Transcultural collaboration within the context of West African griot music: Exploring the role of the drummer and the case of the band Faso Kan

Ossi Raippalinna

The purpose of this text is to reflect on my experiences as an active member of a culturally diverse ensemble called Faso Kan. The primary source is the artistic work of Faso Kan during the years 2006-2020. The ensemble worked intensively during 2020-21, resulting in an album completed in September 2021. My main contribution to the album was adapting and arranging traditional West African rhythms for the drum kit and performing them in the studio. This study attends to cover different aspects of that process, particularly the drummer’s point of view. I will also cover the collaboration-based music-making approaches that I encountered while working with Faso Kan. Although Faso Kan´s repertoire consists mainly of traditional pieces from Burkina Faso, the working methods resulted in music representing several musical cultures. The study is primarily based on artistic work, but I will also reflect on the related experiences of other researchers and musicians.

Transcultural collaboration within the context of West African griot music: Exploring the role of the drummer

and the case of the band Faso Kan

Introduction

The purpose of this text is to reflect on my experiences as an active member of a culturally diverse ensemble called Faso Kan. The primary source is the artistic work of Faso Kan during the years 2006-2020. The ensemble worked intensively during 2020-21, resulting in an album completed in September 2021. My main contribution to the album was adapting and arranging traditional West African rhythms for the drum kit and performing them in the studio. This study attends to cover different aspects of that process, particularly the drummer’s point of view. I will also cover the collaboration-based music-making approaches that I encountered while working with Faso Kan. Although Faso Kan´s repertoire consists mainly of traditional pieces from Burkina Faso, the working methods resulted in music representing several musical cultures. This study is primarily based on artistic work and the approaches of artistic research, whereby I will analyze my own artistic processes and experiences, as well as compare, contrast, and reflect on the related experiences of other researchers and musicians.

Instructions:

Please hover your mouse on top of the photos to read the captions.

To navigate, please use the drop-down menu in the upper left corner "CONTENTS"

Or use the NEXT PAGE link to read on

Tip

Tip