The organizers of the annual Festival d’Ile de France held a pre-launch concert last Wednesday at a theater and dance hall in Paris named Le Divan du Monde.
The purpose of the event was to communicate the festival’s ambitious musical program to an appreciative public. And indeed, for the five week period between September 3 and October 10, thirty-three concerts will be held in twenty-nine historic venues located in the Ile-de-France region. Top musicians from different parts of the globe will perform, including Tomatito (flamenco guitar) from Spain, Carl Craig (techno) from the United States, Kan’Nida (drums) from Guadeloupe, Goran Bregovic (trumpet) from Bosnia-Herzegovina…the list goes on and on!
N'Diale
From left to right:
Yannick Jory, saxophone - Jacky Molard, violin
Foune Diarra, vocals - Kassim Sidibé, kamele n'goni
Alhassane Sissoko, djembé - Hélène Labarrière, bass
Not pictured: Janick Martin, accordeon
Photo by Discover Paris!
For the pre-launch party, two different groups appeared on stage, and it is the second group, N’Diale, that I want to mention today. N’Diale was formed through the collaboration of a Breton group called the Jacky Morland Quartet, and a Malian group called the Foune Diarra Trio. The music that they play is a fusion of the music of two completely different cultures. And, whereas I have always thought of fusion cuisine as being a nondescript mishmash, the fusion music that N’Diale played on Wednesday night was some of the most marvelous that I have ever heard.
The star of the show was Foune Diarra, a lithe and graceful singer and dancer. A video of the two groups on tour together in Benin and Brittany, France can be viewed below. Although the video is in French, non-Francophones who watch it will get a good idea about how effectively these musicians combine their talents to create some fantastic sounds.
N'DIALE Jacky Molard Quartet & Foune Diarra Trio… par innacorrecords
I blogged about three performers that appeared at last year’s festival (Willie Colón, Kahmed, and Baaba Maal), and I look forward to blogging about some of the performers of this year’s festival!
Information (in French) about the festival that was held in 2010 can be found here. I anticipate that the festival organizers will soon be updating the Web site for the 2011 season.
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