Youssou N'Dour, 2nd Kartong performance

Greetings from a very hot Brikama!
You just can't escape the heat here however hard you try. My room feels like the coolest place available to me at the compound. I spent most of the day here, as I am coming down with a bit of a cold, as are many others. Even today, as I sat in one place, I just couldn't stop sweating. The temperatures have been hitting 90 on a regular basis.
This past Sunday evening, Moriba and I went to see Youssou N'Dour perform at Independance Stadium in Serrekunda. The stadium is an oval shape and has a track and soccer field. The seats are merely concrete steps. There was a stage set up out on the soccer field facing one of the two long stretches of the stadium. Technically, only a quarter of the venue was utilized, and people also walked down onto the track close to the stage. We arrived a little later than we would've liked...Morro, Moriba's regular driver, didn't show to pick us up, so we had to end up catching a yellow taxi. The driver took us to the venue and back, and sat waiting for us until the performance had finished. This option ended up being a LOT more expensive than if Morro would've taken us in the Jobarteh family Volkswagen. As we were walking up to get our tickets, Moriba was fairly enegergetic. I asked him when the performance would start. "Very soon!" he exclaimed. When we got seated, the sound crew was still setting up equipment! It was almost nine, and show wouldn't start for at least another hour! People just aren't in a hurry around here. So once things got startd, the MC's gave a short blurb to the Gamcel/Gamtel, the event sponsor, did a couple raffle drawings, and let everyone know that there would be a few opening acts. There were...no joke....seven opening acts! Honestly, I didn't particularly care for any of them- nor did Moriba, only he was a lot more expressive about it! He would rant with me and the guy sitting at his other side..."This is so stupid! This is not what we came for! Where is Youssou!" Mixed into some Mandinka, of course. He got a lot more vulgar with his language, at which point I couldn't hold back from laughing! I can't really explain it any further. You would have to know Moriba to understand! So when Youssou made it up on stage, it must've been between 11:30 and midnight. Youssou performs vocals only, and is supported by a band consisting of an electric guitar, electric bass, drum kit, keyboard, and two traditional drums- the talking drum, and the three set tangtango, or seruba drums that are native to the region. These are beat with one hand and a stick on most occasions, at least that I have seen. The sound was a little bit too electric for my taste, but Youssou can really sing. The highlight for me was observing the audience. The moment Youssou walked onto the stage with his band, EVERYBODY stood up and danced, and sang his every word! Pretty cool!
Yesterday Moriba and I performed at the beach resort in Kartong for the same toubabs from the UK that we gave our last performance to. The day was spent pretty similarly to the last time we went to Kartong..Sitting under the mango tree tuning our koras numerous times...having lunch, packing a days supply, and catching the yellow taxi in the late afternoon. This time was a little different at Kartong resort...I can't remember if I described the UK group very much in my last entry. There are about 20-25 people. Two leaders, about 20 high school aged kids, and a few parent chaperones. ...What was different this time is that within the UK group, there was a particular group of anxious giggly teenaged female admirers that were armed and ready to fire all sorts of personal questions my way, laughing at whatever I said, no matter what the words that came out were. They wanted me to try to speak in their English accent, and even pulled me into the center of a circle they had made to dance, which I did gladly, while a percussion group performed out on the beachside prior to Moriba and I. After the beach performance, my admirers were the source of much joking and laughter throughout the rest of the evening between Moriba and two of my newly made friends- Fansu and Lamin, who work at the resort, while the four of us sat and drank tea under the stars. "Sean, those girls love you!" Moriba said, laughing joyously with a huge grin on his face. This morning as they approached me to say farewell, I was standing next to Fansu. "Sean, here come your people!" he joked. What can I say!
The performance went relatively well, but it was shorter than last time, and our koras were out of tune, horribly! I'm thining that mine was affected by the pounding of the drums before our performance. It is the newer of the two koras, and still has the tendancy to fall out of tune, but not as often. I'm going to have to do another kotoboro on it tomorrow though, as the strings continue to stretch, and the conso continue to make their way towards the top of the neck.
I'm hoping this cold will pass through my system with little turbulence. It doesn't feel any more abnormal than a typical cold I have had back home.

Until next time!......

Sean