Christer Bothén – Donso N’Goni (Variations On A Theme From Wassoulou)

A linchpin of Swedish jazz -  who taught Don Cherry how to play the Donso n’goni, a Malian sacred harp of the hunter caste of Wassoulou society - yields his 1st ever solo performance on the instrument to Oren Ambarchi’s wide-eared Black Truffle: seven sinuous, entrancing, buzzing folk-bluesy jams accompanied by bass and metal scraper, produced by Johan Berthling to capture all the details.

“Black Truffle is thrilled to present the first ever solo Donso n’goni recording from octogenarian Swedish multi-instrumentalist Christer Bothén. Active in the Swedish jazz and improvisation scene since the 1970s, often heard on bass clarinet, Bothén travelled to Mali in 1971, eventually making his way to the Wassoulou region in the country’s south where he encountered the Donso n’goni, the sacred harp of the hunter caste of Wassoulou society. Though playing the instrument has traditionally been restricted to those who belong to the hunters’ brotherhood, Bothén found an enthusiastic teacher in Brouema Dobia, who, after many months of intensive one-on-one lessons, gave Bothén his blessing to play the instrument both traditionally and in his own style. Returning to Sweden, he would go on to pass on what he had learned to Don Cherry and play the Donso n’goni in a wide variety of inventive settings, including the driving Afro-jazz-fusion of his Trancedance (reissued as BT118).

The seven pieces of Christer Bothén Donso n’goni offer up a stunning showcase of Bothén’s work on this remarkable instrument, heard entirely unaccompanied, except for the final piece where he is joined on a second Donso n’goni by his student and collaborator, the virtuoso bassist Kansan/Torbjorn Zetterberg, and Marianne N’Lemvo Linden on the metal Karanjang scraper. Produced by Johan Berthling (of Fire! & Ghosted) and recorded in three sessions in Stockholm between 2019 and 2023 in richly detailed high fidelity, the instrument’s buzzing, sonorous bass strings make an immediate, overwhelming sonic impression. Hyper-focused on hypnotically repeating pentatonic patterns, the seven pieces are at once relentlessly single-minded and endlessly rich in subtle variations. The concentrated listening environment turns small details, such as the deployment of the instrument’s segesege rattle on two of the pieces, into major events. Six of the seven pieces are traditional, with Bothén contributing the remaining ‘La Baraka’, but the line between tradition and the individual talent is imaginary here: as Bothén explained in a recent interview with The Wire’s Clive Bell, ‘I play traditional and untraditional, and I play the music forward and backward’. While the traditional Wassoulou pieces provide the rhythmic and harmonic elements, Bothén’s individuality as a performer is alive in every moment, felt acutely in boundless variations of attack, improvisational flourishes, and unexpected accelerations and decelerations. Captured entirely live and bristling with spontaneity, this music is undeniably the product of almost half a decade of Bothén’s devotion to the Donso n’goni and its traditional music.

Accompanied by detailed new liner notes by Bothén and stunning colour photos from his time in Mali, Christer Bothén Donso n’goni is a stunning document of a remarkable instrument, played with an almost spiritual intensity by one of contemporary music’s great explorers.” -Boomkat

Christer Bothén

Christer Bothén born 1941 in Gothenburg, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Composer, musician and artist. His main instruments are bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, donso n’goni and guimbri. Bothén spent 1971 - 72 in Mali, where he studied hunter’s music and donso n’goni with master Broema Dombia in Bougouni, Wassoulut. In 1977 he took up gnawa music studies with master Maalem Abdellatif Elmakhzoumi in Marrakech, who he studied with until the master passed away in 2017. From 1970 onwards, Bothén collaborated with Don Cherry, and he also taught Cherry the donso n’goni. In 1980 Bothén started Bolon Bata, a band that toured intensively, performing Bothéns compositions. Its members included Bosse Skoglund, Marianne N’Lemvo and Ulf Lindén. Later the band became Bolon X, adding band members Morgan Ågren and Rafael Sida. From 1990 onwards, Bothén has continued leading his own groups, and has also collaborated frequently with multi-reedist Mats Gustafsson, performance artist and musician Sara Lundén and cornetist Goran Kajfeš.

''My interest in African music — I mean to really study, to go there and study with a master — started when in the late sixties I visited Marrakech and, in the great square Djema el Fna, was exposed to Gnaoua music for the first time. I’d never heard anything like it before. I asked Maalem Mohamedh Kra one night, “What is this?” He answered, “This is Gnaoua and we are Olud Bambara, sons of Bambara”. Later I came to know about the trans-Saharan slave trade and that Bambara country was known as Mali.

I went to Mali and stayed there for several months from 1971-72. After visiting the north of the country I got very sick and nearly died. I ended up in Bougpuni (at that time hardly more than a village with only one store buildings and round huts) in Wassoulou. I was looking for the oldest music, the sound of traditional instruments. Sound was my hero.

After many twists and turns I got to know Brouema Dobia, a hunter bard (Yeli). One day he stepped into my room in full hunter regalia with a Donso n´goni and a friend who played the metal scraper Karayen. Brouema was a master musician and became my friend and teacher.

I had an instrument built for me. The Donso-Ton, the hunters brotherhood, was divided in two: for and against my education. When I left I had Brouema’s blessing to play the instrument in my own way as well as in the traditional patterns and I promised to spread knowledge of the hunters of Wassoulou and to let the Donso n´goni be heard outside Mali.

Not long after my homecoming Don Cherry knocked at my door. I think he came to know about me from doing a theatre project in Gothenburg. He was really interested in handmade instruments and very fascinated by the Donso n´goni. He wanted me to play with him and we played together off and on for several years. I played the Donso n´goni for him, as well as piano, bass clarinet and saxophone. We toured all around Europe and Scandinavia and played in New York for the soundtrack of Jodorowsky’s film The Holy Mountain and also at the Newport Jazz Festival. Later my friend Steve Roney brought back a Donso n´goni from Artesana in Bamako and gave it to Don. So I became Don Cherry’s teacher and he became mine. He drenched me in his and Ornette Coleman´s music. I gave Don traditional patterns together with patterns of my own, which he used in his music. I have had other students playing the Donso n´goni. One is the famous mountain climber Said Belhaj and another the Zen Master Kansan Zetterberg. I never went back to Mali; I lost contact with Brouema and the hunters. Even if bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet are now my main instruments I still play Donso n´goni and I am still fascinated by its sound.

There is a hunter proverb saying that one who plays the Donso n´goni will allways play the Donso n´goni: N´goni foula tara don n´goni foula!''

Christer Bothén
Stockholm, August 2024

Black Truffle presents the first ever solo Donso n'goni recording from octogenarian Swedish multi-instrumentalist Christer Bothén. Active in the Swedish jazz and improvisation scene since the 1970s, often heard on bass clarinet, Bothén travelled to Mali in 1971, eventually making his way to the Wassoulou region in the country's south where he encountered the Donso n'goni, the sacred harp of the hunter caste of Wassoulou society. Though playing the instrument has traditionally been restricted to those who belong to the hunters' brotherhood, Bothén found an enthusiastic teacher in Brouema Dobia, who, after many months of intensive one-on-one lessons, gave Bothén his blessing to play the instrument both traditionally and in his own style. Returning to Sweden, he would go on to pass on what he had learned to Don Cherry and play the Donso n'goni in a wide variety of inventive settings, including the driving Afro-jazz-fusion of his Trancedance (BT 118LP, 2024). The seven pieces of Christer Bothén Donso n'goni offer up a stunning showcase of Bothén's work on this remarkable instrument, heard entirely unaccompanied, except for the final piece where he is joined on a second Donso n'goni by his student and collaborator, the virtuoso bassist Kansan/Torbjorn Zetterberg, and Marianne N'Lemvo Linden on the metal Karanjang scraper. Recorded in three sessions in Stockholm between 2019 and 2023 in richly detailed high fidelity, the instrument's buzzing, sonorous bass strings make an immediate, overwhelming sonic impression. Hyper-focused on hypnotically repeating pentatonic patterns, the seven pieces are at once relentlessly single-minded and endlessly rich in subtle variations. The concentrated listening environment turns small details, such as the deployment of the instrument's segesege rattle on two of the pieces, into major events. Six of the seven pieces are traditional, with Bothén contributing the remaining "La Baraka," but the line between tradition and the individual talent is imaginary here. While the traditional Wassoulou pieces provide the rhythmic and harmonic elements, Bothén's individuality as a performer is alive in every moment, felt acutely in boundless variations of attack, improvisational flourishes, and unexpected accelerations and decelerations. Captured entirely live and bristling with spontaneity, this music is undeniably the product of almost half a decade of Bothén's devotion to the Donso n'goni and its traditional music. Accompanied by detailed new liner notes by Bothén and color photos from his time in Mali, Christer Bothén Donso n'goni is a stunning document of a remarkable instrument.

VISIT https://blacktruffle.bandcamp.com/

The black truffle has a place in gastronomy alongside saffron, caviar, foie gras and the finest of wines. Widely considered as the jewel of French cooking it is prized for its unique flavour and intoxicating aroma. The resident chef at Black Truffle Records has found that the best method for finding the "diamond of the kitchen" requires the use of a divining stick and facing into the sun. 

Christer Bothén – Donso N’Goni

Label: Black Truffle – BT133
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: Australia
Released: Sep 2025
Style: African, Folk
Source: Digital / ttou

Variations On A Theme From Wassoulou
1. Zindi Windi, To Maalem Sidi Amara 4:07
2. Kakani Kakani, To Brouema Doumbia 3:32
3. Reh Chergi 7:27
4. Fantasma 4:10
5. Yalla 6:07
6. La Baraka 4:37
7. Waso Manjé 7:13

Credits
Design – Lasse Marhaug
Executive Producer – Johan Berthling
Mixed By, Mastered By – Joe Talia
Ngoni [Donso N’Goni] – Kansan Zetterberg
Ngoni [Donso N’Goni], Liner Notes – Christer Bothén
Photography – Ziga Koritnik
Recorded By – Mats Äleklint
Scraper [Karignan] – Marianne N'Lemvo Lindén

Notes
Recorded December 17th 2019, May 22nd 2022, and July 4th 2023 at BAS Bandhagen, Stockholm.

Mixed and mastered April 2025 at Good Mixture, Melbourne.