Mandingo Griot Society

Mandingo Griot Society, also known as Mandingo, is a group founded in Chicago in 1977 by Gambian kora master Foday Musa Suso after his move to the USA, in collaboration with percussionist Hamid Drake, bassist Adam Rudolph and drummer Doni Hagan. Together, they formed one of the first ensembles to integrate typically West African instrumentation and aesthetics in a context of fusion with jazz, funk and Western experimental music, particularly from the African-American scene. Their first albums, Mandingo Griot Society (1978) and Mighty Rhythm (1981), released on the Flying Fish label, blended kora and griotic oral tradition with hypnotic grooves, modal textures and a free approach to improvisation, opening up a new field in "world" fusion even before the term was institutionalized. In 1984, under the name Mandinog, they released Watto Sitta, which saw the participation of percussionist and drummer Ginger Baker (ex-Cream), adding a psychedelic rock dimension to their sound. The group is distinguished by its ability to maintain the spiritual and musical integrity of Mandingo tradition while projecting it into avant-garde sonic environments, using the kora as a vehicle for modal improvisation and Suso's voice as a link between traditional narrative and contemporary political consciousness. In 1990, the fourth and final opus, New World Power, brought the group closer to electronic sounds. The project, although not a commercial success, nonetheless infused jazz and avant-garde music circles, becoming an influence and reference point for future collaborations between West African musicians and the Western creative scene, and contributing to the rise of the kora as an instrument of this intercultural dialogue. Foday Musa Suso went on to record under his own name and participate in numerous projects alongside Philip Glass, Herbie Hancock and Bill Laswell. He died on May 25, 2025 at the age of 70.

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