Bembeya Jazz
Encyclopedia
Bembaya Jazz National is a Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

n jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 group that gained fame in the 1960s for their infectious Afropop
Afropop
Afropop or Afro-pop may refer to:*African popular music*Afropop Worldwide, a weekly radio program from Public Radio International...

 rhythms. They are considered one of the most significant bands in Guinean music
Music of Guinea
Guinea is a West African nation, composed of several ethnic groups. Of these, the music of the Mandé has been particularly popular and internationally well-known, even outside of West Africa....

. 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
Griot
A griot or jeli is a West African storyteller. The griot delivers history as a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards...

 musical family, the band won over fans in Conakry
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...

, Guinea's capital city, during the heady days of that country's newfound independence. Bembeya Jazz fell onto harder times in the 1980s and disbanded for a number of years, but reformed in the late 1990s and has toured Europe and North America in the early 2000s.

1960s

In the aftermath of the Guinean Independence in 1958 and through the cultural policy of "authenticite", which encouraged cultural pride, numerous bands were created throughout the regions of Guinea. Guinea's President, Ahmed Sékou Touré
Ahmed Sékou Touré
Ahmed Sékou Touré was an African political leader and President of Guinea from 1958 to his death in 1984...

, disbanded all private dance orchestras and replaced them with state-supported groups, such as Keletigui et ses Tambourinis
Keletigui Et Ses Tambourinis
Keletigui Et Ses Tambourinis were a dance music orchestra founded by the government of the newly independent state of Guinea-Conakry. They were one of the most prominent national orchestras of the new country.-Background:...

 and Balla et ses Balladins
Balla et ses Balladins
Balla et ses Balladins were a dance-music orchestra formed in Guinea-Conakry in 1962 following the break-up of the Syli Orchestre National, Guinea's first state-sponsored group...

. The most popular was Bembeya Jazz National, formed in 1961. Specializing in modern arrangements of Manding
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....

 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.

1970s and 80s

A live album, 10 Ans De Succes, was recorded during a 1971 concert, but set-back for the band came on April 5th, 1973 when Demba Camara was killed in an auto accident on his way to a concert in Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

. 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.

Reformation

The band reformed in the late 1990s and has toured Europe and North America in the early 2000s.

Complete Discography

See http://www.radioafrica.com.au/Discographies/Bembeya.html and http://www.radioafrica.com.au/Discographies/Syliphone.html for complete discographies.

Further reading


External links

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