Abene, Kafountine- Senegal, Charamala

Happy March!
The past couple of days were spent amongst the villages of Abene and Kafountine in the southern Casamance region of Senegal. This was my first excursion outside of the Gambia since I arrived on the 8th of January. The trip began on Friday morning with a wakeup call from Moriba at around 8:00a.m. This is quite earlier than I usually rise, so it took me a little while to wake up- but not long, because the road was incredibly bumpy, and I was holding onto the drivers seat in front of me for almost the entire way to Abene. Peter, his friend Amadou from Kartong, Moriba, and I set off around 9:30 after exchanging some Gambian dalasi for CFA- a very devalued currency that is used in Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and I a couple of other countries, I believe. The condition of the dirt roads that we travelled on ranged from ok, to bad, even atrocious at times. There weren't any signs indicating anything in terms of directions. This was also my first "bush" experience. Much of the travel winded its way through brush choked alleys, swerving left and right, over many potholes, mounds- truly a backcountry experience. Casamance feels much more forested than anywhere I've seen in Gambia. Deforestation of palms doesn't appear to be as much of a problem there. It is a huge problem in Gambia. People sell it straight off of their land for wood that is used as roofing foundation because it is termite resistant. It is quite sad to drive by land that has been completely plowed down of all its palm trees.
We did reach a paved road once we got closer to Abene- our final destination. Here, we would stay with Yahya and Binta, a younger couple, and friends of Peter. Yahya is helping Peter transport bands from the Casamance region of Senegal to Kartong for the festival that will occur from the 21st through 24th of this month. We arrived around noon. A few of Yahya's friends were around. We sat and drank attire- the traditional tea, and talked about the festival preparations, my kora playing, etc. After lunch, I left Moriba behind and went with Peter, Amadou, and Yahya to talk with a few musicians around Abene and the neighboring village of Kafountine about playing at the Kartong festival. Yahya and Amadou acted as Peter's translators. Not as many people speak english in Casamance, as french is the official language of Senegal. We headed back to Yahya's compound for dinner. Afterwards, everyone, including three of Yahya's friends crammed into Peter's jeep and headed over to Kafountine for an evening drumming performance. It was held at a small bar on the outskirts of town. I was pretty tired by the time we got there, around 10pm, and the band still hadn't showed. In the meantime, the scene at the bar was pretty similar to that of one back home- bass beat thumping rap music, drunk people- not my type of scene. Fortunately, the band, called "Caramala" showed up not too much later, and put on probably one of the best drumming performances that I have ever seen. Very traditional Senegalese drumming too. Djembe's, sangban, kenkeni, dunduns, including a huge bass dundun that is traditional to Guinea. This type of drumming is almost impossible to come by in Gambia, so it was quite a treat. What was really nice was to watch the audience reaction- or participation- to be even more specific. I have never quite seen anyone dance like some of the audience members at this bar. Very free, unreserved, exuberant...incredible! In spite of the fact that a lot of the traditional music has been clouded over by modern sounds, many people still have an appreciation for it.
Things continue to go pretty well back in Gambia. Kora playing during the day with Moriba, a lesson with Malamini during the evenings. The weather continues to be hot in Brikama. It wasn't nearly as warm in Abene, as it is closer to the sea. What else...the oranges are ripening..so it is common to eat an orange picked straight from the tree. Quite a treat indeed. Soon, the mangoes will be available similarly. It's hard to believe it's March already. Time has certainly flown. I will try to keep you all better updated. Sometimes, the computers are a little unreliable around here.

Until next time...