I recently read a comment posted in Youtube, by someone from Africa, that after viewing a traditional song from Rote, he/she is left wondering if Blues music "really takes its root in Africa". Indeed, several others left similar sounding comments on that particular video, claiming that the song sounds "kinda bluesy". Now, I am quite fond of Blues (which is largely played by African Americans) for its upbeat tempo, and the unique and somewhat raspy voice that many of the Blues singers have.
In the video, the singer is accompanied by his Sasando, a traditional string musical instrument from the island of Rote. It is maybe the long lost cousin of the guitar. You can see a drawing of it below, placed next to the ikat cloth on an old Indonesian banknote. The thing that looks like cloth wrapping on the instrument is actually a resonator made of palm leaves, quite ingenious don't you think? From some of the Youtube videos, modern Sasandos come with a plug for amplifiers.
To play the instrument, one just need to pluck the strings. Sounds easy? it actually looks easy too, because each fingers only need to pluck one string (well, that's what I deduce after seeing the videos). But I'm not too sure if this will be easier than learning to play guitar.
Coming back to the topic of Blues, I don't actually see how the song in the video sounds 'Bluesy'. I don't know how to describe the sound of the instrument, but the tune played sounds Asian, at least in my opinion. The singer on the other hand, sounds like a Native American. Seen a few more of Sasando videos, (one observation, the amazing grace seems to be one popular song to be played on a Sasando) and they still don't sound like Blues to my ears. But don't take my words for it, you might want to drop by youtube and see for yourself. Let me know how you find it.
