For centuries, griots have played a crucial role in West African society. These troubadours, who each descend from a long line of previous griots, are tasked with keeping their tribal and family histories alive via oral tradition, accompanying their sung or spoken narratives on a musical instrument. One of the most well-traveled and revered griots is Malian singer-songwriter Habib Koite, who led the band Bamada (which featured his fellow Malian icon Toumani Diabate), has toured the world and collaborated with Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt. Koite will perform at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock on November 23 at 8pm. Tickets are $35 and $45. The singer and guitarist answered the questions below by email.
—Peter Aaron
You come from a family of griots, although you hadn’t planned to become a griot yourself (Koite initially studied engineering). What was it that made you want to continue the tradition?
Not everyone is a griot; you are born with a surname that generates the fact that you are a griot. Whether you practice or not, you are a griot. The very first griot [song] we sang was called “Koite,” like my family name. The other griots sang our praises. And we were called the noble griots. All this to say that I was born a griot, my father was a griot, my mother sang and I accompanied her; I saw her sing, her friends and relations gave her money when she sang the praises of the family. My father played guitar, accordion, and banjo. He was a miller on the Mali railroads. When he wasn’t working, he’d get together with musician friends to rehearse and jam. All my older brothers [Koite has 17 siblings] play a bit of guitar, and I play guitar and a bit of flute. I’m a musician first, and then I’m a griot. The griot tradition still exists. Here in Mali, there’s no wedding, no christening, no death without a griot. You always need the griot. It’s the griot who speaks for the person concerned. It’s a way of moving things around. Marriage is even more complex: Without a griot, it won’t happen. It’s the griot who knows what has to be done until the marriage takes place. At death, it’s the griot who can speak, because at that moment, people are sad. He’s the one who can speak. And he knows how to speak to the audience without getting too emotional.
Which Western artists did you hear while growing up in Mali?
In the ’70s, when I was starting to listen to a lot of foreign music, we listened to rock from the UK, rock from the USA, and rhythm and blues music from the US. As I’m interested in the guitar, I was very interested in rock guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Marc Knopfler, Joe Satriani…there are lots of others. And the singers: James Brown, who had a big impact on us, Clarence Carter, Otis Redding, all their songs had a big impact in Mali and probably in Africa. And then, UK bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Genesis. What also struck me was that this was music that was already well produced, with good professional mixing experience live or in the studio. If you compare it to what we were doing in Africa at the same time, we weren’t at that level of mixing.
The political situation has been tense in Mali recently (the civil war that began there in 2012 is ongoing). How is life there now? Are you able to tour in Mali?
The political situation in Mali is, of course, tense for those in the know. They know it’s difficult because we’re looking for a certain pride or superiority that has long been scorned. There are still things to be adjusted, to be settled. But the Malian people remain hopeful and have confidence in our leaders, for the task ahead is immense. First of all, there needs to be a change of mentality in terms of new ways of leading, new behaviors. Some festivals have been cancelled or no longer exist. The biggest, the Festival in the Desert, took place for the last time in 2012. We were there, and there was a lot of security, armed forces. We won’t be going there anymore. One musician left [Mali’s capital city] Bamako to play in the north and was kidnapped a few months ago, then finally released. But there are still big musical events in Bamako along the river, like Bama Art. Concerts are gradually coming back.
There’s been a wave of interest in African artists in America lately. Does it feel to you like Western and African music are becoming more closely intertwined than when you began touring abroad?
There are evolutions, it’s inescapable in a world that moves at 100kmh—this mixture through travel and the internet. I think it mostly started with African artists living in the West and at some point, their music took on a certain color, quite naturally, because there were Western musicians in the group. There were also Western musicians who liked African music, who liked to play on this music or with these African artists. For my part, I did a whole album in Bamako with the American bluesman Eric Bibb, I went on stage with Jackson Browne, in Edmonton, I think. There are many African artists who have settled in the West and who play with Western musicians or with mixed groups of Western musicians and others from their own country, from Africa. It’s an unstoppable force of understanding.
What do you hope that the audience gets from attending your concerts and hearing your music?
I’m not looking to dazzle anyone, I’m not easy on myself, because I’m searching a lot. Maybe I’m not smart, because what I’m looking for—maybe others can find it more easily with the snap of a finger. I search a lot to make a piece and when I manage to put it on a record, which I let my fans discover, I know that there are people who will buy the record with their eyes closed; they take it as a souvenir, in addition to the concerts they’ve enjoyed all these years.
This article appears in November 2024.
