Super Onze – Session pour Yehia Le Marabout. Gao, northern Mali ’94
AVAILABLE MAY 20TH 2013
Untill this day the west had only access to Super 11′s first official release Super Onze (Two Speakers 2011). The album feature tracks which have themes used by the musicians of Super 11 during different occasions; at home, at parties and for public gatherings. The people in West Africa are very aquinted to these themes. But not from this album, they actually witnessed Super 11 at public events, saw them on televison or heard the tunes at sessions done for radio broadcasts but also heard several tape releases. These tape releases are very difficult to find at the moment as the CD and mobile phones put aside the casette medium. The CD market dropped intensely so no more Super 11 recordings are available anymore. We at Two Speakers are proud to publish one of these tapes worldwide as it shows the true live vibe of a takamba session that never fatigues and can take for hours.
Session pour Yehia Le Marabout was recorded in ’94. It was an assignment done by Yehia, a famous marabout based in Gao who gave Super 11 several assignments. His last name we do not know alas and he died recently. The takes have no names. They are nothing but grand improvisations done for the marabout. What is so nice about this session that the accompagnment isn’t done only by calabash, but also with an iron pot. It gives the Takamba an extra metal buzz which ads perfectly to the sound of the vocalists exclamations. And when the tune evolves, the iron comes in and makes the takamba haunting more and more.
The main n’goni player on this tape is Super 11′s main man Yehia Mballa Samake. He is accompagnied by Le Petit Griot, another grand ngoni player who was part of Super 11. He died last year, shortly after the power siege of the narco terrorists in Gao. The calabash is played Mohamed Kara, also member of Super 11, and resident in Gao. We at Two Speakers met him once in 2008 when we visited Gao. The vocals are by Douma Maiga. He was a former member of Super 11 and died alas.
Nice to mention about the physical source tape, it was bought by the late Ali Farka Touré and his wife, Henriette Kuypers Touré. When on visit in Bamako and having some spare time they would venture to the home cassette factory of Samba Afro Cissé, a famous tape vendor who’s family operated several cassetteshops in Bamako and Mopti. He was the man to visit when in need of good source tapes in those days in Mali. We owe Henriette Toure Kuypers a lot for making a copy of this very tape.
This tape shows the true vibe of Super 11 at street in their hometown, including the hiss and maigre sound quality which belongs to this sound.
It’s the first official release worldwide that will actual be directly beneficial to themselves as they never earned anything directly from side sales of their recordings.
Buy here: Bandcamp
