Jama'a, Sallama
Well it is me back again with more musical snippets! Before I tell you what it is, go to this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esl2NNOtHQE. It should take you to the Dueling Banjos scene from the film,
Deliverance (1972) starring Burt Reynolds. The scene plays out a "duel" between a banjo and an acoustic guitar (the banjo player, by the way, is exactly my age -- and I am not telling!).
Now in a series I call
Improvizations in Hausa Art Music, the British Council Kano, in collaborative creative partnership with Center for Hausa Cultural Studies (where I am the Chair) and with generous financial support of Standard Chartered Bank are hosting the first Hausa Art Music World Premiere which we call The Dueling Banjos on Saturday 13th October 2007 as our Barkanmu da Sallah!
What would "Hausa Art Music" sound like? Simply an acoustic and issues-based musical performance. Standard traditional Hausa music is basically about the voice and the praise-singing. With the Hausa Art music genre, we are hoping to make the audience LISTEN to the beauty of the musical instrument and the creative genius of the player. I believe this is a good opportunity for our traditional musicians to display how good they are with the various instruments they play. There will be vocals -- but they lyrics will focus on specific issues, rather than praising wane-da-wane.
In this particular concert we have four segments. The
gurmi concerto where a gurmi player will be accompanied by sarewa and duman girke. Then the
kuntigi concerto -- a kuntigi player accompanied by shantu (female equity instrument to balance out the genders!) and kalangu. In the third segment the kuntigi and the gurmi will lock horns -- the
Dueling Banjos -- starting as two solo instruments, then joined gradually by the other instruments for midsection performance. The instruments then drop off one by one until only the gurmi and the kuntigi are left on stage.
For the finale, we came up with something unique --
THE GURMI RAP! And this one is dedicated to Dan Kauye! In the Gurmi Rap are pairing the gurmi musician with
Kano Riders, a very excellent hip hop group based in Kano (their hits include
Rayuwa Cikin Kunci). Their recent demo releases are really good, and we hope to overlay their rap lyrics on the gurmi soundscape. I still don't know how it is going to turn out, but we have our fingers crossed! We start rehearsals on Monday 8th October for about three days and break for Sallah before continuing on the Saturday of the concert. If you are in the Kano central region within the period, drop by to see how yours truly act as Musical Director

The concert itself will be on Saturday 13th October at 19:00 hours at British Council Kano. For those who may wish to attend, I will leave some few blank invitations at the Security Office of the British Council from 8th October. Just ID yourself as KanoOnliner!
Abdalla
