Alfresco funky time with Moussa Diallo Quartet

By Jim Read

JAKARTA (JP): There was only a light breeze wafting through the piazza at Kafe Taman Semanggi on Wednesday evening, so the aroma of clove cigarettes mingled with the smoke from the nearby satay stalls and lingered in the air.

Diners relaxed in the upper floors of the cafes and restaurants on the periphery, chatting, laughing and generally having a good time. People drifted in and out as they pleased, without feeling they were disturbing the audience, while cigarette and magazine sellers mingled with the crowd.

These were the ingredients for a very relaxed, laid-back atmosphere that provided the backdrop for an open-air concert by the funky Moussa Diallo Quartet, whose musical improvisations encompass elements of jazz and rock, and capture the soul of the fusion between western and traditional African sounds. The gig was part of the JakArt@2001 arts festival, and fortunately there will be two more chances to catch them over the weekend.

Each member of the quartet is an accomplished musician in his own right. Moussa Diallo (bass guitar, vocals) has the multicultural background that comes from having a Danish mother and Malian father and, in his own words, a coffee-colored skin to match.

He is accompanied by Danish instrumentalists Mikkel Noraso and Klaus Menzer (guitar and drums respectively) and the two-meter- tall Basiru Suso from Gambia and Mali who plays the kora. This is a kind of 21-stringed harp, but from a distance it looks like a guitar with an extra-long neck and a bulbous, almost hemispherical body that has an animal skin stretched over it.

The instrument can make sounds that are something like a cross between a hurdy-gurdy (albeit a sophisticated one) and a lute, the medieval precursor of the modern guitar, and was originally used in ceremonial and religious rituals. In Basiru's hands it adds a lyrical authenticity and essential African flavor to the quartet's music.

The raw energy of rock, funk and traditional African music were highlighted by the extremely funky bass, a swinging jazz- rock guitar, fierce drums and the alluring, slightly detached, plaintive sounds of the kora. Vocals by Diallo for many of the songs were sung in Bambara, the Malian language that has a lilting meter of its own, which, together with the band's colorful costumes, added ethnic authenticity to the performance.

The first set started gently, but was punctuated soon enough by a series of rousing peaks of musical intensity, characterized by a relentless, driving rhythm from bass and drums that it was impossible not to tap your foot to. There were shades of 1970s progressive rock in the guitar riffs, which confirmed the quartet's claim that it has been influenced by a wide range of music that includes, among others, Hendrix, James Brown and Santana.

The warmth of Diallo's personality quickly communicated itself to the audience, whose participation was not only encouraged, but positively demanded when, at one point, Basiru leaped from the stage into the crowd to drag people to the front who danced energetically under his impromptu tutelage.

There were also more introspective numbers, including one titled Lumumba, dedicated to an African freedom fighter, and another, We are what we are, with a faster section that bore a passing reference to the music of Level 42.

The concert was memorable for the spontaneity it generated (on behalf of both performers and audience) and it captured the essence of what JakArt@2001 is supposed to be all about: an international festival of good quality artistic entertainment, put on for all comers regardless of background, and with no other pretensions.

Diallo was impressed by the unabashed enjoyment of the crowd, as Indonesian audiences can sometimes be somewhat reserved. He doesn't care whether he plays at a large or small venue, for in his own words, "the main thing is the contact".

The Moussa Diallo Quartet will perform at 8:30 p.m. on Friday at the Komodo Bar, Hotel Atlet Century Park, Senayan, South Jakarta, and at 8 a.m. on Sunday at Taman Balai Kota DKI, Monas Park, Central Jakarta.