Toubab Krewe: West Africa meets rock ‘n’ roll America

(Published in Planet JH Weekly)

Toubab Krewe first played the Tetons in March of 2006 during what was then called “Last Tram Days” at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, celebrating the final moments of the resort’s original tram that first opened in 1966.

If you’re a connoisseur of out-of-the-box, yet in-the-pocket music, don’t miss the opportunity to hear mostly instrumental arrangements of traditional West African music meeting head-to-head with American rock styles. The worldly sounds and rhythms are fascinating and intricate, not to mention the Malian instruments—the kora (21-string harp-lute) and the kamelengoni (12-string harp-lute)—that are just as interesting to watch being played as to hear the melodic sounds produced. Add a splash of fuzzed-out blues and jamband improvisation, and welcome to a dizzying melting pot.“Basically Toubab means ‘not African’ or ‘foreigner’ or ‘white dude’ or whatever,” percussionist Luke Quaranta recently told Maui Now. “It essentially means that you are not continental African. We had been calling ourselves that in a tongue and cheek way for years, and eventually we decided to take it on as our name officially.“We were all white guys, but actually our drummer now is African American, and he’s from Louisiana: Baton Rouge…we’ve been moving in a New Orleans direction since we started the band in 2005.”While nearly impossible to put into any one box, Toubab Krewe is certainly muscular, original, and has a globally switched-on sound.Toubab Krewe, 9 p.m. Saturday April 6 at the Pink Garter Theater. Sneaky Pete & the Secret Weapons open. Tickets are $15 at The Rose, Pinky G’s or PinkGarterTheatre.com.