Sorry once again that it's taken me months to update this blog but as time goes on, I seem to have more and more to do and less time, in which to do it!
Maciré Sylla was born and currently resides in Conakry (the capital of Guinea). She nevertheless mainly grew up in the countryside, and it was there that her grandmother inspired her career in music by teaching her traditional songs as well as teaching her about her heritage and Guinean culture.
As Maciré has spent a lot of time in both the countryside and the city, she aims to combine the aspects of both parts of the country in her music. Her music is usually written in the Soussou language and it has been influenced by Afropop, funk and Mandingo music.
The idea for this post was inspired by a representative from Pure Song, who recommended Maciré Sylla's music to me.
In this song, Macire speaks to a semi-fictional confidante called Fredi (based on a taxi-driver, former actor, she met in her childhood in the village of Tayiré) and tells him about mean rumours spread by false friends.
The first few sentences of this song come from a old story from her village, when husbands would go on a long journey to hunt a rare, mystical feline called Tiama and bring back the feline's tail as a trophy for their wives. Sylla uses this story as a way of singing about how it is hard to travel in Guinea, particularly as the railways have been dismantled over time by thieves stealing the metal.
Hello to all my blog viewers! I'm very sorry for taking such a big break from updating this blog but I've had a lot to do. As I'm in the second year of my degree, I have a heavier workload. The university's also changed the timetable, so that I'm almost always busy with reading, coursework or revision until the summer holidays. I hope I can get back to my weekly blogging once my exams have finished though.
Nevertheless, I know that it won't be any easier to update this blog when I'm in 3rd year, so I'd like to invite some people to write posts for this blog. If you're interested in becoming one of my co-bloggers, then contact me via the Twitter or Facebook page for this blog and tell me what you could offer World Music Weekly. As you know, I have no musical qualifications so there are no restrictions with regard to
your qualifications either.
In any case, I will now tell you about Tekbilek. I can't remember how I found out about him but I was fascinated by his music, so I put one of his albums in my Amazon basket.
Tekbilek comes from Adana, Turkey. He's from a very musical family. His uncle and his brother have been particularly instrumental in developing his musical career. He received music lessons from his uncle in return for helping out at his music store. This helped him to learn the rhythms of Turkish music, how to read scales, etc. He has learnt to play many instruments including the ney, zurna, baglama, the oud and percussion. Although his music has always been influenced by his folklore roots, he has also experimented with Arabesque, Turkish and Western styles.
My favourite album by Tekbilek is Whirling but I also love his collaborations with other artists.
