Trio Da Kali Concert Summary

On November 13, 2016, I went with a group of people to the Calvary United Methodist Church in West Philadelphia to see a Trio Da Kali concert. After the concert, to continue the African theme we all went and ate Ethiopian food. It was much different from what I expected, but way too spicy for me. Although that does not impact my research, I thought it was interesting how much different a culture can be in music, and food, despite the countries only being separated by an ocean.
Summary of Field Notes
Generic Overview
The concert venue was a Methodist church, as I previously stated, however the church was round because they also use it as a synagogue and a mosque. Due to the size of the church, the performers were only a few feet away from the audience. This intimate, and almost informal, setting seemed to allow the concert goers to connect more than if it were in a concert hall. Most of the audience were older adults, a few young adults, and one small child in a stroller. Before Trio Da Kali performed, there was an opening act. Kinobe opened the show by playing many instruments,

Post-concert I researched this topic and found a few interesting things. Griots are the poets, historians and musicians of West Africa, their ancestors defined their culture. The people of West Africa believe that the distinguishing factor, kuma (in the Manding languages), between man and mammal is Word, or spoken language. The Power of the Word is revered as “magical, and mystical and that power in West Africa belongs to the griots,” (Griots, page1, para. 1). Therefore, the griot culture is crucial to Mali, without them they believe they are nothing more than mammals. In regards to the concert, the music Trio Da Kali sang were traditional and very meaningful to their culture. As musicians, it is important for them to maintain traditions but they probably put their own spin on the music, as any musician