Toumani Diabate’s was a blast for New Year’s eve. Sekou and Yacouba joined us for an unforgettable night of wonderful music. This was another upscale place, and the crowd consisted of many non-Africans. One of these patrons was an interesting fellow who went by the name of Joe. He was wearing a three piece tan suit, hand his longish hair tied up in a bun behind his head, and wore about 8 gold rings and numerous gold bracelets. He approached our table and said something to me, inaudible over the music. I looked at Scott, who Joe turned to and Scott said, “Talk to him in English”. “I am,” he replied, a little confused. I was getting so used to being talked to in French or Bambara that it didn’t even occur to me that I might be able to understand him. Turns out he was from Greenwich, CT and had a band with Mali musicians. He also had some connection with One World Football, and organization that makes indestructible soccer balls, and said that he would get me a couple to try out. He even got on stage at one point (some of the members of his band were playing with Diabate) and played his harmonica over the African drummers.

Diabate’s group went on at about 2am. There were two opening groups (the first of which had a gorgeous singer), the second of which was on for the start of the New Year. When the song they were playing at midnight finished, the owner got up on stage to say a few words. We said happy new year to each other and fireworks were being set off outside. The cool thing about the music was that singers and musicians would just come on stage at any time. One women went up for one song and started rapping, which was awesome (not to mention it was totally unexpected).

By the time Diabate stepped up to the stage, there were close to a dozen musicians, numerous singers that would trade off on the mic, and 2 guys who danced to every song. With Toumani ripping on the kora and an incredible talking drum player, they brought down the house. It didn’t take long before most of the crowd was on the dance floor. Even Drew couldn’t resist the soul shaking beats and got up there. At one point, a television camera came to us, and interviewed Scott. Turns out we were on the national news channel. We all had a great time and didn’t end up leaving until about 4 am. Scott and I were still up to see the ball in NYC drop (5 am Bamako time).

Once again, Happy New Year to all of the friends of Little Eagles!

-R