Tag Archives: mandingo

Friday 16 Nov > Sublime Frequencies 15 year tour @ OCCII, Amsterdam w/ Baba Commandant, Senyawa & more!

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This friday Amsterdam people!

Sublime Frequencies tour night in OCCII with 2 international bands; Baba Commandant & his Mandingo Band from Burkina Faso and duo Senyawa from Indonesia, plus duo Sharif Sehnaoui & Michael Zerang.

Since 15 years, American label SUBLIME FREQUENCIES enriches the music world as a specialist in non-western music. Besides music, they also publish books, documentaries and films. Tonight they present two live artists signed on their label: Senyawa (Indonesia) and Baba Commandant (Burkina Faso). Also Canadian-Egyptian duo Sharif Sehnaoui & Michael Zerang will perform an early set. DJ support comes from the label owner Hisham Mayet of Sublime Frequencies, Rebel Up and Papelon Kifesh.

Senwaya
this duo from Yogyakarta is headed by Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryardi. Indonesian traditional music forms the basis, but the duo uses playing techniques from experimental genres to create a completely unique sound. Hardcore metal, improvisation and traditional ritual music played with an intensity as if punk. Singer Shabare uses vocal traditions of the island in his singing but can also heavy metal grunting. Suryardi plays self-built instruments with names like ‘Gary’, ‘Bambu Wukir’ and ‘Aker Mahoni’. During performances, the duo uses homemade electronics to edit the sound of the vocals and instruments live. Their new album ‘Sujud’ has just been released.
https://sublimefrequencies.bandcamp.com/album/sujud

Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band
from Burkina Faso and was born as Mamadou Sanou and earned his spurs as a dancer and then as a singer and musician with groups like Dounia and the accompaniment band of Burkina Faso’s greatest star: Victor Démé. Baba Commandant plays the ‘ngoni’, the traditional instrument of the Donse tribe, traditional hunters in the region of Burkina Faso and Mali. He is aided by his Mandingo band of veteran musicians of the mandinko tradition, enfused with rock. The main influences of the group are Nigerian greats Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade but also Moussa Doumbia, the Malinese response to James Brown. Check their debut album ‘Juguya’ and their afro rocker album ‘Siri Ba Kele’ has which just been released
https://sublimefrequencies.bandcamp.com/album/siri-ba-kele

Canadian-Egyptian & American improv duo Sharif Sehnaoui & Michael Zerang will play a early support set. Improv guitarist Sehnaoui is known from bands such as Dwarfs of East Agouza and Jerusalem Is In My Heart, American percussionist Zerang hails from Chicago and its rich improv scene.
https://soundcloud.com/sharif-sehnaoui/sharif-sehnaoui-michael-zerang

DJ support & afterparty by Hisham Mayet (Sublime Frequencies) and Papelon Kifesh

Expect an ephemeral exhibit showcasing the visual history of the label’s 15 year existence with some artwork, flyers and posters. There will be new and exclusive merchandise available only at this event as well as new albums by Senyawa and Baba Commandant. Please join us for a celebration of Sublime Frequencies!

Doors 20h30
tickets: 8,50€ presale, 10€ at door
FB event / website

@ OCCII
Amstelveenseweg 134
Amsterdam Oud-Zuid

Thu 19 Nov > Rebel Up! Soundclash & OCCII presents Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band + DJ Alex Figueira @ OCCII, Amsterdam

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Yo folks!

This thursday 19 nov Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band in OCCII, Amsterdam! His shows in Gent and Brussels were simply amazing, so we can recommend you to see them and get wild!

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band
are a contemporary group from Burkina Faso. Coming from Bobo-Dioulasso, the group is steeped in the Mandingue musical traditions of their ancestral legacy. The enigmatic lead singer Baba Commandant (Mamadou Sanou) is an original and eccentric character who is well respected in the Burkinabé musical community. A sort of punk Faso Dan Fani activist for traditional Mandingo music, Baba continues to redefine the boundaries between traditional and modern. In 1981, he joined the Koule Dafourou troupe as a dancer. Later, he embarked on his current musical direction as a singer first in Dounia and then in the Afromandingo Band. His current band — when he’s not playing with the now-famous Burkinabé musician Victor Démé — is the Mandingo Band. At present, he is a practitioner of the Afrobeat style, drawing inspiration from the golden era of Nigerian music. Fela Kuti/Africa 70 and King Sunny Adé are big influences, as is the legendary Malian growler Moussa Doumbia. Baba plays the ngoni, the instrument of the Donso (the traditional hunters in this region of Burkina Faso and Mali). His audience comprises multiple generations and strata of Burkinabé society; he accordingly adapts his repertoire to his surroundings, which range from cabaret Sundays in Bobo-Dioulasso to the sound systems of Ouagadougou and are a formidable force steeped in Ouagadougou’s DIY underground musical culture. Juguya is their sound. Listen here >

 

DJ Alex Figuira (Vintage Voudou shop / Fumaça Preta)
Amsterdam dj Alex Figueira, born in Venezuala with Brazilian roots, has a BIG passion for vinyl; he is the co owner of the Vintage Voudou vinyl shop in A’dam’s Red Light district, a grand collector of vintage African and Latin vinyls, runs the Music With Soul label and plays in the bands Fumaça Preta & Conjunto Papa Upa. For sure he’ll make you bounce & swing with his delicious selections from Africa & around.
http://www.vintagevoudou.com/

More info > FB event or OCCII site

@ OCCII
Doors; 20:30
8€

6/7 Nov > Rebel Up! weekender with Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band (Burkina Faso) @ Vooruit, Gent + Les Ateliers Claus, Brussels!

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this weekend a special double concert of Baba Commandant & the Mandingo Band in Belgium; Gent & Brussels! Rebel Up! helps to organise these nights, and will DJ before/after both shows. fun!

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On friday 6 Nov @ De Vooruit in Gent, a sweet lineup with Baba Commandant and also Alsarah & The Nubatones

Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band
are a contemporary group from Burkina Faso. Coming from Bobo-Dioulasso, the group is steeped in the Mandingue musical traditions of their ancestral legacy. The enigmatic lead singer Baba Commandant (Mamadou Sanou) is an original and eccentric character who is well respected in the Burkinabé musical community. A sort of punk Faso Dan Fani activist for traditional Mandingo music, Baba continues to redefine the boundaries between traditional and modern. In 1981, he joined the Koule Dafourou troupe as a dancer. Later, he embarked on his current musical direction as a singer first in Dounia and then in the Afromandingo Band. His current band — when he’s not playing with the now-famous Burkinabé musician Victor Démé — is the Mandingo Band. At present, he is a practitioner of the Afrobeat style, drawing inspiration from the golden era of Nigerian music. Fela Kuti/Africa 70 and King Sunny Adé are big influences, as is the legendary Malian growler Moussa Doumbia. Baba plays the ngoni, the instrument of the Donso (the traditional hunters in this region of Burkina Faso and Mali). His audience comprises multiple generations and strata of Burkinabé society; he accordingly adapts his repertoire to his surroundings, which range from cabaret Sundays in Bobo-Dioulasso to the sound systems of Ouagadougou and are a formidable force steeped in Ouagadougou’s DIY underground musical culture. Juguya is their sound.

Listen to Baba here! >

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Alsarah & The Nubatones
Born in Sudan, Alsarah is a singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist. She grew up in the capital Khartoum and Taez (Yemen) but since 1994 has called New York her home. The Guardian lauded her as“the new star of Nubian pop”. Together with her band the Nubatones she explores her love for Northern-African and Arabic music from the 60 ‘s & 70’s. Get ready for a heavy taste of eastern instruments, profound melancholic vocals and pentatonic arrangements.

Full info + presale tickets > FB event or Vooruit website.

Then the day after, saturday 7 Nov in Brussels @ Les Ateliers Claus, Baba Commandant will play after Moroccan band Lahcen Akil & the Chaabi Brothers (we saw them in Amsterdam a few weeks back, in one word > mesmerizing!)

lahcen akil

Lahcen Akil and the Chaabi Brothers
Lahcen was born in 1969 in the village of Tamlalte in the Moroccan High Atlas. Influenced by acoustic music and traditional songs, he started music very young. As songwriter, he performed his songs about the beauty of the region. He interprets his songs on a lothar that he made himself, with a wooden handle, a palm soundboard and goatskin. He is regularly accompanied by his brother on percussion.

dj’s Rebel Up! & Hisham Mayet (Sublime Frequencies)
dj & filmmaker Hisham Mayet joins us for a ping pong dj set afterparty, expect african beauties, rough folklore, guitar rock and global pop tunes from this true collector of musical gems!

Full info + presale tickets > FB event here or LAC website