From Africa to the World, Yaya Diallo Unleashes His Music

Yaya Diallo, musician, author and "Healing Drum Tour" guide to Mali, West Africa is a leading custodian of West African music and culture - and a performer that leaves his audience laughing to his stories and dancing to his music.

From Africa to the World, Yaya Diallo Unleashes His Music

By MuzikMan, MusicDish.com

Yaya Diallo is a master drummer. A native of Mali, West Africa, he is

the personification of a country celebrated for its rich musical culture

and diversity. Motivated by his personal experiences in traditional

village life, Yaya expresses his profound knowledge of West African

healing arts in his instrumental album Nangapè, a recording that

focuses on West African drumming, balafon and flute music. I particularly

enjoyed the flute segments, which provided an alluring and rich

atmosphere for the entire session.

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During the interview process, I heard entirely different viewpoints

from Yaya than I would have received from an artist in the U.S., or any

other country for that matter. Initially, I was puzzled by his responses,

then after realizing that he is worlds away immersed in music that is

so prolifically non-mainstream, it seemed only appropriate that he

answered my questions as he did. He knows who he is and had no problem

telling me exactly what he felt. I am sure you will come to know the man and

his music in a way you could have never imagined after listening to his

music and reading the interesting responses he so graciously provided.

He fired back his answers to my questions in a very matter of fact way.

I obviously touched upon some subjects that he had some strong feelings

and opinions about.

Yaya Diallo's albums The Healing Drum, Dounoukan and Dombáa

Folee offers the worldly open-minded listeners ceremonial, ritual and

Minianka medicine music of Mali. Diallo's manager Stephen Conroy commented

that the forthcoming album Live at Club Soda (recorded in performance

with his band Kanza) takes a dramatic shift as Yaya bridges traditional

music with Occidental sounds including saxophone, electric violin, bass

and lead guitars and drum set, as well as voice and traditional African

drums.

His innovative music gives solo voice to all the instruments within an

African rhythmic structure and swings with a sound reminiscent of

1950's rock 'n' roll and blues to a beat driven and spoken to by the

Dounouba and Djembe drums. I have to agree, it is one of the more unique and

original sounds that I have ever heard. It sounds like world-jazz meets

the blues; it is truly an amazing amalgamation of sound and culture.

Following graduation from the University of Montreal and a brief career

as a chemist, Yaya was co-founder of the music and dance groups

Djembe-Kan and Cléba and a member of the African Troubadours with the

World Music Institute as well as a faculty member of the Creative Music

Studio and the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies of New York. He is

currently active with his band Kanza and continues to teach and perform

internationally. Goals include the creation of traditional African

healing centers.

Do you feel your music brings you closer to your higher power? Do you

feel the music breathes the life of your upbringing and culture so other

people can understand who you are?

[Yaya Diallo What do you mean by higher power? I came back to play

music because something was missing in my life. I play because I love it.

I did not do that for fame and I think I am myself now, and that is

enough. When I came back to music, I did not think about culture. People

said that is your African music; that is your culture. I did not know I

was carrying Africa on my back. I did not want to be an ambassador. I

played what I knew."

What is your goal when you create music, what do you hope to accomplish

from a performance?

[Yaya Diallo When I sit down and an idea comes to me, I do not have

expectations. When I was young and I saw people coming from forty

villages every Friday to play for my grandfather who was the canton chief of

Zangasso, I thought one day I will come with my own band to impress my

grandfather and to be part of the celebrations. It did not happen. My

grandfather died and I did not play. It was a kind of frustration.

When I play a performance, I try to be myself. I talk to people; I make

jokes. Sometimes I care too much about the audience. When you play, you

think maybe they will be bored. You come to party and you want the

party to be good, you forget the order of the songs. People do not come to

see my face only. They come to get something. That is my responsibility

to make the party happen. That is why sometimes I care too much. Inside

you say, now what can I do. I cannot sit down and follow one plan. I

can change the order of the songs. You have to find the magic formula for

people. When you play something and people do not react, you have to

change something to find someway to put people in the party.

Do you think World music has received more attention and respect due to

the Internet?

[Yaya Diallo When you use common sense, you say World music is more

popular because of the Internet. For me, Internet or not, it does not

matter. Music is subjective. That is your choice. You do not listen to

World music because you get it free on the Internet. People are not

looking for something they do not know and the fact you give them World music

by Internet does not mean they will listen to it. You will not change

your taste for music because you get it free. When you are a Rastafarian

the first music you look for on the internet is Reggae. Do you think

they look for what is happening in India? When you are punk you are

looking for punk music; you will not look for didgeridoo music. They do not

care about didgeridoo music.

How do you plan to get the word out about your music on a "World"

level?

[Yaya Diallo To be on a World level it is some kind of luck. I know

some people who said, "I don't want to do commercial music. That is too

commercial for me." I found out they cannot do it. To be recognized at

the world level, that is a kind of lottery. You do one song, people love

it, and you get (a kind of) prizes. You can get money quick, you can

get a name quick, and people can forget you quick.

A good example is, "Who Let The Dogs Out." Quick they come and now we

forget about it. Moreover, you come up quick and the faster you fall

down; sometimes it is really painful. One more thing I tell young

musicians, "When some people love your music, be happy. Do not try to get 100%

of human beings to love your music. We have 6 billion people. Are you

ready to get 6 billion people to love you? Even about God, they are

fighting who is right and who is wrong. Do you think you will come and

everyone will love you? Nobody gets 1% of humanity, 60 million you can hear

about but 600 million? ... nobody needs that."

Sometimes people know your music and they do not know you. Everybody

goes dancing to "Feeling Hot Hot Hot, Olay Olay" but ask them who is

singing that and they do not know and they do not care. They come to dance.

They come to party. Your music is more important than you.

I do what I have to do and you cannot control the fame or the money. If

people like it, fine. Who wants to be poor? Nobody. If it was easy, you

could sit down, write one good song right now, go to the bank and

borrow money. If I go to the bank today and I say, "give me $10,000, I'm

writing a song and I'll be a millionaire," do you think they will give you

money? I will be lucky if they do not send me to see the psychiatrist.

Do you feel all of your life experiences are the main motivation behind

the music you create?

[Yaya Diallo No. My motivation in life is to be a good human being, a

good brother, son, husband, father, grandfather, not to give trouble to

people, and music can help me to achieve my goal. Music is only the

tool. Music can help me to reach my goal to get my balance in life.

To be a good human being is to take care of your duties and to assume

your responsibilities as a human being of the planet. You need to

respect yourself, nature, and the life of others and to be tolerant, that is

enough. You have to be humble. The fact that you play good music is not

enough to be God. You do not play music to be a star. You do music for

people, not to be God for people.

When you pay one ticket on a bus and you put your bag on the next seat

and someone asks if they can they sit next to you... What is your

education? You pay for one ticket. You don't know what to do as an adult?

You see the elder coming and you do not move. You educate the children.

What kind of values do you have?

It is obvious to me that there is much more to Yaya Diallo than his

music. He is a very spiritual man that has the gift of music in his heart.

I am so glad he found his path and now shares the beauty of his soul

through his music. I am a better person today for listening to his music

and having the opportunity to understand how he feels about his art and

the world around him.

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