Thursday night at the Children of the Land in Kapa‘a Youssoupha Sidibe played to an enraptured crowd. His music is transcendental. Many were lying in yoga position or gently swaying to his music as he played to a full house.
Thursday night at the Children of the Land in Kapa‘a Youssoupha Sidibe played to an enraptured crowd.
His music is transcendental. Many were lying in yoga position or gently swaying to his music as he played to a full house. After the floor space was taken up, it was standing room only and no wonder! The beautiful sound of his West African Senegalese harp (a kora) is magnified and resonates through the gourd, that is part of the instrument. The resulting sound is like nothing you have ever heard in the mainstream.
But before Youssoupha and Al Torre took the stage, the audience was treated to a preshow featuring Obadayo and Friends, consisting of Scott Manning, John Dumas, Jackson Nash, Sitar G, Adam Neaves and Saisha Whitlock.
Youssoupha breaks out of traditional kora styles many hundreds of years old and still predominant in kora players, to create a new style blending aspects of reggae, and western music creating a new style that has never been heard before. Youssoupha was Grammy nominated for his collaboration with Matisyahu on multiple tracks, including a duet he wrote with Matisyahu on Youth, the 2007 Grammy-nominated Best Reggae Album for which Youssoupha received a gold record.
Through this and much other collaboration, as well as countless performances over the course of 20 years, Youssoupha has developed thousands of fans all over the world. Youssoupha has performed and recorded with many exceptional musicians, including Matisyahu, Michael Franti, India Arie, Steve Kimock, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Michael Kang of String Cheese Incident, Chris Berry Trio, Charles Neville, and Midnite.
Al Torre has recorded/performed with Blues Traveler, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, David Grisman, Youssoupha Sidibe, Bill Kruetzman, The Human Revolution, Sara Tone, Chris Berry, Michael Kang, Freedom Tribe and Spin Doctors, to name just a few. He is a soulful and yet technically brilliant guitarist. The marriage of the kora and his guitar was captivating.
The next gig coming up for Obadayo and Friends is March 17, featuring Jeff Bloom. The event is in Kilauea and will be a combination of reggae, funk and fun. Check it out at www.hookui.org.
