MACIRE SYLLA - Talitha Djembe (Fare)/SAYON BAMBA - Dougna (Cobalt)

You always know what you’re going to get with Maciré Sylla – funky Afro-European pop (as usual, she uses a mix of European and African artists) that’s vocally strong and with a muscular rhythmic touch. Building her sound around a brass section and coterie of electric guitarists - with trad touches from kora, balafon and flute - the Guinean griotte harnesses traditional melodies in slick arrangements that, through sheer dint of repetition, perhaps veer on the conservative. A couple of intriguing ballads and the seeding of a handful of simpler melodies hint at a move to the musical centre ground, which in many respects should be welcomed in lieu of treading water in the perfectly acceptable but slightly by-numbers area in which she finds herself.

www.maciresylla.com

Fellow Guinean songstress Sayon Bamba is, if anything, an even slicker operator, laying mandolin, ngoni, balafon and acoustic guitar over electronic beats and effects on an elegantly structured exercise in pan-African pop-rock. Sounding as if she’s influenced by a wide range of all those funkily modern West African chanteuses (Kidjo, Gnahore, Rokia etc) Dougna is a far cry from Bamba’s past role as a singer with Les Amazones de Guinee. No blasting funk here, little in the way of electric guitar, and even if Bamba’s admirable restraint mostly works well within the sleek arrangements here, it would be nice to hear her really let go once in a while (the Angelique-a-like Aborongo comes closest) . Nevertheless, a good album and an artist to watch out for in the future.

www.myspace.com/sayonbamba

MOSI CONDE - Kaira Kora Afrika

A sparkling debut from this London-based kora player and singer originally from Conakry in Guinea. Mosi Conde is nephew of Mory Kante and ol’ Diamond Fingers himself, Sekou Diabate, so certainly has a lot to live up to.

It’s the former that he most resembles, the tracks here being mostly brisk and melodic comprising Mosi’s bright kora, decent if not outstanding voice, bolon, excellent sparingly applied flute from Baba Galle Kante, and rhythmic decoration from calabash and djembe.

With eight shortish and sweet songs and under forty minutes long, it never wears thin. And despite its mostly sunny disposition it’s the spiritual closing track Tooba that really stands out, not least because Conde’s vocals are at their plaintive best.

It’s all very alluring, although the packaging could best be described as economical. It would be good to see this album picked up by an established distributor, buffed up and put on show at what will on the strength of this release surely be an increasing live presence. It’s the least this hugely encouraging first effort deserves.

KELETIGUI ET SES TAMBOURINIS - The Syliphone Years (Stern's)

Saxophone player, flautist and band leader Keletigui Traore died in November 2008 aged 74, so the fourth release in Stern’s series anthologising Guinea's tradition-rooted "authenticité" orchestras of the 1960s and 1970s arrives with poignant timing. The (as ever) attractively-packaged and informative double-CD release covers Keletigui et Ses Tambourinis’ most creative and popular period, beginning in 1968 shortly after they’d changed their name from Orchestre de la Paillote and finishing in 1976 as the strains of soukous start to peep through the band’s Guinean groove.

Between times we are witness to the gradual infusion of indigenous influences – via balafon and flute and the adaptation of folkloric styles and songs – into the ever-present Latin and jazz influences.

The first CD – covering the period from 1968 to 1970 – has a strong Cuban edge, with horns, percussion and vocals to the fore, and electric guitar very much buried in the mix (frustratingly at times, it has to be said). But the guitar came out from under the covers as production values improved in the early ‘70s to influence the swinging, ringing sound of compatriots Bembeya Jazz amongst others.

Keletigui employed some good singers, amongst which who Manfila Kanté with his high, slightly nasal vocal; Papa Kouyaté’s cool commanding tone; and Keletigui himself. But it was the soloists who place the ensemble in the top division. The man himself led the way on alto sax and fluttering flute (and, latterly, organ), with fellow saxophonists Bigné Doumbia and Momo “Wandel” Soumah lending meaty and melodic support. Kerfala Camara’s colourful trumpet solos stand out too, and the two Condés – Linké and Sekou – contribute ringing guitar licks, while the liquid babble of balafon player Lansana Diabaté is a key driver on the tracks from the early ‘70s.

Amongst many highlights are the punchy, conga-led Cubanismo tracks such as La Bicycletta, the zestful guitar and saxophone sway of Bébé, the reinterpretation of traditional hunting song Donsoké, and Kadia Blues, a snaking jazz-blues instrumental that begs for a sultry female vocal. All of which – with the usual excellent sleeve-notes by Graeme Counsel – makes The Syliphone Years is a fitting tribute to a recently-departed great.

www.sternsmusic.com

This review first appeared in fRoots magazine

VARIOUS - African Pearls: Guinea/Mali/Senegal (Syllart)/RAIL BAND - Belle Epoque 3: Diola (Stern's)

Continuing the excellent African Pearls series digging into Ibrama Sylla's Syliphone recordings from the Congo, Guinea, Mali and Senegal. This is the second raft of compilations covering the latter three countries, taking us into the 1970s and a move away from the state-funded infusion of traditional music (although it's still evident) into a more direct attempt to modernise sounds for the popular market.

The Guinea volume is culled from a number of sources, although as the title suggests chiefly the annual “Discotheque” compilations of the 1970s.
The artists featured were still nodding towards the authenticité cultural programme of President Sekou Touré but unafraid to follow US soul music and Nigerian Afrobeat trends with extended organ and electric guitar wig-outs.
This is the sound of boys playing with their new musical toys, although finessed by the seductive sound of punchy horns, ringing guitar and bright soulful vocals. Most of the greats are represented - Bembeya Jazz, Keletigui et Ses Tambourinis, Super Boiro Band, plus the slightly lesser known Horoya Band National, who are the real revelation. They only released one album and a handful of singles, but are represented by five tracks that shimmer and sway with warmth and joy. Warning: there are two or three overlaps with 2007’s excellent Aunthenticité compilation, but that still leaves over twenty songs to serve as a worthy follow up to that album.

Of the three countries, Senegal was the country to hold onto the Cuban influences the longest, but as seen on Musical Effervescence, its artists threw themselves with some sabar-drum slapping gusto into heavily localised idioms. Much of this compilation is the sound of urban Dakar, where we can hear the burgeoning mbalax scene, where Latin rhythms competed with dense, polyrhythmic grooves and wild keyboards, vibrant guitars and strident bursts of brass exemplified best by Super Diamono de Dakar and their impassioned vocalist Omar Pene, plus the various Star and Etoile bands out of which a young Youssou can be heard heralding a new era for Senegalese music. Orchestra Baobab were caught in the cross-fire, their languid, melodic Afro-Cuban here sounding wonderfully familiar and yet almost wilfully anachronistic in this context.
Modern, experimental, uniquely rooted in tradition but pan-continental in its appeal, the music of Mali in the 1970s was characterised by a move away from the polarisation of short, Afro-Latin songs and lengthy traditional praise songs into slow, winding bluesy songs drawing on the best of both approaches. Electric guitarists push the rhythm; saxophones and electric organ wind their way around kit drum; singers declaim, chant, shout; the ever-present horns remain defiantly off-kilter. Regional orchestras started to split, although they're still here in number (Orchestre Regional De Sikasso, Orchestre Regional De Mopti, Orchestre National de Badema) but Les Ambassadeurs and Rail Band have taken centre-stage, as well as the evergreen and long-standing Super Djata Band (some wild and wailing wah-wah guitar from them). Wide-ranging and expressive, this music has remained as vital and fresh-sounding as the day it was made.
This takes us neatly onto the final volume in the Rail Band retrospective that overlaps and follows on from the period covered by the African Pearls series. This takes us through the band’s most fractious days (from 1977 to 1983) where the loss of Mory Kanté and Djelimady Tounkara (although the latter returned to add his lyrical guitar work to much of the music here) affected the overall standard of output of a band with ever-changing personnel. You wouldn’t know it from the judiciously selected tracks here though, all of which show a band of exceptional ability and verve. Sometimes bright and swinging, other times dense and winding, always pushing the boundaries of what's possible and taking in the influences necessary to do that (Afrobeat, jazz, traditional Mande praise songs). True to form for this series, the compilers have given themselves licence to make the odd musical flashback, perhaps to keep the attraction of Salif Keita and Mory Kanté across all three volumes. This shouldn't detract from a consistently impressive vocal supporting cast - in particular, Lanfia Diabaté sounds hard, soulful and full of clarity throughout.
Ironic to think that all this great music from West Africa predated most of the western world’s interest in music from this region. Who will dare take a step into the next era, where Sylla and his like decamped to Paris to record albums that arguably fail to stand the test of time in quite the way these great moments do.

N'FALY KOUYATE AND DUNYAKAN - Tunya (Galileo)

The second album from the former Afro-Celt Sound System balafon and kora player from Guinea treads a sunny, upbeat path through a modern European take on West African music, his sprightly way with tunes producing a set of songs that are easy listening in the best sense of the phrase. Having put together a smart mixed African/European band (joined by very 'authentic' sounding female backing vocalists from Belgium), a whole range of musical styles are tried out, usually underpinned by funky rhythm guitar, percussion and N'Faly on kora or balafon and vocals. His voice is smooth without being overly impressive (hence its wise use as additional instrument rather than as a focal point) and he gives ample space to the other instrumentalists and singers, allowing tracks like the dance number Anyafo and the ambitious up-tempo re-working of traditional Mandé song Mali Sadio – here translated rather too literally as “Love Hyppo” - to stake out territory that is neither reliant on traditional norms nor too contrived in its modernity.
If there's a complaint, it's that the sheer variety of styles means Tunya sags somewhat midway through as acapella gospel-lite clashes with an over-long drum track, although the experimental approach is rewarded on the album's closer Kora Ballade, on which Kouyaté frames his instrument in a sweeping chamber orchestra setting that's admirably restrained in its ambition. Kouyaté has a fine ear for a melody and an impressive group of musicians in support, and if he over stretches himself and them at times on Tunya, the rewards of that approach are worth the occasional risk taken.

Dunyakan

BALLA ET SES BALLADINS - The Syliphone Years (Stern's)

Balla et Ses Balladins were one of the big four Guinean orchestras of the post-independence era, bringing a grandeur to President Sékou Touré's ‘authenticité’ programme of cultural realignment with their majestic recordings for the Syliphone label under the leadership of trumpeter Balla Onivogui and trombonist Pivi Moriba.
The seemingly out of tune (but extraordinarily seductive) horn sections were something of a signature sound for this era of Guinean music, and the Balladins' brass arrangements exuded a dreamy quality, bending and swaying in and out of focus over what were initially simple Latinised popular tunes which became progressively more ambitious in scope as the band looked to traditional Mandinka influences for inspiration.
This exceptional double-CD compilation (the third in what is proving to be an essential series of adroitly mastered and packaged releases) joins the band at a peak that lasted from the late '60s (as L'Orchestre du Jardin du Guinée) through to 1980 and their final, momentous Syliphone release, Objectif Perfection.
Traces of the Latin influence were still there at the start of this period, vocalists Emile "Benny" Soumah and Manfila "Soba" Kané heartily intoning over dance numbers driven by those off-centre horns, Cuban rhythms and the ringing electric guitar breaks of Sekou “Le Docteur” Diabaté.
By the early '70s, Diabaté - one of the great lyrical guitar players to come out of Africa - and rhythm guitarist Kemo Kouyaté were the key components in the move to epic, griot-inspired pieces. On the first of these, Sara 70, the guitarists pick their mellifluous way between vocals, percussion and elongated horn breaks to produce ten minutes of music as mesmerising as just about any produced by the great West African orchestras of the period. And by 1980 - with tracks like Bambo and the near-perfect harmonic interplay of Paulette from Objectif Perfection - Balla et Ses Balladins have reached an understated, instinctive sophistication that places them squarely between (and arguably right up there alongside) the brass-led dance music of compatriots Bembeya Jazz and the dry, dense sound of Mali's Super Rail Band. Yes, that good. Highly recommended.

Stern's website

This review first appeared in fRoots magazine.

LES AMAZONES DE GUINEA - Wamato (Stern's)

It's been quite a while, but Africa's first-ever all-female group are back with a vengeance - retour en force! as they announce at the start of the album - with a funky, feisty collection of old-style Guinean big band grooves. This was the original girl-power group, coming together in the early '60s (whilst serving in the National Police) and by the early '70s they were blasting out a high-energy blend of vocals, interweaving electric guitar, throbbing bass lines and brass arrangements to get you off your feet and onto the dance-floor.
The line-up of the orchestra has been changed regularly over the years, but Wamato finds it retaining all the familiar elements of a sound that must surely be the loosest, most life-affirming music on the planet performed by an orchestra that includes Commandants, Captains and Lieutenants in its line-up.
Those officers get us off to a rocking start on the opener (and title-track), Yaya Kouyaté's ever-shifting guitar lines underpinning a snappy beat while the singers trade bluesy vocals with each other and with saxophonists Djenabou Ba and Mariama Cissé (the latter's alto sax is a satisfyingly beefy presence throughout the album). Guitarist Kouyaté is a revelation throughout, whether it be delivering a jaunty soukous vibe on Deni Wana (ably supported by rhythm guitarist N'Sira Tounkara) or ringing embellishments to songs such as the standout praise song Kania.
A couple of the songs don't work quite so well - particularly when the orchestra strays into less familiar territory such as the French-language cha-cha-cha, Meilleurs Voeux - and the horn arrangements start to verge on the samey over a dozen or so tracks. But with the constant presence of half a dozen seductive vocalists (M'Mah Sylla's clear, powerful tone probably the best of the lot) riding a consistently invigorating sound, it's easy to overlook the reservations and just let the celebratory atmosphere take over. Welcome back, girls!

This review first appeared in fRoots magazine.