Soku Fola (2009)
8 tracks, 49 minutes
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Another one-stringed fiddle! That’s two days in a row now. Yesterday’s was the Juldeh Camara’s Fula nyanyero from Gambia, today we hear the Zoumana Tereta’s soku from Mali. The instruments are very similar, in shape and sound, but the musical traditions are noticeably different.
Zoumana is Bozo, but his music is mostly in the Bamana style of the Ségou region of central Mali, the same bluesy pentatonics that will be familiar to those who know the music of Bassekou Kouyaté. Soku Fola has a delightful stripped-back and all-acoustic sound, just acoustic guitar, ngoni lute, a calabash for percussion and Zoumana’s soku and rich, raspy voice. It all allows the fiddle’s unique sound of horsehair-on-horsehair to come across, its scratchy sounds amplifying its complex harmonics. Sometimes they even take it right down to the bare essentials – ‘Beni a Jarabi’ is just soku, voice and calabash, and all the more wonderful for that.
Zoumana is not as well known in Europe as many of his compatriot musicians, but if you’ve listened to Malian music with any interest, it’s very likely you’ve heard him before. He was in high demand, featuring on recordings by Bassekou Kouyaté, Oumou Sangaré, Toumani Diabaté, Sali Sidibé, Amadou & Mariam, Issa Bagayogo, Sidi Touré…the list goes on. He didn’t just appear with Malian artists, either, with Tiken Jah Fakoly, Béla Fleck, St Germain and Dirtmusic all requiring his services at one point or another. That demand came for a reason, and not just because of his exceptional musical talents alone: for a long time it looked as if Zoumana would be the last great soku player – the young people of Mali just weren’t interested in the instrument or its repertoire at all. Luckily a few did pick it up in recent years and there seems to be, if not quite a revival, at least a resuscitation of the instrument. It was a close one, too – Zoumana passed away in 2017, at only 54 years old.
For all his renown in Mali and his near-ubiquity as a guest on albums by other Malian artists, Zoumana Tereta never really made the leap to a solo artist. He released just a small handful of albums as a bandleader, but they still give a great insight into this wonderful performer and a different side to Malian music that isn’t heard nearly as often as it should be.
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