Said Kasule of Percussion Discussion Africa group

The evening of March 12 at Maison Francaise auditorium in Nairobi could well have been described as the time of the talking instruments. It was here that the fiddle, flute, shakers, jembes and talking drums engaged in a lively discussion with the saxophone, acoustic drums, xylophone and bass guitar in a lively interaction to the delight of Nairobi music lovers. Instruments filled the auditorium, reverberating with delightful tunes.

Led by Herman Sewanyana popularly known as "mwana we'nsenene" (son of the locust), the group served music lovers a unique fusion of traditional Ugandan tunes. Sewanyana said, "We use instruments to enable people appreciate us more otherwise we are a purely percussion group. We use instruments to discuss issues. That is why you find large portions of our performance being percussive.” The group was on an East African tour sponsored by the Alliance Francaise of Kampala. From Nairobi they went to Lilongwe (Malawi), Kigali (Rwanda), and Bujumbura (Burundi). While in Nairobi, they had also been slated to hold a seminar with Kenyan groups as part of the Maboumboum Kenya arts festival but the event failed to take off due to what was termed as poor coordination.

If the group proved anything, it was that African artistes must develop an identity and stop aping their Western counterparts

"I founded Percussion Discussion Africa in 1997 in an attempt to develop an East African identity and avoid being asked all the time whether we come from Congo," Sewanyana explained how his group came to be. "I bought traditional instruments--harp, traditional drums, -- and mixed them with a few modern ones--acoustic drums, saxophone, bass guitar-- to curve a niche for Percussion Discussion.

Sewanyana and Musoke field questions in Nairobi

So far the group has recorded two albums on CD. Omubala, with 12 tracks, features songs on Luganda, Rutoro, Runyoro, Lukonjo, Teso, and English. One of the songs off this album, Twabalamusa (we greet you, or the king greets you), was ranked first on the African charts on the internet for close to a year. And it was not difficult to tell why when the group performed it in Nairobi.

It was the highlight of the evening as it possessed performers, the instrumentation blending with vocals as if they were one, transporting music lovers to a new level of ecstasy. "This song was used in the palace by the king to welcome guests to the royal court," Sewanyana said. The second album, Mulamu (in-law), is in Luganda and English. Far and Wide Music company distributes the music of Percussion Discussion in Britain where the group will hold a series of concerts in April.

Percussion Discussion Africa in their element

The band comprises lead vocalist Mike Musoke, saxophonist Said Kasule, xylophonist and long drum player Herbert Kinobe, bass guitarist Robert Kajuba, harpist Wilfred Okello, acoustic drummer Denson Kirunda and Sewanyana on traditional drums. Other members are dancer/vocalists Hasifah Namale, Harriet Nalumansi, and Sarah Zawedi. Their music was well received in Lebanon.

Percussion Discussion Africa is based at the National Theatre of Uganda although they perform at Club Obligato on Wednesdays and Sabrina Park on Thursday. What is not debatable is that the dancer/vocalist girls must get more flexible much like their ndombolo sisters if they have to pull crowds and keep them captive.

Percussion Discussion Africa may be good in instrumentation but they have a long way to go with choreography if they wish to excel in African music. Swaying from side to side just won’t do for Africans famous for rhythmical and highly danceable tunes like those of the Luo Benga or Congolese Rhumba. As they approached the end, the group put on their best dancing shoes, girded their loins and surrendered themselves to the power of music. The instrumentation blended seamlessly with the vocals and body movement as they belted out Twabalamusa (We greet you, or the king greets you), a song used in ancient Buganda Kingdom by the King to welcome guests.

A scene in Le prix du pardon

Sewanyana feels African artistes who perform American hip hop will not go far. "The only way to develop music for the world market is to fuse it. We East Africans have an identity problem that our West and South African brothers don't have," he said in an interview. "Africans must go back to their roots if they have to develop music the world will pay attention to. We can't make any headway by aping Americans."

Could this apply to Paris-based Senegalese musician Abdul Wasis Diop whose soundtrack on compatriot Mansour Sora Wade's Le prix du pardon feature (The price of forgiveness) earned him Best musical score at the 18th FESPACO in February.

Created by Diop and Loy Ehrlich, Youssou N'Dour also participated on the project. The price of forgiveness is a 90-minute feature set in a West African Atlantic Ocean fishing village where Mbanik and Yotma, two friends since childhood, are pitted against each other over the same woman, Maxoye. The pursuit of Maxoye becomes their driving force, setting in motion strong forces of jealousy, intrigue, and wickedness as Mbanik challenges the gods. He becomes a village celebrity before the spirits appear on his doorstep seeking revenge. The soundtrack of Diop enhances the mood, ambience and plot in this village of fear and superstition.

A guitarist and composer, Diop is credited with having been one of the pioneers of 'Afro World Music'. Perhaps what Sewanyana is in love with. Though singing in Wolof, French and English, Diop creates mythical and rhythmical melodies that keep the head of the listener bobbing, feet tapping, and body swaying long after it is over.

Wasis Diop

His 1995 album, No Sant, made the UK Top 40 charts. He was in Kenya in March 2000 promoting Toxu, the album he has dedicated to Nelson Mandela and Leopold Senghor. During his performance at Carnivore and Maison Francaise in 2000, Diop said, "Africans must adopt styles of the world to appeal to the market. They cannot survive in an island. But whatever style you choose, this does not mean you have abandoned your roots."

He added that he was one of the African musicians getting away from folklore though he was at pains to explain himself when asked to classify his music which, he said, revolves around care for the environment and respect for human rights. "It is always a problem to me when asked to categorise my music. I feel the music should be enjoyed by listeners. Sewanyana concurs. "We fuse traditional and contemporary Ugandan music," he said after their three hour performance. Dubbed the King of Congas, Sewanyana’s first musical instruments were traditional drums--nankasa, mpuunyi, namunjoloba and engalabi. He has for more than two decades been recording with Afrigo, Uganda’s leading band. With Percussion Discussion Africa, Sewanyana--working with Musoke-- is salvaging these drums, played by his people for centuries, from obscurity and pushing them onto the world stage and helping revolutionise African music. But this brings to the fore the sore issue of what constitutes authentic 'African' music.

Three years ago (2000), Salif Keita, the sublime singer from Mali, generated criticism of being "too rock" with his Papa album. The recording featured several tracks whose tunes leant more towards rock music. But Keita responded to the accusations, "Rock music is as much African as reggae, so you cannot call my album an American rock album." Hugh Masekela, South Africa's Jazz virtuoso, joined the fray: "We do not have to dilute African music to accommodate Western fans as Keita is doing. We should not look to the West for record sales; what we need to do is to get a Pan-African distribution infrastructure in place and it should be easy to achieve sales of a million and more."

In the 1970s, N`Dour popularised mbalax through the introduction of the local sabar drum in the Senegalese night clubs in his back-to -roots movement. But judging from Joko, his hip hop and R&B album, N`Dour appears not to front for the back-to-roots movement any more. Has he abandoned 'African' styles?

From the cognizant that it is Africa that bequeathed the world R&B, jazz, Blues, Soul, Gospel and Rock 'n' Roll, would there be any justification to criticise Africans who perform these styles as having abandoned African ways? Just what is an 'African' style, and how must one perform to considered an African artiste? Are some of the questions baffling critics. "Why should I have to sound like 'an African'? R&B is my background just as much as traditional Beninois music," Paris-based Beninois singer Angelique Kidjo says. Manu Dibango and Keita are other African music greats who are said to have abandoned 'African' styles for those of the West.

When Mauritian composer, singer and guitarist Eric Triton delivered his highly rhythmic blues in Nairobi two years ago, music lovers at Maison Francaise clapped, ululated, and sang along as he teased and seduced them with his mesmerising guitar skills and soloing in Creole, French and English. "Teach me how to make these people move their bodies and identify with the music," he crooned. Triton's music revolved around social issues like minding the children, caring for the environment and calling for unity among humanity.

The show, which was part of a tour that took him to East, Central and South Africa, was Triton's only show in Nairobi. Triton, a talented musician who not only knows how to play the right chords but also to put the audience at ease, was an established guitarist by the time he was seven years old. He had started by playing rap, reggae and ska in clubs and discotheques before venturing into blues with which he is causing ripples using his captivating rhythm and a rich melodious voice.

Wasis Diop

However, a question that still begs the answer is: Does Triton perform African or Western music? Writing in BBC Focus on Africa magazine, Lucy Duran, a lecturer on African music at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, says musicians in Africa are going in a myriad directions this century. "Crossover into a global market is only one. Back-to-roots, fusion with different traditions, revival of 60s and 70s sounds such as Afrobeat or African salsa, and the creation of new acoustic forms, such as Wassoulou music from Mali, are many other trends," she writes.

She argues that there are many offshoots from the second and third generation of African immigrants living abroad, who bring their own bi-cultural experience into their music. She gives the Congolese hip hop group, Bisso na Bisso, as an example. Their rumba is pop-styled. But is it any less African? During the all African KORA Awards in 1999, this Paris-based group won an award. And so did South Africa's lady of music, Brenda Fassie, who emerged the overall winner although performing in Zulu. There is no mistaking South African music: it is heavily influenced by Mbaqanga and Kwela.

The likes of Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Lucky Dube, Rebecca Malope and Fassie, although using modern styles, ensure their music is flavoured by either Kwela or mbaqanga. True, their music is undergoing evolution. But it is not losing its identity. Malope's gospel and Dube's reggae are uniquely South African although with a universal appeal. When African musicians like Kidjo perform R&B, they are simply going back to Africa's roots. Urbanative artistes Gidi Gidi-Maji Maji of Kenya could easily be accused of abandoning 'African' styles. But then, would such criticism be well founded bearing in mind that these artistes have grown up on rap and hip hop which they now perform in vernacular and ShEng (mixture of English, Kiswahili and vernacular)?

What African styles do they know having been brought up listening to what now passes for Western genres although with African roots?

Gidi Gidi-Maji Maji

Diop performs in Wolof, French and English. His album, Toxu (The Renaissance), is rated as leading "world music" by Billboard magazine. Diop arrived in Paris in 1970s aged only 20.Together with an elder brother, they founded West African Cosmos which went on to popularise "Afro World Music." Having performed in Western Europe, North America, the Caribbean and Asia, Diop says this experience has influenced his music style by fusing his African rhythms, luxuriant Griot voices and pop. "But does this make my music any less African?" he poses.

Back to Top