The Music playing on the africahouse.org website is provided by Rusty Eklund and his independent label, In the Bush Records. More of their music is available in the player on the left.
The first musician is Lamine Soumano, "Fakoly Fassa", playing a 21-string kora. Lamine is a Djeli, or Griot, a member of a family responsible for recording their history for the past 1000 years through music.
The second piece is Mahamadou Traore and his djembe drumming ensemble in Bamako, Mali, with Sitan Traore on vocals. They are playing a piece of music from the Wassalou region, N'Grii.
The third piece of music is an acoustic arrangement by Rusty played on a 12-string harp, with Papis Diop on acoustic bass guitar, Seidou Sow and Dioba Gueye on vocals, recorded in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The song is a counsel to two young people, Fatou and Doudou, to be careful in relationships.
Rusty Eklund is an international musician, ethnomusicologist, and teacher who spent 11 years in west Africa studying the music of Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, and Guinea. He started In the Bush Records as a way to highlight the talents of the musicians and teachers he worked with. His label now also produces his own band, Vagabon Tribe, and drumming group, Guerrilla Drummers.