Malam Maman Barka

Malam Maman Barka (2012)

Malam Maman (e) Barka (* 1959 in Tesker , Autonomous Republic of Niger ; † November 21, 2018 in Niamey ) was a Nigerian musician .

Life

Malam Mamane Barka was born in 1959 in Tesker, a town in the east of the then autonomous Republic of Niger within the French Community . He came from the nomadic people of the Toubou . Playing the ngurumi , a two-string plucked instrument , he gained popularity in his home country and neighboring Nigeria . In 2002 he decided to devote himself to the study of Biram . It is a five-string instrument that is used by the boudouma , a fishing people on Lake Chad , for traditional songs.

Study of Biram

Barka first came into contact with this musical instrument in 1998 when he accompanied a music researcher who wanted to investigate the different musical traditions of the various ethnic groups of Niger on a trip to Lake Chad . Among the boudouma people they met boukar tar , probably the last biram player of this time, who conveyed to them the special meaning of this instrument in the traditional myths of boudouma. Tar, however, deplored the low interest of the younger generation of his people in these ancient traditions and feared that knowledge of this instrument threatened to die out with him. At the suggestion of the music researcher, Mamane Barka later decided to have the old master of the instrument instruct her in the language and rites of the boudouma and in the playing of the biram.

However, for financial reasons, this only happened in 2002, when Mamane Barka was given the opportunity to travel to Lake Chad again through a grant from UNESCO to study the instrument. Boukar Tar accepted him as a pupil, carried out certain rituals of purification and initiation of his people with him and conveyed to him the mythical meaning and way of playing the instrument.

Boukar Tar died the following year. He left his 47-year-old instrument as a gift to Barka and asked him to continue and pass on the tradition of the instrument. Through his fame and numerous appearances, Mamane Barka managed to win several students.

Mamane Barka toured regularly with his rare instruments and his good friend, the percussionist Oumarou Adamou , who accompanied him musically during performances and on his CDs. After the release of his CD Guidan Haya with Ngurumi music in April 2008, the first to be released outside of Niger, he also played at the WOMAD festival that same year . This CD contains a mixture of new material and older songs from his over 20 year career as a Ngurumi musician. In 2009, the CD Introducing Mamane Barka followed , on which he presented songs that were played with the Biram for the first time . In the same year he became director of the cultural center Center Culturel Oumarou Ganda in Niamey.

Malam Mamane Barka lived with two wives and nine children. He died in Niamey in November 2018 at the age of 59 and was buried there.

instrument

The biram is a harp-like musical instrument with five strings that was originally played by the boudouma. Its shape is reminiscent of a pirogue , a traditional fishing boat. While the instrument was originally only played by boudouma who had been prepared through initiation and traditional knowledge, Mamane Barka emphasized the musical value of the biram as a traditional Nigerian musical instrument that could be played by everyone.

Discography

The songs are about the lives of ancestors and spirits; above all from the spirit "Kargila", who, according to legend, watches over the boudouma and takes care of their culture and their living conditions. Further topics are the animals that live with the nomads, the beauty of Lake Chad and the desert and the bravery of the warriors.

• Guidan Haya (2008)
• Introducing Mamane Barka (2009)

Web links

• Malam Maman Barka on Myspace
• Malam Maman Barka at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Introducing Mamane Barka. In: World Music Network. Archived from the original on April 21, 2009 ; accessed on November 13, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Interview with Mamane Barka from February 27, 2010, conducted by Dominic Bascombe. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 13, 2015 ; accessed on November 13, 2015 (partial excerpt from the interview on suite101.com). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Uppsala International Sacred Music Festival. October 29 - November 1, 2009. (PDF) 2009, archived from the original on August 18, 2010 ; Retrieved November 13, 2015 (Swedish). 
4. ↑ Abdourahmane Idrissa, Samuel Decalo: Historical Dictionary of Niger . 4th edition. Scarecrow, Plymouth 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-6094-0 , pp. 93 .
5. ↑ Sébastien Jedor: Disparition du musicien Nigeria Malam Maman Barka. In: RFI Afrique. November 21, 2018, accessed November 23, 2018 (French).