouTube! F'real!

[Azizip17]

This is wonderful! Thank you for posting this video.

I'm sure that this genre of African music and other genres of African music have GREATLY influenced music from the African Diaspora, including African American music, But surely the influence goes both way. Is this video traditional Gambian 'griot' music or is a new form or one of the new forms of that music (if there are new forms) of griot music? Is talking over music(rapping) traditional to this music?

-an African American sister

[crownites]

NATURAL AFRIKAN MYSTIC......

[otkinsey]

Is he speaking swahili?  I thought i heard him say habari gani at the end of the video.

[newjungleorchestra]

Griot Kora Master Malamin Jobarteh speaks Mandinka in his compound in Jobarteh Kunda in Brikama , Western Division, The Gambia

[leshark]

amazing!

[MrSpanky87]

this is so cool - wish i could understand :(

[TheDustyWilk]

griots were the forerunners to hip-hop! sounds weird right? But the tradition of oral history sang over music was passed on to Jamaican musicians, who utilized this in dancehall music, which eventually found its way to south bronx. the rest is history.

[OctoBox]

Dusty -- That is correct; most of us in the U.S do not know the short history of hip hop; that it came out of Dub Music -- however, the long version is it's origin in Griot!!

[TheDustyWilk]

Yup. And to be perfectly honest, I'm beginning to prefer Griot music over hip-hop :)

[leftysergeant]

@OctoBox The blues came out of the same tradition. Watch a really good blues guitarist with a really good ngoni player. Watch their fingers. Bassekou Kouyate and Ali Farka Toure are good examples to watch when they do a call and response.

[sugarbrownrabbit]

@TheDustyWilk To bad that hip hop lost it's orginal beauty.

[darkbluesoul]

I am american studying african music, so forgive me if I am inaccurate, but Griots are historians in the tradition of oral histories. They are amazingly accurate and carry the history of the region as well as local history, even gossip. The Kora is a 21 string harp made with a gourd, a beautiful instrument.

[yehru]

Google "Kelefa Ba traditional kora song" - there is a rough translation online.

[jygjyg]

Esta música hace que brote el África que fluye por mis venas... soy de Puerto Rico.

[evucia]

awesome!!

[oroge]

Hausa nigerian here one love to all the west africans and descendants of the moores!!

[17aKaT]

Moore as in surname? As in the Moores that came from Ireland? or does moore have a different meaning?

[leftysergeant]

@17aKaT Moors are a North African, largely Muslim people, today living largely in Morrocco and Mauritania. At one time, they held a large part of Spain and France. To some extent, they shaped Spanish music. Just for kicks, you might Google "Maalouma mint Meida."

[nkanga4]

@oroge I think this is senegalese...

[throbule]

I had the best holiday ever in The Gambia and this music and the musicians really bring the memories to life for me - thank you for this upload!

[GAkemetKiNg]

8.24-8:40

Perfect.

[amelikilya]

ребенок там ходит )))))

[Yogurt2345]

makes me wanna move my body

[martindickie]

This is excellent

[Brezzia]

Beautiful :)

[oeterke]

Great!