"Yundum Nko" by Jali Nyama Suso

“Yundum Nko” by Jali Nyama Suso is quite different the African music we have been presented with in class. Rather than the frenzied, wild, deep, but quick beats of drums this music sample is soft, relaxed, and dreamy. The melody seems to be carried with a string instrument rather than drums, in fact.

    In this piece I heard two different beats going on. The main one, more frantic, and then the background beat, simple. To my judgement, the music sample might have sounded like free rhythm, but I see it as organized rhythm. To test this out I used the units of rhythm such as taka and takadimi, etc. The rhythm of the music seemed to match up with these units to me. One of the instruments plays a more complicated rhythm, spinning around in different direction that could be measured in a mix of numbers. Meanwhile, the background rhythm can be measured more like 1...1...1...1...and so on. The song is majority played at a slow pace yet at certain parts it will accelerate and then decelerate again. The acceleration seems to match the voice of the singer. His voice goes from loud and quick to quiet and soft. As it goes loud the music decelerates and after he finishes singing the music accelerates. Therefore, it seems the chorus is for deceleration. This repeats over and over throughout the song.

    Upon doing research I found out about the musician/singer, Jali Nyama Suso. He is from Gambia and the instrument he plays is called a kora. So maybe the kora is what we hear in the song. He worked in radio and taught as a professor as well as worked on a soundtrack for a TV miniseries. The culture of his type of music is known for wandering, however Suso did not do so because he lost a leg at sixteen, rather he was more known from the radio and was arranged to do Gambia’s national anthem.

    While I could not find the lyrics of “Yundum Nko”, I found out about the jali culture. Jalis are West Africans who are historians, storytellers, praise singers, poets, and/or musicians. It stems from the oral tradition of storytelling and considered of high status. Jalis are expected to know many traditional songs without mistake and must be knowledgeable in other areas such as current events, history, gossip, satire, politics, and the world as it passes around him. This knowledge is called jeliya which can be translated to mean musicianhood. The term jali itself means blood which could reflect on how the culture is taken seriously and thought of as almost royalty. Jalis can be traced back to the 14th century--an example being a jali named Balla Fasseke who was given to a prince to advise him. Jalis would accompany aristocratic families such as warriors or emperors. A jali without a higher ranked pairing is untraditional--the bond is inseparable and they are worthless without each other. Villages also have their own jalis who tell tales of births, deaths, marriages, battles, hunts, affairs, and many more topics.

    Given this interesting history, I could assume that the music sample, “Yundum Nko”, must hit close to home with one of the topics mentioned above. It must tell a story. Perhaps a sad one of death or a happy one of birth. I can not tell from listening to another language but the meaning could be anything, happy or sad, despite the seemingly kind tune. We can not tell on tune alone. It can be assumed that the song carries great knowledge to be shared and a story to be told.

    As for myself, I really enjoyed this peace. It was certainly relaxing, and easy to listen to melody. Whatever the subject matter was, the tune made me have a positive mood.