Dusan Reljin
Oran Etkin first came across Malian music during an African dance class in 1998. In the years since then, the Brooklyn-based clarinetist and saxophonist has found a way to make music that draws on his jazz studies and his family roots in traditional Jewish music, as well as his awakening to the great music tradition of Mali.
“When I pick up my horn to play or sit down to write music, elements of Mali, Israel, New Orleans and New York are naturally going to come out in my music,” Etkin says. “The music is therefore a natural reflection of my own experiences and who I am now, and not a purely intellectual exercise in combining musical styles.”
While he plays in a wide variety of settings, all Etkin’s varied influences come together in Kelenia, his 8-year-old group whose 2009 album — “Kelenia,” released under Etkin’s name — was widely hailed for its originality. Featuring Etkin on clarinet and saxophone, Marcos Varela on acoustic bass, Balla Kouyate on balafon (wooden xylophone) and calabash (Malian drum) and Makane Kouyate on vocals, the band performs as part of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s free Sounds of the City series, on Thursday.
Etkin’s 1998 African dance class took place in Boston and was taught by Mohamed “Joh” Camara, a percussionist and dancer from Mali. Soon Etkin was playing in his teacher’s group and with Camara’s uncle, Balla Tounkara, who is an established kora (folk harp) player in Mali.
Then Etkin went to Mali and played with legends such as Toumani Diabaté, Super Rail Band and Habibe Koité, adding his horn to the string- and percussion-based tradition of Malian music.
“I feel very lucky to be playing an instrument that is not common in Malian music,” says Etkin, 32. “If I were a guitarist, I’d be stepping into a long tradition of Malian guitarists, but with saxophone and, definitely, clarinet, there’s not much history to draw upon for that instrument in this music.”
Etkin went through periods where he tried to play his horn like different indigenous instruments such as djembe and kora, or even mimic the vocals of traditional Griot storyteller-singers.
“I was always trying to be as natural as possible when working on the music for Kelenia, and I think that naturalness and ease within music that is new and not familiar to people is one thing that people have been reacting to,” he says.
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