Percussions.org

[François Kokelaere]

Wofa, which means "come" in Soso, is a group of seven young performers from the Soussou ethnic group. They live in Basse-Côte, Guinea, and have been together since 1993. That was the year they broke away from Morciré Camara's group Wassa, after performing at the 1991 Cologne Festival, at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, at the Festival des Francophonies in Limoges, at the Théâtre des Arts in Cergy-Pontoise, and at the Vivonne Festival, all in France, and in "Africa Oye" in Australia and south-east Asia. Musicians, dancers and singers, their enormous energy is due not only to their youth, but also to the determination that has enabled them to forge their own artistic career, keeping themselves strictly to themselves. "The merit of these young artists is to show that it is more efficient to run one's own group in an atmosphere of mutual confidence, than to seek advice from people who abuse their position to the detriment of genuine skills." François Kokelaere.

The performers

Play the Wassakhoumba, using traditional dance material. The strident, airy sound of the instrument is linked to the ground by the deep soundof Dunun, the big drum, while the balafon's recitative floats in the air and Djambour, the drum, adds its own vigorous punctuation. The dancer-musicians give free rein to their spontaneity, to their joy, and to their remarkable dexterity.

The small pieces of calabash wood striking together produces a strident soundthat stimulates the performers, sometimes to a state of ecstasy. The song of the Wassekhoumba transcends the Man-Artist as interceder between Earth and Sky, Man and Divine. In the pulsing beat, for a brief moment he forgets his material circumstances. The man is his own movement, the instrument the natural extension of his arms. They live as one, until the music signals the moment has come to return to earthly reality. After the ecstasy, the rhythm soothes the return. Become once more only man, the artist returns to his human condition, to the unknown future that is his destiny.

Each of us has three lucky days in his life, and I can tell you I have those days too, and I thank God for them / Even if you are rich, by God's good grace you have this luck / Even if you are poor, by God's good grace you have this luck / Even if you are a soldier, by God's good grace you have this luck / Even if you are a soldier, by God's good grace you have this luck / Even if you are an artist, by God's good grace you have this luck / Believe me, each of us has three lucky days in his life. So up you get, and let's have some fun !

They are all professional artists, rehearsing four days a week in rooms at Gbessia-Port, Conakry.