I have teamed up with Culturebox (social enterprise offering intercultural learning)Ben Harriott and Nottingham Black Archive to produce a series of documentaries called ‘Tradition’.
Mohamed Jaberi & his Daf (a frame drum)
Ney with the hungo, a single-string percussion instrument
The Tradition series consists of 6 short documentaries that introduces audiences to world musicians that reside in Nottingham who play traditional instruments. At present musicians include; Ney Corte Real from Angola who presents the hungo and dikanza. The hungo is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow. Enslaved Angolans brought the hungo t Brazil where it is called the berimbau and plays a significant role in capoeira.
Mohamed Jaberi hailing from Iran who plays the Daf. The Daf is one of the most ancient frame drums in Asia and North Africa. In Iran, Sufis use the Daf during their Zikr (spiritual chanting) ritual.
Virtuoso Surahata Susso talks about the memorizeing kora. The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa. Kora players have traditionally come from griot families (also from the Mandinka nationalities) who are traditional historians, genealogists and storytellers who pass their skills on to their descendants. The instrument is played in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and The Gambia.All of the instruments I’ve learnt about during filming have a deep rooted connection to a tradition spanning hundreds of years.
I hope that Tradition demonstrates how foreign people can culturally enrich the communities they migrant to. There is heavy emphasis for immigrants to totally embrace British culture, language and system, but often new the immigrants own culture is not celebrated and respected, as it should.
I plan to interview at least three more musicians from Africa, Asia, or Caribbean and exhibit the short documentary at an event where the musicians can perform and maybe have some food from each of the countries represented.
Surahata Susso playing the kora, a 21-string bridge-harp
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