Conga Room Opens Its Doors to World

Finding world music in a nightclub setting is not nearly as easy as locating a spot tohear some jazz or pop. There are no world music rooms in the Southland with week-in, week-out bookings of national acts comparable to the jazz performances available at the Jazz Bakery and Catalina Bar & Grill or the pop, rock and rap at numerous locations.

The Conga Room, however, is trying to change that.

The Wilshire District club has been a dependable destination for listeners eager to hear world-class Latin artists. Now, in an effort to expand the franchise to embrace music from other parts of the world, the Conga Room is programming some unexpected, definitely non-Latin players. Earlier this week Indian tabla player Trilok Gurtu put in an appearance. Tonight the Irish band Solas performs, and next Friday the club showcases two major Malian artists, singer Oumou Sangare and singer-guitarist Habib Koite.

“With a business one is always looking for new opportunities,” says Martin Fleischmann, co-owner (with Brad Gluckstein) of the Conga Room. “What we have to offer is an intimate performance space that allows dancing and socializing and drinking. And that gives some of these groups the opportunity to perform in an environment that’s much more like what they’re used to. If you see Oumou Sangare in Mali, for example, you’re probably not going to see her in a theater.”

Fleischmann notes that the Conga Room’s ability to arrange a booking on relatively short notice opens opportunities for acts that can’t manage long lead times.

“We’re not like the large performance arts venues that normally would host some of these world music acts,” he says. “Centers such as UCLA might be the first choice for some performers, but often they just can’t book themselves as far ahead as UCLA requires.

“And, of course, some of them can’t draw well enough for venues the size of Royce Hall. So in that sense, we’re trying to give some of these ensembles an opportunity they might not otherwise get to work in the area.”

Reaching outside the Latin music arena has produced mixed results for the Conga Room. Italian singer Paolo Conte’s appearance last year drew a packed house; so did African trumpeter Hugh Masekela; but African bassist and singer Richard Bona did not.

But the club will continue reach into other areas, in part because of a desire to draw a diverse audience, in part because there’s a limited supply of available Latin and tropical performers.

“In terms of national, salsa and tropical music acts,” says Fleischmann, “there appears to be a reluctance on the part of many artists to come to the West Coast because they don’t have enough gigs out here to make it manageable moneywise. So they tend to ask for too much money--more than is feasible for the presenters to manage.”

Nonetheless, the Conga Room intends to maintain its strong Latin orientation. But the more eclectic global programming will continue--with good reasons, both artistically and commercially.

Says Fleischmann, “There are a lot of days in the week, and our ultimate goal is to present amazing music--whatever part of the world it comes from--every night.”

*

A first-rate example of that “amazing music” arrives next Friday at the Conga Room in the person of Koite, on a bill with Sangare. Praised by everyone from Joan Baez to Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, Koite is one of Africa’s most important new voices. Last year, his album “Ma Ya” (on Putumayo) topped the European world music charts for three months.

Like singers such as Henri Dikongue and Wasis Diop, Koite brings a gentle, singer-songwriter style to his melodically appealing original songs--despite the fact that his early influences were Jimi Hendrix and Alvin Lee.

“I think I am calm, and soft as well,” says Koite. “But, you know, I come from a big family, so I have had to learn how to be strong too. And those are the qualities I try to express in my music.”

Although Koite’s background traces to a long line of traditional griots, or hereditary musicians, he studied flute as well as guitar at Mali’s National Institute of Arts in Bamako. His laid-back style moves easily across the many ethnic traditions in Mali’s rich musical culture.

“Our music, has always been important to us,” says Koite, “because without a written history our stories have traditionally been transmitted through songs and storytelling.”

In that sense, Koite’s narrative-style music, which moves from love songs to social commentary, is a new extension of a very ancient lineage. And he views it with great seriousness.

“I speak of Africa in my songs,” he says. “I think we have lost something of our culture, and it is hard for us to find it again. But the truth is that the same problem exists everywhere in the world.

“I have an opportunity, and it’s a chance for me to speak for people who do not have an audience as I do. And when I make a CD and it is sent everywhere and played on the radio, it is an opportunity for me to say something about my culture and about the importance of its survival.”

* Habib Koite, with Oumou Sangare, next Friday at the Conga Room, 5364 Wilshire Blvd., 8 p.m. $20 and $45. (323) 938-1696.

Don Heckman writes about world music for the Times. He can be reached at djh@earthlink.net.