The Course at Sangoya

by Anne Harkin

For our first month in Guinea, the group of 17 Australians took drumming lessons with Lamine "Lopez" Soumah (left), and/or dance lessons with Sekouba (right below).

The two men are veterans of the Guinean dance and music scene having first trained and performed during the reign of Sekou Touré, the country's first president. This man was so Guinea-proud that under his regime, studying Guinean culture and being an artist was virtually compulsory. There were militaristic, rigid training schedules, neighbourhood and regional competitions, and at the same time an insularity caused by his interdiction against any travel by Guineans abroad, or equally, against any foreigners entering the country.  

Fortunately for Lopez and Sekouba, they enjoyed what they were being forced to do and flourished at being artists. Then came "ouverture", and Guinean performing groups began to tour and excite the world with their fabulously energetic and rhythmic art. There followed many years of the life of cultural ambassador for them, their roles with Les Ballets Africains taking them several times to Europe, the US, Japan and Australia. These days they continue their travelling - but to teach rather than perform. They are both excellent teachers, showing patience, consistency, understanding of how people learn and demonstrating a sense of humour which lightens their otherwise serious, professional approach.

We were based in a large, white-tiled villa in Sangoya-Kissoso - about 15km from the city centre. The building was spacious, a bedroom for every 2 or 3 participants, and a bathroom for each bedroom. There were several garden and courtyard spaces, including a rooftop terrace where some people chose to sleep to avoid the stuffiness of indoors. The compound was surrounded by a high brick wall, cascading with bougainvillea, and overseen by the ever-watchful "gardien" Youmba. Drum classes were held in the garden while dance was held in a large room. There was enough space that even at 20 people it did not feel crowded. 

At all the drum lessons Lopez was accompanied by several other Guinean drummers who provided the bass drum parts which make up the whole rhythm. They were generally quite young drummers and inexperienced would-be teachers, who occasionally needed a sharp word from Lopez to keep them from being distracted.   Over the 4 weeks we attacked all the parts of about 7 rhythms, and several sets of solo phrases. There was a lot of repetition involved and I imagine this was the style in which Lopez himself has been schooled. Generally speaking it was a success in that everybody's drumming improved - in repertoire, in technique, in confidence and in style.  

 

During the third week we decamped to Bel Air - on the coast about 300 west towards Guinea-Bissau. This was definitely a good move - to go to a beautiful place after the urban nightmare that is Conakry. I mean, our compound was fine, but the environment outside the walls is fairly horrendous in its more than a hint of anarchy and the sense that those systems that do function are held together by tenuous and fraying threads.  

At Bel Air (right) we could swim, stroll, practice as much as we liked, visit the nearby villages and stretch out and swim again. The accommodation was basic…sleeping (badly!) on concrete floors in bamboo huts. Next time I would take an inflatable mattress! But the beach was stunning, featuring a massive expanse of rippled sand at every low tide and a pleasant absence of mosquitoes. Having our lessons under the coconut palms was very agreeable, though the dancers found the sand hard going. 

For our fourth and final week we returned to the capital. Lopez became a little less available due to his wife's return from the Hadj in Mecca, and the sudden death of his brother. So, his role was taken over by some of the younger drummers. Till the last day, we continued to practice the rhythms and solo phrases taught by Lopez.  

In Guinea, as throughout Africa, music and dance fit into the daily life of everybody. You can hear music everywhere. Taxis play great music. Petrol stations play great music. Radio stations play great music. In the artist quarter of Matam you can hear the sounds of group practice coming from all directions. People dance, with a big smile on their face, with very little provocation.

There are lots of street parties known by the names of Sabah and Doundoumba (right).  Drummers, dancers and onlookers gather in the street, or in a courtyard, and the party begins. Both the drumming and dancing have a very competitive air which provokes the most furious, manic drumming and wild, frenetic dancing…for hours!…and all this in one of the hottest, stickiest countries on earth! Onlookers show their appreciation by showering or plastering the artists' sweaty bodies with banknotes.  

Anyone can get up and dance, so some of our group did - which was greeted very enthusiastically by the Guineans.  These parties provided the cultural context for what we had studied both in Australia, and even in the courtyard at Sangoya. This is Guineans' dynamic, living, day-to-day culture, and we felt very lucky to be there, to be welcomed and to be part of it. 

The standard of teaching during this month-long residential was excellent, and anybody who is interested to experience Guinean style drum/dance training could not hope to find better. Mohamed will be taking another group to Guinea in 2001 His phone number, for anyone interested, is 61 (Australia) 2 (Sydney) 9130 4694.

All photography and text Copyright ©2000 Anne Harkin