L’Orchestre Kanaga De Mopti take their name from the Kanaga mask worn by members of the Awa Society of Masks, an initiatory society of the Dogon people of Mali.
The orchestra leader, Sorry Bamba (1938–2022), was born in Mopti, a town in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali. He turned to music at the age of 10 after the passing of his parents, finding solace in playing a six-holed flute, imported from France, which was gifted to him by a friend.
As a young man he explored the surrounding regions of Mopti, studying the music from the Niger River, the Fulani camps, and the Bandiagara cliffs in the heart of Dogon Country. Bamba gained the elders’ approval to perform the music of the Dogon ceremonies and named his group after the Dogon ceremonial mask that symbolizes Amma, the supreme creator god in the Dogon religion.
Well…
Brothers and sisters, speakers of Fulfulde,
Listen and listen again to how the story of “Gambari” came to be…
