If you haven’t seen this yet, watch it now! Adama plays an awesome rendition of Mendiani in Kangaba, Mali.
We like this video because:
- Kangaba is in the heart of Mande. This video shows a “Mali version” of Mendiani, smack dab in its native habitat.
- Adama is obviously very comfortable with Mendiani. It’s great to see how he glides effortlessly between solo themes.
- There is an interesting dundun variation in this video that is unique. Have you heard it anywhere before?
Key Moments:
2:37 – Classic Theme – This is played in Mendiani when the girls are doing a particular dance “step” while riding up on top of the man’s shoulders.
3:32 – Bala starts playing an alternate dundun pattern which we don’t hear often.
Comments
3 responses to “Mendiani : Adama Coulibaly”
do they go into a different rhythm at 3:33? or is that another phase of mendiani?
It seems he’s playing a lot of phrases from Garankè Foli, n’est pas? Do they normally interchange those phrases with Mendiani? I love those eschauffs at the end with the bass notes (ooxxBxxBxxox) and with the extra tone roles thrown in on alternating times. Drissa does a very similar eschauff that I transcribed a while back.
Adama is an amazing player.
I enjoyed this video so much that I was actually motivated to transcribe it. There’s some really cool stuff in there!