WOMAD

Djelimady Tounkara

From Mali

It’d be like Keith Richards showing up for work every day at the Paddington Station branch of Yo! Sushi to play marathon sets to peckish commuters. That was the position of Djelimady Tounkara who, as leader of Mali’s Super Rail Band, oversaw the band’s now-legendary performances at the Buffet Hotel serving Bamako’s main railway station. But needs sometimes must. While Keef now fills the days falling out of palm trees, even the greatest African musicians have to rely on these regular gigs to keep the wolf from the compound. Having welcomed the full Super Rail Band to Rivermead three years back, this time we shift the spotlight solely onto Djelimady, one of the most golden guitarists Africa has ever produced. The subject of Banning Eyre’s splendidly evocative book In Griot Time, the big man is charged with upholding many of the musical traditions of this part of West Africa. Through his fingers, ancient Manding music is faithfully transmitted onto the strings of an electric guitar. The delicacy of these melodies isn’t hardened one bit by the man’s imposing stature – anyone who’s within earshot of these sinewy, fluid guitar lines drifts off to a landscape of red dust roads and seventh-hand Peugeots. In a country of musical titans, Djelimady is arguably the most titanic of all. In A Few Words… West Africa’s greatest guitar hero