Southern New England Apprenticeship Program Year 18 Session: Sidy Maiga and Sekou Kouyate
Date2016 April 20
Mediumborn digital video
DimensionsDuration: 6 Minutes
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
DescriptionVideo of three people drumming - Mentor Sidy Maiga, apprentice Sekou Kouyate, and Sekou's father Balla Kouyate.
Object number2015.196.321.11
CopyrightIn Copyright
NotesSubject Note: The Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program is a CCHAP initiative since 1997 that fosters the sharing of community-based traditional (folk) artistic skills through the apprenticeship learning model of regular, intensive, one-on-one teaching by a skilled mentor artist to a student/apprentice. The program pairs master artists from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Connecticut with apprentices from one of the other states, as a way to knit together members of the same community or group across state lines. Teaching and learning traditional arts help to sustain cultural expressions that are central to a community, while also strengthening festivals, arts activities, and events when master/apprentice artists perform or demonstrate results of their cooperative learning to public audiences. The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society manages the program in collaboration with the Folk Arts Program at the Massachusetts Cultural Council and independent folklorist Winifred Lambrecht who has a deep knowledge of the folk arts landscape of Rhode Island. Primary funding for the program comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, with support also from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Institute for Community Research, and the Connecticut Historical Society.Subject Note: This event was a teaching session of the Southern New England Apprenticeship Program Year 18 team in Malian drumming with teaching artist Sidy Maiga (RI) and apprentice Sekou Kouyate (MA). This event took place in Providence, Rhode Island on the same day as the Year 18 teaching session in Puerto Rican santos carving.
Biographical Note: Sidy Maiga has been playing various West African drums for most of his life. Many of the most gifted drummers in the world lived in his neighborhood in Bamako Mali. As a young man, he apprenticed with Alasane and Fousseiny Sissoko who were twin brothers from the Djeli (also known as Griot) ethnic group and the leaders of the Farkoly Percussion Troupe. As their student he began by tuning drums, playing the bass drums and eventually learning djembe. Sidypractically lived at their house for several years. As part of their troupe, he competed in a national drumming competition in 2003, coming in 2nd place. As he became recognised in Mali as a djembé player, he performed with the District of Bamako and the Farkoly Percussion Troupes. This led to performances for visiting national leaders, including President Jacques Chirac of France, Blaise Compoaori of Burkina Faso and Muammar al Khaddafi of Libya. When the Community of Sahel-Saharan States met in Bamako, dignitaries from dozens of African and European countries came to Mali and Sidy’s group performed to welcome them. He has also performed with artists including Percussion Fassia du District de Bamako, Troupe Artisique du District de Bamako, Coumba Sira Koïta, Saly Sidibé, Mamoun Sidibé, Paye Camara, Touman Diabaté, Binké Traoré and Tata Pound among others. These artists represent a wide range of styles, from traditional to Malian hip hop. Sidy also started teaching drumming in Mali to various local as well as international students including students from Europe, Japan and the United States.
Since he moved to the United States in 2006, Sidy has continued to both perform and teach percussion in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Ohio, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Miami, FL. He has played alongside the renowned Grammy Award winner singer Oumou Sangaré and was invited to Playa del Carmen in Mexico for a three-day music and dance festivity where he performed solo and with Uhuru Afrika (a dance movement with monthly events in Boston with over 1,500 members) and various DJs. Every summer, Sidy takes part in several music festivals, such as the Rhode Island Heritage Festival and the Pawtucket Arts Festival. He teaches and gives workshops across the North East in various K-12 schools and universities as well as at public events offered by libraries and the French Consulate of Boston. These schools include Brown University, The University of Rhode Island, Wheaton College, Boston University, Wheeler School and Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts in Providence, the Lawrence Academy in MA, JFK Library in Boston among others. Sidy received a Bachelors of Music Degree from Berklee College in 2021.
As part of the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in Year 18 (2015-2016), Sidy taught Malian drum rhythms to Sekou Kouyate. Sekou, who was ten years old at this time, is the son of renowned balafon player Balla Kouyate, so he has been surrounded by the music of Mali all his life. During the apprenticeship, Sekou focused on drumming on dun dun and djembe from master Sidy Maiga, encouraging his interest in playing the music of his family. They performed at the PVD Festival and the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, and the French Festival in Woonsocket.
Additional audio, video, and/or photographic materials exist in the archive relating to these artists.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
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