Sounds Dark All Night Radio American
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When I saw this title, I was afraid and I’m still afraid with regards to my opinion regarding the subject. The subject is complex and difficult so I can not resolve it overnight. I am an African. I do things the African way. I cannot write regarding African American music like a Western scholar. In my culture we live the past and the future in the present. When I listen to numerous African American music I may feel the past, the present and the future all at the same time. Now, the best way for me to handle this subject is to work by questions and answers. [Question] Yaya! Who do you think you are? Yaya Diallo – I don’t think! I am Farafin, which means I am a dark skin man. The word Africa is the Arabic name for our continent. In Bambara we call the so-called “Africa” Farafina. Farafina means the land of dark skin people. I am from Farafina and I am proud of it. I don’t want to be somebody else. People in general say African American. I would say American Farafin, which means dark skin humane being who lives in America. [Question] What is your African background? Yaya Diallo – I come from far away. I was born in 1946 in Fienso (French Sudan), now Mali. My parents were nomadic. When I was very young I employed to travel a lot. I grew up in the bush far from any western civilization. The music that I heard was very conventional and played live. I did not have a radio or TV. I had the chance to listen to the music of the dissimilar ethnic groups from the Ivory Coast, Burkina and Ghana. In some villages I heard Muslim songs coming from the mosques. By night, I would take pleasure in the frog symphonic orchestras. From 1946 to 1960 I was living in finish nature. My musical training is a long story but you may learn more from my book The Healing Drum. [Question] What are your sensations with regards to the civilized world? Yaya Diallo – In the city I had strange feelings. I saw humans listen to music through what I thought was two kinds of boxes. The basi was a radio. You could change the singer with the tuning button, I thought. The second necessitated records. It read 78, 45 and 33 1/2. You had to adjust everything with something but I did not have a clue as to what. Even still, the only music that I heard was the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Johnny Holliday. [Question] What do you think in regards to the word African American? Yaya Diallo – Dark skin persons living in America are not dissimilar from humans I met in Africa (Farafina). To me they are just dissimilar ethnic groups like the Yoruba, the Bantou, the Zoulou or the Touareg. Africa is not one culture. We have thousands and thousands of languages and dissimilar music. My wife is an African American from Louisville, KY. Her mother is from Dark Corner, MS and her father from Jackson, TN. Like my wife and family there was one African American man, James Brown, who saved my life with his music. [Question] How may an African American man save the life of a established African? Yaya Diallo – In 1967 I left my country to go to Montreal, Canada. On my way, in Paris, I saw a big picture of James Brown in the Olympia Theater. In my mind I thought, “Oh! A black man in Olympia in Paris, France.” In Montreal I was looking for a place to dance or listen to the music that I loved. One day I found a radio station that played black music. I heard James Brown and felt at home. [Question] What do you think when it comes to African American music? Yaya Diallo – I always say that I don’t think, I feel. When we talk with regards to African American music we talk in regards to Spirituals, Blues, Funk, Jazz, Gospel, Rap, dance music, etc. I want to talk on each one by one. When persons in Canada were dancing the twist, jerk and go-go, in my country a French man named Johnny Holliday was playing bad versions of Wilson Pickett and Ray Charles’ music in French. In America I found out this French man was a robber. He stole the music, sang it in French and looked like a talent for us Africans. [Question] What did you feel when you started to dance? Yaya Diallo – I applied to go out to dance to Wilson Pickett, James Brown, and Sly and the Family Stone’s music. For me they were Africans. They had good beats, good sensations and most important, African Soul. I did not feel that from Chinese or European music. In the 70s I came across the Funk music, The O’Jays, Parliament, Ohio Players, Kool and the Gang and JR Walker and the All Stars. I felt I was at home when I knew the Motown Family (Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations and Stevie Wonder). I could survive because I had those kinds of musicians. [Question] In terms of music, what is the link amongst African and African Americans? Yaya Diallo – African Americans are Africans from the village and sadly they just don’t know it! When you listen to the music you may find out. Kool and The Gang played Funky Stuff. When you listen to the drum part you will get the Dounouba share of the dance Sounou. Sounou was played in the 15th century and today is the dance young people love. In Africa we learn the past in the present and instruct it to the next generation. The African Americans now and then do not recognise how African they are. [Question] Why may you say that they are African? Yaya Diallo – The primary time I heard the Four Tops I thought I was listening to the Bambara Farmers in the evening after a hard working day. The Temptations reminded me of the men Fire dancers and singers. I may listen to Temptations but I am frighted to see them. I am not initiated to the Fire dance and the music brings out memories when it comes to the mystery ceremonies that happened afar in the village. Aretha Franklin is for me a outstanding Djeli-mousso coming from the Empire of Mali in the 13th century. When I listen to African American music I don’t worry regarding the meaning, only what I feel. [Question] What do you think regarding Jazz? Yaya Diallo – Really, to tell the truth, I don’t feel jazz. Many persons coming from Africa feel the same way. I learned when it comes to jazz in 1980 when I recorded my basi album, Nangape, on Onzou Records. That opened the door for me with jazz. Jazz magazines like Cadence and Down Beat wrote articles on me like I was a “jazz man.” I was invited to do workshops at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY. I met jazz big names like Art Blakey. He said, “Yaya is the only African that I may jazz, that I may play with and be comfortable.” I finished a trio with Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell in the Symphony Space in New York. [Question] What in regards to Gospel? Yaya Diallo – To me gospel means religion or church but my father-in-law changed my mind. When going to church with him I saw a big band and a big choir. People were singing and I forgot that I was in church. I was surprised; I saw ladies in a trance like in my village but they called it shouting. This reminded me of the Mania Secret Society where only woman go into a trance when praising god (See The Healing Drum). [Question] What is rap? Yaya Diallo – I love rap! I use to lie when it comes to buying rap and say that it was for my children. Rap is the old tradition of the Fulani persons in Mali. It tells life stories through poetry that is recited quickly. Nomadic humans have to explain their each and everyday traveling through this same quick form, but without the foul language. Today, the young people think that they have reinvented the wheel. [Question] Yaya, what is faulty with African American music today? Yaya Diallo – Today everything is easy. Instead of buying a drum set you buy a drum machine. Computers do everything. You may get closely each sound by pressing a button. This is the type of world that we live in today. The young Africans love it like we used to love James Brown. Time is the only thing that has changed! [Question] How did African American music change American Society? Yaya Diallo – We changed everything! We changed the style of dance; we formulated new sounds, new styles, and new way to dress … EVERYTHING! Country music is the white version of the Blues. Rock-n-roll comes from our music. People forget that Jimmie Hendricks was a Blues player that just changed his sound and look. Without James Brown, Sly and Family Stone and the Motown Family there would be no Madonna, no Celiene Dion, no techno, and no disco. African Americans brought this to the world. It is sad because people do not recognize it. We changed the world and it will never be the same again. [Question] How do people know you in America? Yaya Diallo – I am the author of two books, The Healing Drum and At the Threshold of the African Soul. I have four CDs, Nanagape, The Healing Drum, Dombaa Folee, and Dounoukan. I thank Onzou Records, the introductory company that trusted me to make my basi album in 1980. That was not easy! |
