Oct 14, 2014

RhoDeo 1441 Roots

Hello, we skip passed Sierra Leone to drop in at the source of the current Ebola epidemic, Guinea which is a muslim country that has closed it's borders but the damage is done. Unfortunately the world hasn't quarantined the whole region yet which means that the rest of the world can expect Ebola to come to a door near to you..plenty of suicide terrorists who would love to damn millions....


Today a Guinean jazz group that gained fame in the 1960s for their Afropop rhythms. They are considered one of the most significant bands in Guinean music. Many of their recordings are based on traditional folk music in the country and have been fused with jazz and Afropop style. Featuring guitarist Sekou 'Diamond Fingers' Diabaté, who grew up in a traditional griot musical family, the band won over fans in Conakry, Guinea's capital city, during the heady days of that country's newfound independence. They fell onto harder times in the 1980s and disbanded for a number of years, but reformed in the late 1990s and have toured Europe and North America in the early 2000s.. ... N'joy

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In the aftermath of the Guinean Independence in 1958 and through the cultural policy of "authenticité", which encouraged cultural pride, numerous bands were created throughout the regions of Guinea. Guinea's President, Ahmed Sékou Touré, disbanded all private dance orchestras and replaced them with state-supported groups, such as Keletigui Et Ses Tambourinis and Balla et ses Balladins. The most popular was Bembeya Jazz National, formed in 1961.

Bembeya Jazz, also referred to as the Orchestre de Beyla in the early days, started as the regional orchestra from the town of Beyla in southern Guinea. They were formed with the help of the local governor, Emile Kondé, to act as the region’s "orchestre moderne". The initial line up included Sékou Camara and Achken Kaba in the brass section on trumpets, Sékou Diabaté on guitar who was the youngest member at the time, Hamidou Diaouné on bass and Mory "Mangala" Condé on drums. Leo Sarkisian (who went on to join the Africa Service of the Voice of America in 1963 recorded Orchestre de Beyla in 1961 for the Hollywood based Tempo International label (Tempo 7015). The band were just being formed in Beyla and according to Sarkisian, called themselves Orchestra Bembeya, after a local river. The session also featured the female singer Jenne Camara as part of the band. The recording, one of ten Tempo LPs featuring a variety of Guinean music recorded by Sarkisian, was not released commercially. All 10 LPs were pressed in limited editions of 2,500 and released in 1962, but the majority of them were sent to the Guinean government. Bembeya's album was titled Sons nouveaux d'une nation nouvelle. République de Guinée. 2 Octobre 1962. 4ème anniversaire de l'independance nationale. Orchestre de Beyla and included the songs Présentation, Yarabi, Lele, Din ye kassila, Wonkaha douba, Seneiro, Wassoulou and Maniamba.

They became better known as Bembeya Jazz after the release of their first album and added singers Aboubacar Demba Camara and Salifou Kaba to the band. Specializing in modern arrangements of Manding classic tunes, Bembeya Jazz National won 1st prize at two national arts festival's in 1964 and 1965 and were crowned "National Orchestra" in 1966.

Initially an acoustic group, featuring a Latin-flavored horn section of saxophone, trumpet, and clarinet, Bembeya Jazz National reached its apex with the addition of lead singer Aboubacar Demba Camara. The group toured widely, and became one of the most well-known groups in Africa. Among their biggest hits were the songs "Mami Wata" and "Armee Guineenne". Bembeya Jazz National’s most ambitious album, Regard Sur Le Passe, released in 1968, was a musical tribute to the memory of Samory Touré, who founded a Mande conquest state in much of what is now northern Guinea in 1870, and who became a nationalist emblem following 1958.

A live album, 10 Ans De Succes, was recorded during a 1971 concert, but set-back for the band came on April 5, 1973 when Demba Camara was killed in an auto accident on his way to a concert in Dakar. Although they remained together, Bembeya Jazz National was unable to duplicate the success of their earliest years. The group disbanded in 1991 with Sekou Diabaté and Sekouba Bambino Diabaté going on to successful solo careers. The band reformed in the late 1990s. Bembeya Jazz came together again in 2002 to perform at the Musiques Metisses d’Angoulême world music festival in France. They remained there to record their first new album in 14 years for the director of the festival, Christian Mousset's Marabi label. The album, Bembeya, is a reworking of orchestra's greatest hits. They went on to tour Europe and North America

In 2007 they were featured in the documentary film Sur les traces du Bembeya Jazz.


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In 1958 Guinea gained its independence from 60 years of French colonial rule. One of the first things that President Toure did was to help restore his country's historical pride and heritage through an authentic renaissance of the arts, particularly music.

Bembeya Jazz was one of the first regional bands to become national exponents of the modernization of traditional indigenous African music. In time, they became legendary innovators of modern African music known all over the world. This double-CD set contains their best singles from the 1960s and '70s plus some rare music previously unavailable in any format. The Cuban influence is evident on some of the tracks, but Bembeya Jazz blended this with indigenous styles to create a unique take all their own. All of this music was recorded on Guinea's legendary Syliphone label. The sound quality is quite good given that some of the tracks are vinyl transfers since the 45 rpm master tapes have been lost. In 2001, Metoura Traore, a pioneering musician of the same period of these recordings, said, "Guinean music was the avant-garde of African music...it was like the lighthouse to music in Africa. And they said it couldn't be done -- to modernize African music." This set is a jewel in the crown in African music.



Bembeya Jazz - The Syliphone Years 1  (flac  377mb)

01 République Guinée 5:08
02 Sabor De Guajira 4:49
03 Armée Guinéenne 3:57
04 Dembaty Galant 3:09
05 Air Guinée 3:21
06 Guinée Hety Horémoun 4:33
07 Montuno De La Sierra 3:55
08 Waraba 6:27
09 Dagna 4:06
10 Doni Doni 4:33
11 Camara Mousso 4:31
12 Super Tentemba 14:15
13 Mami Wati 7:30
14 Alalake 4:06

Bembeya Jazz - The Syliphone Years 1   (ogg 155mb)

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Bembeya Jazz - The Syliphone Years 2  (flac  411mb)

01 Beyla 6:51
02 Fatoumata 3:52
03 Moussogbe 7:11
04 Sou 5:18
05 N'gamokorô 10:07
06 Ballake 8:09
07 Mussofing 5:02
08 Dya Dya 7:12
09 Sina Mousso 9:25
10 N'temenna 3:59
11 Telephone 5:35
12 Petit Sékou 5:59

Bembeya Jazz - The Syliphone Years 2   (ogg 174mb)

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After listening to Bembeya Jazz' The Syliphone Years, an amazing compilation of Bembeya's work, you may think there's nothing else worth listening to. But you might want to reconsider. This album covers Bembeya's best period when their charismatic and talented singer Demba Camara was still alive. He later died in a car accident in 1973 and Bembeya was never the same again. Demba Camara was one of the best African singers and his presence, along with guitar wizard Sekou Diabate, was pivotal in the success of Bembeya Jazz National. I guess what I'm trying to say is this is my favourite Bembeya compilation, and if you're new to them you should start right here. If you're a fan already, you wouldn't want to miss this.



Bembeya Jazz National - Hommage A Demba Camara  (flac  206mb)

01 Moussogbe 7:09
02 Beni Barale 3:50
03 La Guinee 4:05
04 Dagna 4:04
05 Fatoumata 3:48
06 Armee Guineenne 3:53
07 Ballake 8:06
08 Alla Lake 4:03
09 Waraba 6:24
10 N'Borin 3:30
11 N'Watoi M'Barale 4:29
12 Mami Wata 7:27
13 Festival National 4:27
14 Whisky Soda 5:31

Bembeya Jazz National - Hommage A Demba Camara   (ogg 123mb)

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After a 14-year layoff, Bembeya Jazz National, high in the pantheon of legendary African dance bands, roars back onto the international stage with this release. In addition to new material, they have included new versions of songs from their seminal mid-'60s period and different takes on hits from the 1970s and 1980s. Their signature four-guitar section is led by the mercurial fretwork of Sekou Bembeya Diabate (aka Diamond Fingers). The tight brass section still has two members from the 1960s and their riffs are full and fat. Bembeya's three singers' voices are laced with enduring sweetness and harmony. The drumming and percussion combined with monster bass round out a formidable rhythm section that is hard to top. They sound as vitally powerful as they did from the 1960-1980s, pumping out the deep grooves with lots of swinging soul. This album is not a recording of a group of aging musicians trying to recapture their youthful spirit. They never lost it. It's clear from the music on Bembeya that the vision of Guinea's first president, Sekou Toure, still lives. From the opening trumpet and basslines on "Bembeya," it's evident that this is prime African music. Dancers on the planet have good reason to rejoice, as do all lovers of African music. Highly recommended



Bembeya Jazz - Bembeya  (flac  304mb)

01 Bembeya 4:24
02 Sanfaran 6:31
03 Sabou 5:17
04 Gbapie 5:17
05 Lefa 4:22
06 Koukou We 7:23
07 Yelema Yelemaso 5:54
08 Soli Au Wassoulou 7:31

Bembeya Jazz - Bembeya  (ogg 140mb)

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