Swallow Hill: Denver's Home for Folk, Roots and Acoustic Music

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Best of Denver
2008!

Jayme Stone and Masa Sissoko bring African American folk and roots to the Swallow Hill stage

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Contact: Rodolfo Betancourt
rudy@swallowhillmusic.org
Laura McGaughey
laura@swallowhillmusic.org
303.765.2488

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DENVER, COLO. (9/18/08) -- Swallow Hill is thrilled to welcome back Juno Award winner Jayme Stone with Malian collaborator Mansa Sissoko, who bring their critically acclaimed project, Africa to Appalachia, to their performance on the Daniels Hall stage on Friday, October 17 at 8 p.m.

While on his musical mecca to Africa, Jayme Stone immersed himself in the high-spirited soundscapes and the daily life and lore of Africa. Stone came home with was knowledge of two banjo ancestors never revealed before in the West, aspects of African music that eluded its American counterparts and musical friendships that reached across continents.

Though he began searching for the banjo's surviving ancestors, the Canadian virtuoso became curious about what aspects of African music did not make it across the ocean with slavery. "The culture of slavery in North America, which nobody likes to talk about, was clearly not the best context for an authentic and meaningful cultural transmission of music," Stone explains. "I wanted to find out how music is made on their turf."

The latest benchmark of this journey is Africa to Appalachia (released by www.jaymestone.com), a collaborative album with Mansa Sissoko, a griot singer and master-player of the kora (a 21-string African harp), a project that was a long time in the making. An auspicious four years before setting foot on Malian soil, Stone met Sissoko.

"Not knowing how well-loved Ali Farka Toure was over there, I jokingly said I only knew one song from Mali," remembers Stone, "and I started to play 'Allah Uya,' which I had learned from Toure's Niafunke album. Sissoko lit up and immediately started singing along. Ali Farka Toure is like Bob Dylan over there and everyone knows his songs by heart. In Mali when I'd meet kids on the street corner, I'd play it. It became the ultimate icebreaker." Now the song can be heard on Africa to Appalachia.

Stone realized that Sissoko was a walking encyclopedia of Malian songs, many of them learned from his mother, a griot singer from the town of Baleya. "The griot is someone who is there to play the role of blood in the society, for the society to live," says Sissoko. "He gives life to the society, musically, using carefully chosen words."

Stone also spent time with Mali's premiere ngoni pioneer, Bassekou Kouyate, learning court music that dates back to the 12th century. One such song, "Bamaneyake," sings the praises of N’dji Diarra, the once-king of Bambougo who ordered a canal to be dug from the Niger River to his village because his wife wanted to see hippos in her home town. In keeping with tradition, Sissoko chants the lineage of the king, the king's father and his grandfather.

"There are all kind of things that never got imparted to the Americas," says Stone. "Like these perpetual polyrhythms and supersonic melodies. There are hints of it in old-time music, but things got repurposed, recycled into English ballads, Irish fiddle tunes and African-American blues. Malian music is very inviting and you can jam along quite easily, as many people have. But once you start digging deeper and learning things note-for-note, you realize there is so much more going on."

Produced by David Travers-Smith (Wailin' Jennys), Africa to Appalachia features guest appearances by bluegrass fiddle ace Casey Driessen, celebrated ngoni master Bassekou Kouyate and haunting vocals by Toronto's "Snow Griot" Katenen 'Cheka' Dioubate. Stone and Sissoko blur the lines of time and location on the album as Africa and America come closer together with the banjo being the bridge. The unshackled American banjo has gone back to Africa and returned with many stories left to tell.

For tickets visit www.swallowhillmusic.org or call (303) 777-1003 x2. Discounts are available for Swallow Hill members. Buy in advance and save! This press release is also available online at http://www.swallowhillmusic.org/newsroom/newsmain.htm and also as a RSS Feed at http://www.swallowhillmusic.org/xml/newsroom/rss/SwallowHillNews.xml.

About Swallow Hill Music Association
Helping people make and enjoy music since 1979, Swallow Hill Music Association is one of the largest nonprofit institutions of its kind in the United States as a source for folk, roots and acoustic music. With more than 2,300 members, Swallow Hill provides a place to celebrate music that is rarely heard elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain Region. Three concert venues house more than 200 performances a year, featuring some of the world's great artists as well as up-and-coming new talent. Swallow Hill’s Julie Davis School of Music offers classes for every interest, skill level and member of the family. Each year, a faculty of 60 instructors provides training to more than 4,000 students. A Tier II member of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), Swallow Hill has won both the Mayor's and Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts, countless "Best of Denver" awards, has been recognized by the the North American Folk Alliance, and is one of the most sought-after venues by folk and roots performers in the country.

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