Ladilikan: Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet
- Submitting institution
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School of Oriental and African Studies
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 24927
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- World Circuit Records WCD093
- Month
- September
- Year
- 2017
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The concept behind the album Ladilikan emerges from my research of over four decades on the music of Mande griots/jelis (hereditary musicians) of West Africa, focusing on documenting and showcasing its pre-colonial heritage, now largely abandoned by local musicians in favour of more globalised styles. The Kronos Quartet wanted to record an album featuring a collaboration with Malian music and approached me for guidance, knowing of my experience in research-based album production. I suggested foregrounding the heritage side of the tradition for their project, underpinned by the following research questions:
- which instrumentation would best represent the pre-colonial Mande heritage?
- how to interface the oral, fluid tradition (Mali) with the written, fixed tradition (Kronos)
- how to impart a contemporary and creative voice to this collaboration.
My first task was to create a new Malian group – Trio Da Kali - who were knowledgeable about heritage music, replicating a pre-colonial format to complement the medium of string quartet. In Mali, I worked with the Trio to select and arrange songs, derived from my research on early 20th century Malian repertoires and aesthetics. When the Trio and I met Kronos for rehearsals in 2013, I brought my comparative experience of performance practice in both this oral tradition and the norms of Western Art Music performance to mediate: checking scores for correct phrasing; bridging the gap between oral and written approaches; advising Kronos on composing appropriate instrumental interludes. My practice-based understanding of Mande melodic styles and lyrics allowed me to co-compose versions of two gospel songs (part of the “contemporary voice” strategy). Through my knowledge of Mande music, I wrote detailed explanations of all the songs for the sleeve notes, explaining the meanings of Ladilikan and DaKali (both were my choices for titles, derived from my work on Mande cultural expression).
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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