Story alert! I promised a story if someone donated to my fundraiser (link in comments and bio, please consider donating we’re within about $500 of our goal). I’ll share another one if I can get a few more donations before the fundraiser ends in less than a week.
Story:
On my second of many trips to The Gambia to study Kora, my friend and I made a plan to rehearse for an upcoming recording and get some real practice time in. Usually, when I stayed in The Gambia, often for three months at a time, I lived in my teacher’s compound. It was wonderful, but it was also busy, full of constant activity, family life, musicians, visitors, and patrons. Beautiful, but not ideal for long uninterrupted stretches of practice.
So we decided to slip away for a week to a quiet fishing village with just mosquito nets, plastic mats for beds, and a tiny gas stove. We planned to shop at the market each day and cook for ourselves. Before leaving town, we passed the homes of four notable musicians, mostly guitarists and singers. We gave each of them money for transport so they could meet us on specific days, play all afternoon, and return home at night.
We packed our koras and supplies and headed to the coast. The shoreline was lined with huts where fishermen cleaned their catch and with concrete benches where people gathered. We claimed one of the open-air eating shelters as our temporary home. Each morning, we bought food at the market and brought it back to our spot. By early afternoon, one of the musicians would appear, walking up the beach exactly as planned. We played until sunset, they headed back, and the next day another musician arrived in the same way.
What we didn’t think about was the wildlife. Being right at the edge of the bush meant visits from giant crabs and, at one point, an uncomfortably close encounter with a very large python. Only as we were leaving did we learn that the villagers knew we were out there and had quietly kept an eye on us the whole time.
This little retreat became a yearly tradition, each trip more ambitious than the last, though that’s a story for another time.
Hello Everyone,
(check bio for links)
This year marks my 30th year as a professional musician. When I began learning the traditions I work with, information moved differently. Mentorship meant traveling, seeking, sitting with teachers, and absorbing not only technique but values. Finding recordings and influences took intention and patience.
My path on both Kora and Oud involved going to where my teachers lived, learning one-on-one, and returning year after year. I spent a season each year in Africa studying with my Kora teacher while he was alive, and five and a half years of close work with my Oud teacher. Another teacher we all share is the spirit of the place we grow up. For me, near Chicago, the energy of jazz and blues shaped how I listen, interact, and approach musical interaction.
On January 6th, 1993, I went to see B.B. King at Orchestra Hall. I was eating dinner beforehand when the TV announced Dizzy Gillespie had passed. Sitting alone, I felt the responsibility that comes with loving a musical tradition: those who came before us pass on what they can, and then it’s up to us to honor it. That B.B. King concert deepened that understanding.
Thirty years later, my sense of what it means to be a good musician has evolved and been tested. I’ve failed, succeeded, learned, and stayed committed to being a responsible custodian of what I was given. Today, in a world leaning toward fast, short-form content, the slow, deep way art truly transmits feels more important than ever.
So this year, I am committing to releasing a small set of full-length trio performances in audio and video unedited, human, and sincere. Your support makes it possible to pay musicians at a generous professional rate and to document the work at high quality.
Thank you for reading and for any support. If you can’t contribute, I hope today brings you time with art that means something to you, and that it reminds you of our capacity for beauty, resilience, and humanity. (Photo: Roshni Samlal)
Kane #oud #kora #arts #fundraiser
We had such a great time playing in trio format at one of our favorite Brooklyn, NY venues. It was a rare show where I played both Kora and Oud. #kora #worldmusic #livemusic #musiciansofinstagram #musicreels #harp #gambia
