Ekona Diatta Plays a Medly of Songs on the Jola Akonting, a Banjo Ancestor

This selection was vidoed in 2007, during a visit to the Gambia, where I had gone to learn the akonting. Ekona visited me in Bakadaji Hotel, located in Kololi, The Gambia, and played for me, and now for you.

[@sanajammeh3458]

Thank you for posting this fine video

[@ChuckLevy]

Thanks Sana!

[@arieluken6290]

Puur en supergoed!!! The Netherlands.

[@ChuckLevy]

Agreed!

[@diattajaraaf6047]

Thanks for posting this beautiful vidéos reminding me my diola culture

[@ChuckLevy]

A stunningly beautiful culture!

[@TheFolksinger]

Very nice. Some of the beauty of the Kora, but with a bit more simplicity. Real skill and musicality here. Thanks for posting.

[@ChuckLevy]

Rich and complex, but melodically perhaps a lesser range. Thanks for commenting!

[@IvanBrowningtheMarshman]

I think I see the foundation of your playing style...

[@ChuckLevy]

Indeed!

[@waltzingpeter]

Is there any form of strumming or rasgueado like in Clawhammer banjo? It really reminds of very early banjo playing.

[@ChuckLevy]

I never saw any rasgueado technique in Ekona's or Remi's playing. The mechanics are very similar to clawhammer, and even closer to minstrel stroke style in my opinion.

[@waltzingpeter]

@@ChuckLevy yes minstrel stroke style indeed. The thing is that I read somewhere that cuckoo is an original African tune but since it relies so heavy on rasgueado or brushes I’m trying to get to the bare bones of the tune.

[@bluesmusicandwhatnot2845]

@@waltzingpeter The Cuckoo is originally a ballad of sorts from the British Isles, but in its American form, it’s been merged with an original American folk ballad about a Kentucky horse race, Mollie and Tenbroeck (or “Molly and Timbrooks”). This is where basically everything after “she never hollers cuckoo”, comes from, including the line about the 4th of July, the date the actual Mollie and Tenbroeck race took place. As for the music, like most traditional 5-string banjo pieces, there is obvious and heavy African influence. Other than the fact that the song is played in the frailing/clawhammer style and features a lot of syncopation, there is also a short melodic refrain throughout the song meant to imitate the call of the cuckoo bird. This is known as musical mimesis, and this particular type of musical mimesis is something that is common in African and Afro-diasporic music (i.e., musical mimesis is also apart of some berimbau toque’s, such as “Iuna”, which imitates the call of Brazils horned screamer). As for strumming techniques on the akonting, I’d imagine the strings are simply too few and spaced. It’s a bit of a chicken and the egg situation, but I’d bet the down stroking technique is directly related to the string set up and vice versa. There is however strumming (or perhaps more accurately “brushing”) in the way griot lutes like the ngoni/xalam/molo is played, as well as what is essentially rasgueado, specifically the type in which the fingers individually hit the strings in quick succession.

[@malnec]

dude in the background is rude