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 Chris
was born in Stoke-On-Trent and although she has always loved singing
and had a brief and disastrous relationship with the violin in childhood
she came to music later in life. Having worked at the WOMAD world
music festival for years and seen English people playing African
drums she finally went to a class with a friend and was hooked.
She’s been playing for 8 years now, initially working with a variety of teachers in England. Drumbreaks (a style developed by Peter Scott) teachers such as Liz Carter, Ruth Jennie and Chris Garland were important in her early development, as was Simon Mc Carthy and she then went on to work with teachers of a more traditional West African style such as Fern Camera, Bucarr Ndow, Ali Bangora and Henri Gao Bi. She took her first trip out to the Gambia to work with Masta Canon with Jambass music in 2001 and then went back regularly to study, at least once a year for three weeks. It was during one of these trips that she met Oury and they have been playing and singing together ever since. They lived together in the Gambia for a while and are now mostly based in England. As well as learning djembe and bass from Masta, Chris learned dance informally from a variety of sources with artistes in the Gambia; Babuccar, from Roots Manding and Pearr from Roots Kuntakinte being particularly helpful, both allowed her to dance with the troupes when she was out there. She also learned gongo from Oury. She played djembe as a ‘guest’ member of African Ballet for 4 months and has also played in one of Oury’s small ensembles in restaurants and bars. Together Chris and Oury learned balafon, a long-cherished desire of Chris’ with Seikou Soma, having 4 months intensive training in 2004 and then on periodic visits since. They also learned West African dance with Zaggaire in the Gambia & a variety of others in Guinea. As well as playing balafon together Chris and Oury have done some collaborative work with Hullaballo Quire using balafon and voice. In England Chris is an original member of the Djembe Divas, a women’s’ drumming group based in Brighton. She and Oury teach regular drum and dance classes and workshops and perform in Brighton and elsewhere. 
Oury was born in Labe in Guinea Conakry, West Africa, and also
spent time in Mali as a child. He initially trained as a welder,
but he was always fascinated by traditional music. Many of his friends
were musicians and he spent as much time as he could playing and
singing. In 2001 he went to The Gambia where he studied various
instruments and West African dance, making his living as a musician.
Ourys’ passion for music led him to teach himself a great deal. He has also worked with several teachers. Master Abdulai Keita (Masta Cannon) taught him djembe and bass drums (kankini, sambhan and doundoun). He was part of the drum/dance ensemble ‘African Ballet’ with Masta from 2001 to 2005, sometimes as a dancer or a ‘fire dancer’, sometimes as a djembe player. He has also danced and played with other ensembles in the Gambia such as Folonko. As well as playing drums he learned to make them has made djembes for both local and export markets. In addition to the more well known djembe and bass drums, Oury plays a variety of lesser known instruments that come specifically from Guinea. These are: The gongo or gongomah - a kind of (idiophone) - like the kalimba or South African mbira. This is very different to the mbira in that it has only 3 or 4 notes and is played with one hand while the other taps out a counter-rhythm. Made of calabash, plywood and old hacksaw blades and often decorated by its owner. Oury learned this from another Guinean after he’d made one for himself, and played that at weddings and naming ceremonies as well as in small ensembles in hotels and restaurants in The Gambia for several years. He then taught Chris and they often play duets on the gongo using either traditional West African material or some of the songs Oury has created himself. The bolong or bolongbata – the West African ‘double bass. Again played with one hand on the strings and the other tapping a counter rhythm. This is difficult to describe adequately, made of calabash, wood & goat skin (the strings also). Look at the picture to understand how it’s played. He and Chris have been learning balafon (the West African xylophone with gourd resonators giving it its characteristic sound) with Seikou Soma since Oct 2004 and Oury has played and taught alongside Seikou since then. Oury plays, makes and teaches all these instruments. His performance career includes solo work, with his partner Chris as part of Hands-On-Skin or as part of small ensembles. He is multilingual and sings in Susu, Mandinka, Fuller, Wolof, English and French. All of his music is based on traditional West African patterns but with arrangements reflecting his teachers and his own styles and preferences. |
We
are a partnership who teach and perform African music and dance
and have been making music together since 2002. We are based in
Brighton, perform and teach regular classes in djembe and dance
in Sussex. We also travel around to deliver our unique West African
sound. We have worked at camps & festivals, schools & clubs,
one-to-one and with large groups. Everyone has the capacity to learn
or enjoy what we can bring and workshops and events can be aimed
at a variety of levels of understanding or ability.