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Kora plethoraUganda’s Kinobe Herbert breaks
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by ERIN MACLEOD Uganda’s Kinobe (pronounced “chee-no-bay”) Herbert plays a traditional West African instrument, the kora. He also plays very non-traditional music with his kora. But this is not incongruous in any way for the 26-year-old, who’s interested in challenging people’s notion of “world music.” Catching up with him in between dates on his North American tour with his band, Soul Beat Africa, Kinobe—a personality as engaging as his music—took the time to discuss the whys and wherefores of his music and musical philosophy with the Mirror. Mirror: How did you get involved with the kora? Kinobe Herbert: I’m from Uganda, but I don’t think that my music is Ugandan music. My goal is creating a sound that is a global sound, that everyone can appreciate. When I was young, about 10 years old, I started travelling. I went to Europe to perform, and I met a kora player. I was playing an instrument from Uganda that looks like the kora, but it’s not as big. I fell in love with the kora. It became my dream to travel and find the origin of this instrument. So in 2003, I went to the family of Toumani Diabate and I started playing the kora. I learnt other instruments from West Africa, but also from other parts of the world. The main reason for doing this is to try to not nationalize my music as Ugandan. I believe music can remove all borders because these borders are in the mind. For me, I think of myself as an African musician, a world musician. Yes, I come from Uganda, but what is really important is to see people as people and the world all as one village. This is why I combine all of these instruments. M: Fans of world music often seem to want to hear supposedly “authentic” music from countries in Africa. KH: People have to remember that all the instruments that we play today in specific countries don’t necessarily come from these countries. Instruments have been moving through history, by the immigration of people. When you talk about world music, I have my own philosophy. People have to remember, for instance, that rock ’n’ roll came from funk, funk came from jazz, jazz came from blues and blues came with slavery—and the slaves came from Africa. All of these types of music dates back to Africa, the native countries playing traditional music. M: What is your goal when you make music? KH: In Mali, the kora is played as a traditional instrument for a lot of traditional ceremonies. What I do is I take these types of instruments but I don’t play only traditional music. I try to use the instruments to play blues, to play funk, jazz, pop—to show that I can use the instruments to play Latin music, bossa nova from Brazil. It’s interesting for me and challenging to adjust to the world’s sounds. A lot of people have been a bit critical, saying that it’s not purely traditional music and that I am altering this music. But this is my intention. I don’t want to look at people as limited. I want to be in front of people as a musician, a person who appreciates everything, who wants to use my instrument from my roots to bring all these cultures together. AT CLUB BALATTOU ON |
