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Let me introduce you to a new friend of mine.

This is Mady Kouyate:

He was the person who provided processional and recessional music for Grace Balmer’s wedding, which I photographed several weeks ago. I wrote a blog about it here. At that time, I didn’t know his name, but because of the absolutely magical nature of his playing, I wanted to know more.

I first saw Mady play at the open mic night at TC’s Speakeasy in Ypsilanti several months ago. When he got up on stage, I turned to my friend Randall from the Ragbirds and said, “what is this?” In a venue where the instrument of choice is the ubiquitous acoustic guitar, Mady’s Kora stuck out like a very large sore thumb. Randall explained that Mady is a Senegal-born player of the African Kora, which is a 21 stringed harp. I was transfixed, riveted to my seat by his playing. It’s a flurry of notes in an unusual scale (unusual to my Western ears anyway) with a wonderful undercurrent of traditional west African rhythms. If you’d like to hear a sample for yourself, Mady recently recorded a CD at the Good Noise Studio in Ypsilanti, where he now lives, and graciously consented to allow Good Noise to post one of their recordings here.

You can find more information on Mady at this link, (which seems to work intermittently), or you can also try here, a performance review in “Ann Arbor Paper” with a bio included.

He apparently plays around town and does at least one show annually at the Ark on Main Street in Ann Arbor. Anyone finds out he’s playing a show, email me and let’s go get our senses dazzled.

Oh, and BY THE WAY. If you haven’t checked out the Ragbirds in concert, you should make a point of it. They are playing out all the time in the metro Detroit area, and put on a fantastic show. Two of the tracks on their album “Yes Nearby” were recorded in my studio, while Erin was in the process of recruiting Randall, Adam, Jeff and Greg to form the band. Their schedule lives here.

Man I’ve been busy.

Saturday on the weekend before last, Grace Balmer got married, and I went along with Christine Jones to take photos and learn. Some of them actually came out OK, as you can see below. Nice couple, non-traditional wedding. The wedding music was done by a couple of African guys, one of whom I had seen play at TC’s Speakeasy in Ypsilanti. They were phenomenal. Hand drums and something like an African harp. When Grace was “processing” down the aisle, they were singing in their native tongue, and adding her name along with the playing. It was absolutely magical.

Sunday of that same weekend, I shot another wedding, but that will have to wait for another post.

And, THIS weekend, I’m shooting yet another wedding and doing the videography as well. Ought to be an interesting test of my multitasking skills (or lack thereof…)

Here is Grace and her freshly minted groom “recessing”:

Groomsmen were all in bare feet. Heh.

Holding hands during their vows:

The “ring shot”:

Lovely bridesmaids, lovely dresses, lovely flowers…:

I thought they way they had done the dresses and flowers was phenomenal, striking, pretty, all that. I like this shot:

More to come………stay tuned.