Who is the Senegalese musician in the video in the Field Museum?

November 7, 2014 12:47 PM

When I was on vacation in Chicago last year I stopped by the Field Museum and happened to catch a video in the Senegal exhibit of a musician playing and singing a song that I thought was really beautiful. I recall that he was playing the kora and that the lyrics pertained to a shaman or similar person. I have tried looking on the Field Museum website and sending them an email but no dice so far. Does anyone know who is in the video and/or the name of the song?
posted by capricorn to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh, quick note, just as a preemptive thing - I'd really appreciate if you didn't answer unless you are familiar with this particular video or know a better way for me to get the info from the Field Museum. It seemed like it was a field recording so I doubt this person is a well known musician or has other recordings or videos available.
posted by capricorn at 1:13 PM on November 7, 2014

Maybe try to reach out to Emily Graslie? (Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr) She is the "face" of the Field Museum, answers a lot of questions, and has a YouTube series that's all about digging into the museum's various exhibits.
posted by Woodroar at 10:52 AM on November 8, 2014

Best answer: If you haven't gotten any joy from Ms. Graslie, I can tell you it was Soriba Kouyate. I was just there yesterday to see the Vodou exhibit, and I went out of my way to check out the video because I'd seen it once before and he was extremely good. That linked video is a pretty different style of music, but then again it was recorded probably a decade after the Field Museum's video, where he does mention wanting to be an innovator in kora music. You can tell by the pic in the video, though, that it's him
posted by adamdschneider at 1:05 PM on November 24, 2014

Best answer: Oh, and the lyrics were along the lines of, "You can have money, but you may still not be happy. It's the will of God, it's not your fault. It's God's doing, you did nothing to deserve it."
posted by adamdschneider at 1:20 PM on November 24, 2014

Response by poster: That's the one! You rule!
posted by capricorn at 9:31 AM on November 26, 2014

Response by poster: To add to that, I've never been so glad to be wrong about whether more recordings were available.
posted by capricorn at 9:33 AM on November 26, 2014

Sad to say there will be no more.

:(
posted by adamdschneider at 12:29 PM on November 26, 2014