"There was also an African apparition: Janka Nabay from Sierra Leone, wearing a straw skirt and singing and dancing to recorded tracks of what he said was a 500-year-old tradition called bubu music. The tracks were modern, and the beat, fast and skeletal and driven by bell taps, was unstoppable, demanding wider dissemination." Jon Pareles, NYTIMES
BUBU MUSIC IS ON ITUNES: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=307710390&s=143441
AHMED JANKA NABAY IS THE FATHER OF BUBU MUSIC IN SIERRA LEONE. UNTIL NOW, THIS MUSIC HAS NOT YET BEEN RECOGNIZED BY THE WEST. IT HAS ITS ORIGIN IN TIMINI MUSLIM FEASTS THAT JANKA ATTENDED AS A YOUNG BOY. HE IS THE FIRST TO TRANSFER THE BUBU MUSIC INTO MODERN POPULAR MUSIC. THE TONES ARE MADE FROM OLD KEYBOARDS AND BY BLOWING ON CARBURETOR PIPES AND BAMBOO SHOOTS.
DURING THE DECADE OF WAR IN THE 1990S IN SIERRA LEONE, JANKA TOOK NO SIDE -- HE KEPT MAKING AND RECORDING BUBU MUSIC. SOME OF THE SONGS FEATURED HERE WERE RECORDED IN FORENSIC STUDIOS IN FREETOWN DURING THE SIERRA LEONE CIVIL WAR.
UNFORTUNATELY, JANKA'S MUSIC WAS INSTANTLY APPROPRIATED BY THE REBEL FORCES -- THEY WOULD BLARE HIS BUBU MUSIC TO LURE PEOPLE OUT OF HIDING BEFORE CAPTURING THEM. PARTLY BECAUSE OF THIS, JANKA NOW MAKES AN EFFORT TO CLARIFY HIS MESSAGES AND TO ADDRESS HUMANITARIAN AND POLITICAL CONCERNS WITH HIS LYRICS.
HIS WORDS ARE OFTEN QUITE CLEAR: HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL, EMPOWER WOMEN AND PUT AN END TO WAR.
JANKANABAY@GMAIL.COM
"Sometimes things come in waves, sometimes they come in unpredictable sparks and flashes. That’s what happened this week and even though I try to fight it, sometimes the sparks blow my mix format all to hell and this ends up being more of an mp3 blog than a palmcast. All I can say is, I don’t decide these things, the Ghetto Archipelago does. I am just the vessel through which it chooses to speak to music nerds. This week it said: Bubu!" (Fader Magazine 2009)
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