Guinee 2003/2004

Part one - The Gambia

In November 2004 David acquired funding from Arts Council England to travel to Guinee, West Africa, home to master Samsou and much of the beautiful music which Joliba have studied, he was accompanied by Salifou Sylla.

Travelling to Guinee requires a "stop over" at The Gambia and consequently David was able to work again with Samsou and make plans for Guinee.

Part two - Guinee Conakry

On arriving at Conakry, David and Salifou were fortunate enough to contact Master Bowka, former member of The National Ballet of Guinee, they remained in Conakry for 3 weeks and worked on a number of new pieces with Master Bowka and his new group, one of the pieces, Dhogo, has been incorporated into the set of Kamara.

During December they left for Kamsar, a small village north of Conakry, just a few miles from Boke, the home of Tiriba, here they contacted Master Meemo, former colleague of Samsou and all round Master musician, dancer and performer. Again David was very fortunate to be invited to play with Master Meemos' newest performance troupe, after only two weeks practice David performed at Keke Jembe, a local Theatre, Disco Bar and Community Centre with the troupe, further performances followed.

Part three - The Gambia

On returning to The Gambia David was again able to work with the sensational Master Samsou, but this time focussing on the solo, the tuition was first class and David's understanding of the music reached a new level, they worked tirelessly with Tiriba, Yankadi, Bahrakoolanjah, Djole, Soli and Kuku, some of which has been incorporated into the Joliba and Kamara workshops and performances. Having purchased three Krin at Conakry, David began to work with Samsou with this "new" instrument, again the tuition was excellent and they studied Barakoolanjah and Tiriba. David's desire to make the most of his funding led him to make contact with Master Suleman, a Grio and Master Balafon player from Guinee Conakry, they spent approximately six weeks studying Balafon technique, accompaniments and solo for Jankadi, Kuku, Tiriba and Barakoolanjah.