(Photo Vincent Fournier/ JA)
In 2016 I started taking Djembé classes in Paris with my friend and once neighbour Corinne. Our teacher was one Didi Keita, a passionate percussionist from Guinea. Classes traditionally finished with a drink at the Café de Sports, the Ménilmontant institution for African musicians (it’s a kinda divey place but there are jams each Sunday and regular concerts and it’s on the corner of rue Boyer that had SMOM music studio where we drummed- now sadly closed- and the Centre Momboye, an African dance centre).
Drumming with Didi was fantastic as we learnt traditional rhythms and their significance, then turned the lights off at the end of class and drummed away in a collective crescendo of emotion, all feeling part of something bigger.
I invited Didi to guest at our next concert with Le Shuffle Project and it was terrific, the afro beat behind the guitars and tap dance adding a new dynamic (unfortunately the sound file was lost/stolen after the show).
I left Paris for ten months and hadn’t had the chance to take class since returning, so was pleased to have the opportunity to catch up with Didi, and learn a little more about his story, for an interview for The Africa Report (Jeune Afrique group). Here’s what he told me. Enjoy!
