AINIKE with HARMATTAN ROAD and DJ GENERAL ECLECTIC at the Silver Dollar (486 Spadina), Saturday (February 7), 9:30 pm. $10. 416-763-9139.
An exciting Toronto Afro-funk group grooving on traditional Malinke-style rhythms from Guinea might not seem that unusual. What’s intriguing about Ainike is that none of its 10 members is from Guinea or grew up immersed in Malinke culture.
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The ensemble was founded by Kensington Market naturopath Karen Hack along with her lawyer pal Toby Goldbach, whose shared passion for djembe-slapping eventually grew beyond their weekly drum circle throwdowns. Ainike has been expanding and evolving ever since.
“My interest in Malinke rhythms was piqued when I saw some West African drumming at the Red Skies Festival a few years ago,” explains Hack.
“After I started getting into the djembe, I began to participate in community drum circles here run by Muhtadi, which I found very therapeutic. The complex way the Malinke dundun patterns interweave and work together was endlessly fascinating.
“Over the years, we’ve had people from various musical backgrounds join the band – wonderful players including Chris Bottomley and Richard Underhill – who’ve each contributed to the Ainike sound, but it’s still those traditional Malinke rhythms at the core.”
You can hear just how far Ainike has evolved from their purely percussive origins when they preview the songs from their forthcoming debut album Saturday night. The lineup is bolstered by virtuosic guitarist Eric St-Laurent and an opening set by the similarly percussion-heavy Harmattan Road, a side project formed by Mr. Something Something’s Marcus Ali and Dave Chan as an outlet for their interest in Ghanaian rhythms.
“We had a wonderful time recording at Blue Rodeo’s studio on the Danforth,” says Hack. “The idea was to document our original songs and maybe use the recording as a way of getting our music to a larger audience outside Toronto. It would be interesting to hear what people from Guinea think of our music.”
Mutadi by Ainike
timp@nowtoronto.com
