On the Front­line com­ments on life through an Afrikan com­mu­nity lens.

Sound refor­mu­lat­ing the lens

“All things being derived from and formed of vibra­tions have sound hid­den within them, as fire is hid­den in flint , and each atom of the uni­verse con­fesses by it’s tone,” ‘My sole ori­gin is sound’.”

I’ve spent the past week work­ing with a mas­ter of sound and oral mem­ory, Moussa Bolokada Conde. Moussa is the name his mother gave him in remem­ber­ance of her father so that he would not per­ish. Bolokada was given to him because he was the last-born of his mother’s chil­dren. And Conde is the fam­ily name that roots him through cen­turies to the found­ing story of the Mali Expire and the Sun­jata epic. 

To hear this giant of the Man­den strike the goatskin head that cov­ers the goblet-shaped jenbe that he plays is an expe­ri­ence in the power of sound to ele­vate and refor­mu­late the atoms of con­scious­ness. Some might say his hands have mood alter­ing power and that the sounds he evokes are sub­tle com­mu­ni­ca­tions with the soul. Bolokada sim­ply says, he plays this music to make peo­ple “happy.”

Happy here is a metaphor for the evo­ca­tion of energy ris­ing from the root of bod­ily expe­ri­ence to stim­u­late the pineal gland elic­it­ing prop­er­ties of sight for those able to see; and for the blind the body comes alive and feel­ing is enhanced.

But there is noth­ing mys­ti­cal about Bolokada’s magic, and he is quick to say there is no “secret” to the play­ing of the jenbe. Again, sim­ply, Bolokada says that prac­tice and love for the music are the qual­i­ties that are respon­si­ble for pro­duc­ing the tam­bre and colour that sig­nify his sig­na­ture sound. A hum­ble man rooted in his iden­tity, Bolokada Conde’s mas­tery is the result of year’s of work and ser­vice to his peo­ple and to peo­ple who would be inspired.

If you don’t know the man’s music, check him out here: Intro to “M’bembe Fakoli: A Musi­cal Jour­ney Through Guinea West Africa.” 

Con­tact us at TRIAAC and we’ll arrange for Bolokada to visit and inspire your community.  

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