Global Arts Live presented a terrific livestream concert on October sixth, 2020. Natu Camara sang from her home studio for 70 minutes. She was accompanied by two musicians. One played African drums. The other man played a stringed instrument made from a large gourd – perhaps two feet in diameter – with a neck perhaps four feet long. I believe it was a kora, which has 21 strings. Ms. Camara sat wearing a floor-length dress with a sort of impressionistic print on a light background, her hair long and braided.
Ms. Camara is from Guinea and all but two of the songs were in an African language. She never told us what language she was singing in, but Ms. Camara is known to sing in several, including Soussou and Fulani, the languages of two of Guinea’s largest ethnic groups. I was relieved of understanding of the lyrics, and it was great.
The first song, she told us, was written by her ancestor in Guinea. It’s about a wedding canceled because of the death of the bride. She explained that griots sang the news, making even bad news sound like good news, and that tradition explains why this tragic ballad sounded not at all mournful. After the song she explained that “the griots go very, very, very high” in pitch but she was restraining herself from singing high because she was in her living room. Still, I thought that her voice wasn’t warmed up for this song. After that, it was mellifluous. Her voice is rather low and has fine strength when she wants it to.
For the next song, Child, written for children, she played the guitar while she sang. She deliberately rasped sometimes, an interesting choice for a children’s song. The third song, Trusted one, was about “the place where you go to hide“. The guys on the instruments joined in vocally, singing a lyric riff. Sometimes she sang in vocalese – Ah-pa-la – Ya-la-la – and invited us to sing along.
Throughout the concert, the work on the gourd was wonderful, as was the work on the drums. Sometimes the gourd sounded like the patter of rain. Between songs she addressed us in an almost intimate way. “Use this moment to re-create yourself,” she said, “Reconnect with yourself”
This fourth song was called Cry. “I wrote this song when I was very, very, very young,” she told us, “Its message is to cry and to make you dance“. It certainly wasn’t a wail; with its jumpy rhythms, it sounded like dance music. The fifth song was jumpy as well. She barked sometimes, almost like Streisand, and sometimes held a note luxuriously. Sometimes she seemed to be singing for herself, the way Laura Nyro used to sing. She would riff repeating a single word.
The penultimate song was song is in English and another language. “You gotta keep on going,” she sang, smiling. “Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello“ Her encore was in English as well. “Make sure you take care of your family and your friends and everybody… Keep your lights on.”
What a great, life-affirming concert!
More about Natu Camara
Author: Steve Capra
