David Gilden:
African kora and mbira mixed with keyboards infuse a modern feel into ancient world music traditions.
For over two decades David Gilden has been performing music on the majestic
twenty-one string, kora, a harp-lute from West Africa. Gilden first heard the
kora in 1978 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in
Washington, DC. At the time, he was studying piano and jazz composition at the
Berklee College of Music in Boston.
After graduating from Berklee 1980, Gilden embarked on his kora studies,
becoming the first American student of Gambian griots Dembo Konte and Malamini
Jobarteh. Over the next 10 years, Gilden transcribed recordings and took lessons
with touring African musicians and received help from ethnomusicology professor
Roderic Knight of Oberlin College.
In 1989, Gilden took his first journey to West Africa to study the kora and
interact with local musicians. To date, he has traveled to the region a total of
nine times. He has traveled extensively throughout The Gambia. In 1995 on his
fifth of nine trips, he traveled to Bamako, Mali, where he lived at the home
master guitarist Djelimady Tounkara. During this three-month stay, Gilden
studied with kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate, gave a concert ORTM (Malian national
television), and honored the first kora player he heard, back in 1978, Batourou
Sekou Kouyaté.
Gilden has released several recordings that have been featured on NPR and on
college radio stations throughout North America. He has been interviewed for Leo
Sarkisian's popular Voice of America program, Music Time in Africa. The Cora
Connection web site went on-line after Gilden returned from this Malian musical
adventure back in the spring of '95. During the 90s Gilden performed regularly
with his world music group, Cora Connection at New England area festivals, clubs
and cultural events. Additionally Cora Connection workshops introduced West
Africa and its rich musical traditions at area schools and colleges. In 2002
Gilden relocated to Dallas-Ft. Worth Texas area, where his passion for music and
his masterful performance on the kora have found a new audience.
World folk music traditions have been a major influence on David Gilden's
musical development. Over the past fifteen years, his performances and
compositions have evolved to include aspects of African, Celtic and Indian
musical traditions. Complementing these ancient elements, Gilden introduces a
strong modern flavor in the sound, reflecting his years of work with keyboards
and electronic music.
You can experience more of David's playing on the following YouTube video.
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