![]() ![]() Djibalen’s “Elenbeja” is a dance song encouraging women to shake their butts. Holding it all is her throaty vocals, worrying in melody like a prayer: “They are coming to get me, Adiatta, pray for me.” There is something secretive about it but her ekonting evokes movement. An original song that she wrote about the hard times in her life-the death of her husband, among other things-is a rhythmic story kept low to the ground. It is a sound that is simple, unvarnished, and beautiful.ĭiedhiou’s “Adiatta Ubonketom,” which translates as “Adiatta Pray for Me,” is one of the collection’s easy highlights. Tying them all together is the smooth, clawhammer-like roll of the ekonting strings-equal parts percussive and melodic. They deliver a raw, infectious energy on Ears of the People, not unlike what we may be used to hearing from grassroots folk musicians in the West. There is also Elisa Diedhiou, among the few women known for playing the instrument. Now, a new album from Smithsonian Folkways, Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and The Gambia, not only celebrates the musicality of the ekonting but also spotlights a number of musicians who have kept the instrument’s traditional style alive.Īmong them are 71-year-old Abdoulaye Diallo and masterful player Jeandum Djibalen-the latter was one of the first artists to bring the ekonting onto a professional stage. One of the instruments that is a likely ancestor to the American banjo is the ekonting-a three-stringed gourd lute that is native to the Jola and Casamance people of Senegal and the Gambia. The banjo has long been a central player in American music, understood as an instrument that was brought to-and evolved in-the Americas by enslaved Africans. ![]()
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