Neba Solo (born 1969) is the stage name of Souleymane Traoré, a musician based in
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
,
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
. Neba Solo plays a kind of
balafon
The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Senoufo and Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now f ...
, a marimba with wooden keys mounted on a wooden frame and attached to resonating chambers made from dried gourds.
Traoré hails from the village of Nebadougou, in the eastern part of the
Sikasso
Sikasso ( Bambara: ߛߌߞߊߛߏ tr. Sikaso) is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Cercle and the Sikasso Region. It is Mali's second largest city with 225,753 residents in the 2009 census.
History
Sikasso was founded ...
region of Mali. His stage name derives from his home town, plus the shortened form of his first name (Souleymane).
He learned to play the balafon from his father, who was also an accomplished musician. He also learned how to make balafons from his father with local materials. He soon began performing with other musicians and formed a group, with himself playing balafon and singing, his younger brother Siaka also playing balafon, and various others from Nebadougou on accompanying percussion instruments. After listening to
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
music as a teenager, Traoré decided to experiment with his balafon's design, adding three extra bass keys to the instrument. In his group's current form, Souleymane plays his specially adapted bass balafon while Siaka plays the upper-register "lead" form of the instrument.
Neba Solo's music began to receive airplay on radio stations throughout his home region of Sikasso from the mid-1990s, particularly after the release of his recording "Hommage à Lamissa Bengaly." In 1996 he released another recording on the Malian market, entitled "Kenedougou Foly," which included highly successful songs such as "Vaccination," "Deli Fara," "Noumou Foly," and "Kenedougou Foly." The songs combined the best of the balafon's danceable rhythms with key innovations including vocal accompaniment and a driving bass line. Lyrics were sung in Traoré's native
Senoufo
The Senufo people, also known as Siena, Senefo, Sene, Senoufo, and Syénambélé, are a West African ethnolinguistic group. They consist of diverse subgroups living in a region spanning the northern Ivory Coast, the southeastern Mali and the wes ...
language as well as in
Bambara, Mali's most widely spoken language.
By 2002 Neba Solo's success had spread across Mali, and his group appeared regularly on nationally televised music shows. They composed and performed a popular anthem "CAN 2002" for the 2002
African Cup of Nations soccer tournament which Mali hosted. In the summer of 2003, they were part of Mali's delegation to the
Smithsonian Folklife Festival, one of a small number of musical artists to be so honored.
Neba Solo has collaborated with artists from Mali as well as around the world, including French electronic musical artist
Frédéric Galliano and the Iranian percussion group
Trio Chemirani. Some of his songs have also been remixed by DJs and released on compilations by
Six Degrees Records
Six Degrees Records is an independent record label noted for its catalog of recordings from international musicians and vocalists.
History
In 1996, former Windham Hill employees Pat Berry and Bob Duskis founded Six Degrees Records with the in ...
. Neba Solo has toured in Europe and North America in addition to Africa.
External links
* http://www.nebasolo.net
* http://www.afropop.org/multi/feature/ID/733/Neba+Solo+-+Mali's+%22Genius+of+the+Balafon%22+at+Harlem+Stage
* http://www.fly.co.uk/fly/archives/2005/04/neba_solo_the_malian_breaking_the_rules.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solo, Neba
Malian musicians
Living people
1969 births
People from Sikasso Region
21st-century Malian people