Alpha Yaya Diallo has lived in Vancouver for a long time, but his home, heart and music are rooted far from British Columbia: West Africa. The Juno Award-winning singer-guitarist has built his career on fusing the sounds of his homeland with modern compositions using contemporary and traditional African instruments.
His new project, the West African Summit, is a natural culmination of Diallo’s decades of work, wrapped up in a 90-minute stage production incorporating dance, song and a host of West African luminaries and their indigenous instruments.
“Many of the musicians are quite talented and we’ve played before, but they are from outside Canada,” Diallo says, over the phone from his home in Vancouver. “They play unique instruments like the kora and the balafon. I used to play with these guys when I was young. This is something I wanted to always do, that’s why I invited them here to create something unique and powerful.”
"Star-Live" by Alpha Yaya Diallo
Diallo says the performance will demonstrate the versatility of these traditional instruments, pairing and playing off the guitar, bass and drum set. The kora is a 21-string harp, similar, Diallo says, to the Spanish guitar. The balafon is a wooden keyed percussion idiophone, like a xylophone or a marimba. Both are heard everywhere in West Africa.
“It’s very popular music,” Diallo says. “When you grow up in a [West African] society you get used to those instruments: you hear them at a wedding, a concert, everywhere. Every kind of show, those instruments will be part of it. That’s why we want to transport that sound to the contemporary, because I play fret guitar and I have a different style from flamenco to pop to jazz sounds. Even though I play guitar, I use my classical guitar sometimes to approach the kora or the balafon sound. All of those instruments really inspire my music. It makes me think, makes me move, makes me see how music is connected sometimes.”
The link between tradition and contemporary has been ever-present in Diallo’s work, but he sees still greater potential for his traditional instruments of choice. His hope is that the kora and balafon will become popular beyond West African music, in the way that the fiddle has moved well beyond just being a mainstay of Celtic music.
“I’m from West Africa, I grew up there, I learned music there,” Diallo says. “To share my culture with people where I live, to teach them something: this is life. We have to always try to teach others to make them see where you came from. Playing those instruments is to show the beauty and uniqueness of the music. Africa has an old tradition, from Mali to Guinea to Senegal to Namibia to the Ivory Coast. Those countries are connected and they have a similar culture. This is very important since I left there. I want to show people this music is beautiful. I want to share that culture with people in North America.”
Diallo kicks off the first leg of his West African Summit tour next week with stops in major cities like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, but plenty of small town detours as well, including Golden, B.C., Camrose, Alta., and Sioux Lookout, Ont.
“Life starts with the small towns,” Diallo says, adding with a laugh, “I’m sure 100 years ago, Vancouver used to be a small town, too. Society starts with small towns. Small cities are very important. They love African music. I’m playing on Pender Island. There aren’t many people living there, but I’m telling you, I schedule a show and I can sell out shows more there than in Vancouver. They’re very excited about African music. We don’t forget the small cities on tour.”
Big city or small town, it’s unlikely one will ever experience a show quite like the West African Summit, Diallo promises. In fact, he hopes this will be just the kicking off of an annual tradition, with the Summit evolving year over year.
“There’s music, people, talent, colour, dance: there’s a lot happening in this show,” he says. “It will bring a lot of power to the music.”
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Rendez-Vous: Alpha Yaya Diallo and Jérôme Minière