Ngonifo Zani

Watching the video by Zani Diabaté and the Super Djata Band I posted yesterday, I was reminded of a video with another version of the same song. It is from the same televised concert as "Yacouba" which I posted in August.

Although the song is the same, the performance in this version, which was recorded live in the studio of the RTM (Malian television) in the early 1980s, is far more 'informal' and at times even chaotic. At the start the voices of Daouda 'Flani' Sangaré and Idrissa Magassa are hardly audible, only Alou Fané's characteristic vocal can be heard. I get the impression that Alou had no problem hearing Idrissa and Flani, as he tends to lean a bit on the harmony. When Flani does come through - after about 1'40 - Alou is slightly out of sync. Later on (3'07) an audibly irritated Flani even tries to call Alou to attention.

Meanwhile Zani remains completely undisturbed and from 1'54 even starts jumping up and down. Even when Flani walks over to him (3'35) and addresses him (to complain about Alou??), Zani seems to take no notice and even goes on to do a series of acrobatic stunts, while he continues playing his guitar!
I just love Zani's energy in this song.



PS: "Ngonifo Zani" = "Zani the guitarist"