Ida teaching tourists to play an ancient traditional game from West Africa is this week’s travel snap. I love the expressions on their faces. Can anyone beat Ida?

I first came across the game of wuri when I saw a family playing it in a back street in Mindelo on São Vicente, one of the islands of Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa. A year later, this time on the island of Sal, some locals challenged me to play wuri with them. Most of the games I apparently won even though I didn’t have clue how!  Before I left the island I bought a wuri board as a souvenir but was somewhat disappointed that I didn’t understand how the game was played.

It wasn’t until a few years later when I was on an excursion in The Gambia, ‘Cooking with Ida’, that I discovered the simple rules of wuri. It was fun to see how the game brought out the competitive streak in all of us and while we waited for the fish benechin to cook we had a mini wuri tournament!

In case anyone else has bought a wuri board whilst on holiday but is uncertain how to play here are the rules, as explained by Ida.

Wuri rules
This is a game for two players. The board is divided into two parts, one side for each player and each side has 6 holes or pots. Before the game starts 4 beans are placed in each hole.

Players take it in turns to pick up the beans from one pot and place a single bean in each of the next pots in an anti-clockwise direction. Each player can only play with beans picked up on their side of the board.

If the last pot they put a bean into then contains 2, 4 or 6 beans (whether it is on the players side or their opponents side) the player wins those beans and puts them to one side.

If there are no beans on your side to play then you miss a go and continue missing a go until there are beans on your side again.

When neither player can play anymore each player counts up the beans they have won. The winner is the person who has collected the most beans.

A while ago now I spent a very wonderful and very hectic three days rushing around Senegal on a photography trip for The Senegal Experience.

Here’s another photograph from that trip of some traditional textiles in a market in Saly. I love all the colours, patterns and pictures used in these textiles and I think it is no coincidence that I started wearing a lot more bright colours myself since I started visiting West Africa.

You can read about my visit to Bandia Nature Reserve near Saly in my post ‘A close encounter of the wild kind’.

And see more photographs from Senegal on Flickr.

Photograph on the right (me shopping in Senegal) courtesy of Louise.

If you’re using uencounter.me I’ve pinned Saly’s location.

This is a new feature for my blog as each week I’ll share with you one of my favourite photos from my travels, the first being this young man in Brikama, The Gambia, West Africa.

With musicians from three different continents it is hardly surprising that, Bristol based group, Baraka’s musical influences reach around the globe as they skillfully blend music from West African highlife and South African township with Caribbean calypso, soca and reggae to produce a unique and exciting mix of polyphonic rhythms, soaring melodies and funky dance grooves.

After headling at Nyodema’s Festival in 2008, they were such a hit with the audience that when Baraka asked to return the following year we responded with a resounding ‘Yes!’. This year kora player and percussionist, Mamadou Cissoko, joined them on stage adding even greater depth and energy to their wonderful music.

Baraka at Nyodema 2009, courtesy of Adam White

Their line-up includes Ben Baddoo on vocals, percussion and balafon. Ben started drumming with his older brothers when he was six in his home village of Nsakina in Ghana.  At 17 he joined a professional drum and dance troupe and went on to form his own group, Sankofa, with whom he toured all over Ghana. In the 1980’s, after being discovered by a UK promoter, they became one of the first exponents of African drum and dance in the UK.  Ben is now a highly respected session player, having worked with artists as diverse as Vangellis, Peter Gabriel and Temple of Sound. He is also well known for his drum and dance workshops, which he has held in festivals around the world as well as in UK schools and colleges. A solo drum track that he recorded for the Womad Talking Book CD is now part of the UK Schools curriculum.

Guitarist, Simwinji Zeko, spent many years performing and recording throughout Zambia and South Africa before moving to Europe. He now lives in the UK and plays with a number of bands including Baraka.

Baraka’s drummer, Mark Bradley, was born in Belfast and his first taste of music was drumming in punk bands as a teenager. He has lived in the UK for 20 years and has played (and still does) with numerous bands covering a wide variety of musical genres.

Royston Gage on bass guitar and vocals brings the sounds of  The Caribbean to the group having played with soca and reggae bands in his homeland of the Commonwealth of Dominica before moving to the UK.  Other early musical experiences include hanging out with Led Zeppelin when they used his band’s rehearsal room on the island!

Saxophonist, Brendan Whitmore comes from Carlow, Eire. He discovered world music through reggae, having been a founder member of Bristol’s first and foremost reggae band Talisman with whom he has enjoyed numerous TV appearances, chart success and played on the same stage as the Rolling Stones.

Senegalese Kora player, Mamadou Cissoko, spends much of his time running workshops and story telling as a solo artist. He doesn’t usually play with a band but he particularly likes Baraka’s music and ethics so when available he’s only too happy to join Baraka as a guest artist.

With such a wealth of experience to draw on it is no wonder that they are now delighting audiences the length and breadth of Britain, as well as mainland Europe and Ireland with their exciting blend of world music. Every time I see them I find it impossible to sit down, even if I’ve been on my feet all day running a festival, I just have to get up and dance!

www.barakamusic.co.uk

For  more photographs please visit Nyodema’s Flickr stream