PROJECTS
Collaborations with renowned musicians from around the world
FULA BROTHERS
MAMADOU SIDIBE & WALTER STRAUSS
Mamadou Sidibe and Walter Strauss are Fula Brothers – a burst of unbridled creative musicianship and happy-making. This is a high-spirited meeting of veteran performers from West Africa and America, each with a history of innovative collaborations with some of the greats in these cultures. Fula Brothers perform as a duo, as well as a trio with ace drummer-percussionists. They weave West African hunters harp, fingerstyle guitar, drums, vocals, and a bounty of improvisation into an ecstatic groove-based dialogue which the heart - and the feet - cannot resist.
⬙ Mamadou Sidibe
www.MusicMali.com
Master kamale ngoni player, Mamadou Sidibe, is from the Wassoulou Region of Mali, West Africa. Twenty-five years ago, Mamadou played a groundbreaking role in the transformation of this region’s music from its origins in hunters’ sacred melodies – played on six string donso ngoni (hunter’s harps) – to a music of philosophical observations, politics, and daily life. Mamadou was one of the first to expand the instrument’s range with two extra strings, creating the popular kamale ngoni. He has recently enhanced the kamale ngoni even further by devising 10 and 12-stringed instruments.
Mamadou, with artists Coumba Sidibe, Oumou Sangare and Ramata Diakite, spread the new sounds through recordings and performances in Europe, Africa and the United States. Not only is Mamadou an award-winning musician and master of the kamale ngoni, he is accomplished on several other African instruments as well.
“At the center of his music is the same sensibility that you’ll find in Muddy Waters: a sense of music as a tool for the re-creation of everyday life into something special, even magical.” ~ Stylus
MAMAJOWALI
FEATURING JOE CRAVEN, MAMADOU SIDIBE & WALTER STRAUSS
Mamajowali features three veteran musicians – one from Mali, West Africa and two from the United States – that have found common ground in a new and unique sound. Interweaving two continents and three uniquely different musical sensibilities, their cultural and instrumental blend of kamale ngoni (hunter’s harp), six-string guitar, percussion, fiddle, mandolin, and vocals is traditional, innovative, and uncommon – all at the same time. Mamajowali overlays West African and Latin American music with old-time Americana and spirited originals with hoppin’ high energy grooves and tons of improvisational trialogue. A sound you’ve never heard – “Afromericana!”
WATCH
Joe Craven
Award winning creativity educator, former museum curator, actor, festival emcee, Director of RiverTunes Music Camp and Co-Director of Wintergrass Youth Academy, multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven’s love of performing music has put him in many musical genres and alongside many musicians, from Jerry Garcia, Yo-Yo Ma, David Lindley and Jason Marsalis, to fusion banjoist Alison Brown and groups such as The Persuasions, Psychograss and The Horseflies. For 17 years, he was percussionist/ violinist with mandolinist David Grisman. With presenting workshops and lectures in Costa Rica, to thousands of school kids in Scotland, from house concerts to major festivals and from Carnegie Hall to busking at Cannery Row – Joe’s at home and loving every minute.
“Joe Craven is magical” – San Francisco Chronicle
Mamadou Sidibe
Master kamale ngoni player, Mamadou Sidibe, is from the Wassoulou Region of Mali, West Africa. Twenty-five years ago, Mamadou played a groundbreaking role in the transformation of this region’s music from its origins in hunters’ sacred melodies – played on six string donso ngoni (hunter’s harps) – to a music of philosophical observations, politics, and daily life. Mamadou was one of the first to expand the instrument’s range with two extra strings, creating the popular kamale ngoni. He has recently enhanced the kamale ngoni even further by devising 10 and 12-stringed instruments.
Mamadou, with artists Coumba Sidibe, Oumou Sangare and Ramata Diakite, spread the new sounds through recordings and performances in Europe, Africa and the United States. Not only is Mamadou an award-winning musician and master of the kamale ngoni, he is accomplished on several other African instruments as well.
“At the center of his music is the same sensibility that you’ll find in Muddy Waters: a sense of music as a tool for the re-creation of everyday life into something special, even magical.” – Stylus
Walter Strauss
Guitarist Walter Strauss is known for his textured and syncopated playing, and for his international collaborations. A composer and songwriter in diverse genres, he also translates music from other global instruments to the guitar, resulting in mind-bending guitar renditions of the music of the West African kora that legendary kora player Toumani Diabate calls “inspirational”.
In addition to touring solo in the US and UK, Walter has collaborated with wide-ranging talents, including duos with Malian kora greats Grammy-winner Mamadou Diabate and Sidiki Diabate, working in Havana with Cuban violinist Tanmy Lopez Moreno and in Scotland with fiddler Jonny Hardie. He has performed at venues as diverse as the Celtic Connections Festival in Scotland, Lincoln Center in Washington DC, and Le Diplomat in Bamako, Mali.
“A many-layered, multi-textured, one-man folk festival.” – Maverick Magazine (UK)
FULAMUSE
FEATURING MAMUSE & FULA BROTHERS
FulaMuse is a double dose of heart poured over rhythms to uplift the body and soul - a special collaboration of two bands who nourish and rouse the collective spirit. MaMuse invokes a musical presence that inspires the opening of the heart. Fula Brothers create an ecstatic groove-based dialogue which the heart – and the feet – cannot resist. There is collaborative magic in the diversity of these bands and their shared love to buoy the spirit. Songbird singers, West African hunters harp, fingerstyle guitar, drums, vocals, bass, ukulele - all part of the bounty. Boatloads of improvisation, a full heart, and always an ecstatic community of dancers.
⬙ MaMuse
www.MaMuse.org
(“Ma” as in Mamma; “Muse” as in the one who inspires) With deep roots in the folk and gospel traditions, and their hearts in the present, MaMuse (Sarah Nutting and Karisha Longaker) create uplifting music for the next seven generations to thrive on. Interweaving brilliant and haunting harmony with lyrics born of honed emotional intelligence, MaMuse invokes a musical presence that inspires the opening of the heart. Playing a family of varied acoustic instruments including upright bass, guitar, mandolins, ukulele, and flutes, these two powerful women embody a love for all of life. The synergy that is created through this musical connection is palpable and truly moving to witness. With nine delicious years of co-creation and five full-length albums under their belts, MaMuse keep their hearts tuned to the creation of music for the health of all beings.
⬙ Fula Brothers
www.FulaBrothers.com
Fula Brothers are a burst of unbridled creative musicianship and happy making. A high spirited meeting of veteran performers from West Africa and America, each with a history of innovation and collaboration with some of the beloved musicians of these cultures. Together, Mamadou Sidibe and Walter Strauss, with guest appearances by top drummers, weave West African hunters harp, fingerstyle guitar, drums, vocals, and a bounty of improvisation into an ecstatic groove based dialogue which the heart - and the feet - cannot resist.
OTHER PROJECTS
⬙ Sidiki Diabate and Walter Strauss
At the core of this cross-cultural collaboration are three hot days spent in a bustling family courtyard in Bamako, Mali. When Walter travelled to the African nation in 2012, the great kora player Toumani Diabate proposed Walter form a duo with his son Sidiki Diabate, a 20 year old kora prodigy and the 72nd generation in a family lineage of storyteller musicians. Sidiki is a star in Africa, who has taken the tradition and branched out into bright Afro-pop music and electronic production. Walter brings a whole new sonic dimension to the fingerstyle guitar, with his multi-layered and richly textured playing. The music is borne of both sides of the Atlantic, a dialogue in the only language these two far-flung musicians share.
⬙ Mamadou Diabate and Walter Strauss
Walter began collaborating with West African musicians in the early 2000’s, when he and Grammy-winning Malian kora virtuoso Mamadou Diabate ventured on a cross-cultural collaboration that resulted in several groundbreaking duo tours.
⬙ MaMuse
www.MaMuse.org
Walter has toured periodically with west coast favorites MaMuse, two songbird singers/instrumentalists who have found their way straight into hearts wherever they roam. He also produced their 2018 release “Prayers for Freedom”.
⬙ Re-Evolution: The Cuban Dream
In early 2020, Walter traveled to Cuba to collaborate with Cuban musicians on the soundtrack he produced for Re-Evolution: The Cuban Dream, a 4 part PBS / APT series on contemporary Cuba. In Havana, he worked closely with acclaimed songwriter and violinist Tanmy Lopez Moreno, as well as with other great Cuban musicians.
WATCH
