KICKSTARTER PROJECT UPDATE #21

Adventures with Lama Sidibe

12 avr. 2014

I was walking down the street in Taouyah, my neighborhood in Conakry, and DJ Papus of "Nostalgie" radio recognized me. I had previously been on his program. He invited me on the spot to come to his show the same night where I would be a guest along with Lama Sidibe, one of the greatest singers in Guinea. After thinking about it for about one second, I accepted.

At the station, Lama Sidibe is a no-show, I am the only guest for an hour. We listen to my CD "Quatuor Creole" but DJ Papus has a low threshold for long pieces and takes it off after about 20 seconds. He talks to his audience in Pulaar and we exchange questions and answers in French. He asks me a few times to play the flute. I hear him often say "porto" (white) and "tambin" (flute). Listeners call to congratulate me and Papus announces several times that I will be a guest at Lama Sidibe's great concert this Saturday at the Belvedère, a Conakry hot spot. Furthermore, he announces that I will be back on his radio show on Thursday, all of this without asking me, which was a bit unsettling.

After the show, I got worried that Lama might think that all of that was my idea so I called his manager, whom I know. As soon as he answers, he tells me how everybody is very happy with me and puts Lama on the phone who emphatically expresses the same. I stand booked!

On Thursday, I arrive at the station a minute late. The show has started and DJ Papus is interviewing Lama who talks at length about music piracy in Guinea, a subject that makes our host, who seems to shy from controversial topics, ill-at-ease. During a break, Lama asks me to play something traditional. After a few phrases of "Chedo", he starts to sing with me with his powerful barytone then disappears for a cigarette. Back in the studio we play a flute and voice duet live on the air which goes over very well. People call to congratulate us.

Leaving the studio, Lama offers to drop me home. He is accompanied by a retinue: an assistant, a driver and one of his dancers. He tells me how happy he his with me and tells me I play very well but although I know Mandeng music well, I don't really know Peul music and suggest that I approach his lead flutist to learn from him the true language from the Fouta, the heart of Guinean Peul culture. I accept.

On the way, we swing by his home and he introduces me to his family and I play for them. They listen attentively and appreciate it. Then we are presented with an enormous dish of rice and lamb which I need to finish at the risk of a diplomatic incident if I don't. But it's not too difficult because it is delicious.

On Saturday I arrive at the Belvedere around 3 pm. After a long wait during which the technicians are sound-checking, I meet Lama's flutist a tall and gentle man named Saidougou Bah. He examines my flutes and approves of them but is perplexed by the chromatic one.

During the concert I sit next to him and I catch some phrases on the fly and he occasionally gives me an accompaniment to play. Towards the end, Lama graciously introduces me to the audience and asks me to play. When I am done, people applaud and everybody is happy with me. After the show, the band moves to another area of the Belvedere where we continue playing until 5 am. At times, I practically sleep and play simultaneously, which is pretty cool. The music is electrifying and dynamic, Lama had endless energy and the public loves him.

I have rarely met such a strong and positive personality as Lama Sidibe. A true leader, a president. He knows his music inside and out as well as its history and artists and the value of their respective contributions. He appreciates my educational program as well as my flute playing; so much so that he entrusted me with teaching a young flutist, son of the late Billy Billy, a great Fula flutist himself. So here I am teaching Fula flute to a Fulani student, an interesting and encouraging turn of events that I receive as confirmation of the correctness of my path.

Guinea is a poor country, but Guinea is a rich country.

Jarama buy!!! (thank you very much) to all my friends and supporters, without you all of this would not have happened. 
Sylvain

On the stage with Lama Sidibe's musicians