OkayAfrica,
Interview
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Okayafrica contributor, Semper Azeez-Harris interviews Aja Salvatore, the founder of the independent Malian label, Kanaga System Krush (KSK). Last week KSK released Dambe Foli by Sibiri Samaké (bottom center in the photo above). The album features traditional Mande/Bamana Hunters’ music that many would consider ‘world music,’ but Aja tells us why we should rethink such labeling. He also explains how Hunter S. Thompson inspired his fair-trade music label, and hips us to his new documentary Music in Mali: Life is Hard, Music is Good.
Semper Azeez-Harris for Okayafrica: Aja before we get to that rather powerful album we want to get an essence of you. Where are you from and what has inspired your journey into music?
Aja Salvatore: I was born in a small town in Northern California. My mother studied Congolese dance from before I was born and my father played kit, congas and timbales. Every year, a week long series of Congolese Drum and Dance workshops called Congo Camp would take place and I had the opportunity to watch Master Drummers and Dancers from a young age. I moved to Connecticut with my mom and my brother at the age of 6. I grew up going to the boys club every day, where Run D.M.C., K.R.S. One, and LL Cool J would blast on the radio while we shot pool and played basketball.
OKA: And how did this affinity with Mali develop?
AS: After beating a court case at 19, I decided I needed a change and headed back to the West Coast where I began studying Djembe and guitar. This eventually led to me traveling to Mali with my brother to study music. The music scene in Bamako was mind blowing and I just kept going back every winter. On my second trip, what started off as a project to record an album for my long-time mentor and teacher Abdoul Doumbia, was turning into a concept for a label.
OKA: Your label is run from a fair-trade perspective please explain why you decided to go for that route and indeed how does that work?
AS: The counter culture writer, Hunter S. Thompson, has a great quote about the music business that I found to be a pretty accurate assessment. He says, “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”As a musician myself, I just didn’t feel right about going the standard route. When I started I was trying to help the musicians and do what I could to preserve the music. I wanted to give them some hope that their hard work would pay off and that we could work together to find global audiences for their music.
OKA: Is the term “world music” a positive or negative phrase and indeed where do you see world music in the next few years?
AS: Labeling music can always affect it in terms of the way “labels” are manipulated by the industry to qualify and box everything in order to fulfill capitalist formulas and serve business interests. That being said, sometimes you gotta work with what you got and that’s what they call music that happens outside of America. In a new era where someone like Rihanna, Beyoncé, Shakira or Jay-Z are copping millions of spins in places like Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, Dakar and the music is being fused into the local styles you have to be kind of oblivious not to rethink what the hell “world music” means.
OKA: Sibiri Samaké (pictured above) creates music that is steeped in tradition. Is there room in a commercial market for that type of music and why?
AS: I didn’t put out the record thinking it would make the Billboard 100. I put out the record because it’s real ass music from a culture that has stood the test of time for a lot longer than our own. It’s the kind of album musicians and beat junkies can dig. You feel me?
OKA: “If the blues’ origin can be traced to West Africa then this album puts listeners squarely at the doorstep of one of modern music’s cornerstones.” Please explain what you meant by this in terms of Sibiri’s latest release through the label?
AS: It’s no secret that a huge percentage of African Americans are the descendants of West Africans, and a large portion of the West Africans who came to America were from the Manding Empire and its sub tribes and neighboring ethnic groups. While Blues may be the result of the African experience in America, these same ethnic groups have used elements that make up the Blues such as mournful singing and pentatonic scales for thousands of years.
OKA: What was it that enticed you to release Sibiri’s album, Dambe Foli on your label?
AS: Me and my brother Eo (who has been a huge part of everything I’ve done in Africa) are huge fans of Donso Music. When you see it in its regular context at a ceremony where hunters are blowing off their guns and animals are being sacrificed, it’s some really raw shit– I thought it deserved to be shared with as many people as possible. Plus I put it up there with the ill-est bass playing I’ve heard.
OKA: Is the language barrier restrictive to this type of music?
AS: It can be if you only like to listen to music in your own language. Otherwise you could read the liner notes to get an idea of what the individual songs mean, why the music is played, who Sibiri is and then listen to the album and try to move past the language barrier. That way you might realize some things sound less poetic in English, and learn about something new and old at the same time.
OKA: What is in the pipeline for Kanga System Krush in terms of releases?
AS: We have an album of an incredible Sogonikun Djembe Troupe from the Wassoulou region of Mali, an album from Malian singer Tiekoro Sissoko backed by acoustic guitar, Kora and Djeli N’goni, and an album of a Qawwali Party that features Master of the Punjabi, Tabla Dildar Hussain and his sons. All those are coming out over the next four months
OKA: Tell us a bit about the documentary you are currently working on (Aja in ‘director mode’ above).
AS: The documentary is called Music in Mali: Life is Hard, Music is Good and it’s about the music, life and culture of Mali. The film features over thirty legendary and up and coming artists performing all kinds of styles in a variety of settings. The main focus is the musical performances but it touches on a bunch of themes. You will see some poverty in the background but it ain’t no fucking aids, refugee, civil war, child soldier, starvation, helpless African Documentary. Instead it showcases what Africa has to teach the rest of the world right now. 11/02/11
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