new mix with african music from Guinea

Frank

while the first two mixes were trying to be more on the funk and afrobeat side of things, this mix presents my favorites on the Guinean label Syliphone and while it devinately does have its funky moments, this one is more targeted towards the head than dancefloor oriented...I hope some of you will enjoy this.

SYLIPHONE MIX

00:00 Pivi et ses Balladins "samba"
05:44 Sombori de Fria "n'kolea"
10:56 Super Boiro Band "si ississa"
16:52 Myriam's Quartette "solo quintette"
20:08 Kaloum Star "maliba"
23:28 Sombory Jazz "nana"
30:20 Simbadou de Beyla "festival"
35:20 Balla et ses Balladins "moi ca ma fout"
39:19 Quintette Guineenne "douga"
42:40 Balla et ses Balladins "nyo"
47:08 Bembeya Jazz "super tentemba"
61:24 Syli Authentique "andree"

Flomotion

Loving this. Thank you.

Tobi

Thank you for sharing this!!!

hammertime

aw shit! i can't wait to d/l this when I get home. thanks!!!!

piedpiper

great selection! thanks a lot.

bthav

you rock!

captainplanet

Nice work, toubabo. Doesn't get much nicer in my opinion. Not for the dancefloor? I beg to differ. Now I gotta d/l your other mixes. It's been a minute since I was in Conakry myself. Found some gems on my trip, but you're definitely taking it to the

captainplanet

16:52 Myriam's Quartette "solo quintette"

=

that's a little bit of Mongo Santamaria coming thru, right?

hendravis

Nice work, toubabo. Doesn't get much nicer in my opinion. Not for the dancefloor? I beg to differ. you're definitely taking it to the

he said it
thanks frank!
this mix has me melting all over tha place


hope all is well

Swayze

GREAT mix.

Thanks for sharing, Frank!

troubleman

Syliphone Mix:

00:00 Pivi et ses Balladins "samba"
05:44 Sombori de Fria "n'kolea"
10:56 Super Boiro Band "si ississa"
16:52 Myriam's Quartette "solo quintette"
20:08 Kaloum Star "maliba"
23:28 Sombory Jazz "nana"
30:20 Simbadou de Beyla "festival"
35:20 Balla et ses Balladins "moi ca ma fout"
39:19 Quintette Guineenne "douga"
42:40 Balla et ses Balladins "nyo"
47:08 Bembeya Jazz "super tentemba"
61:24 Syli Authentique "andree"

Thanks thanks thanks. Finally, some names I recognize. The last mix I was like..."who is this?" Now I'm like.."Fuckin Balla et ses Balladins!!!!" Great choices; Syliphone was such a great label!

Frank

16:52 Myriam's Quartette "solo quintette"

=

that's a little bit of Mongo Santamaria coming thru, right?

Regularly, I come upon african records that remind me of US stuff I've heard before. I catualy found some Mongo Santamaria records around here as well, along with quite some James Brown. Jimmy Smith appears to have been especialy popular in Freetown.

I found some stuff by Poly Rythmo on my last trip to Benin that sounds like the Stooges but maybe that's just me and my imagination... somehow digging in Africa is like swimming in the gene pool of music. Everything seems to be somehow related to something else. Or maybe it's just my brain being exposed to too much sun...

I often get reminded of some latin jazz or even US funk when listening to African music. It is pretty much clear that West African music was the main source of afro cuban music. Guinean musicians have a reputation to be amongst the best what African Jazz has to offer and the drumming/percussions are totaly out there. Naturaly, Myriam's band consisted of the best of the best this scene had to offer.

Flomotion

That Myriam track makes me think of Dorothy Ashby. In fact, they all make me think of other artists in a good way.

The West African/Latin link is kind of fascinating and the influence of African rhythms on Latin music in general can be directly traced back to Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire in particular. Partly because it's the closest point to South America and the Caribbean (so you've always had traders and travellers going between the two) and partly because that's where most of the slaves were shipped from before going to the islands or the South American mainland.

In South America, of course, generally the further away from Brazil you go, the less African influences the music has...

Size13

Keen to check this.

Cheers Frank.

aleit

the contemporary influence of cuban music and latin rhythms is much more direct.
the par course were to play rhumbas, pachangas, cuban son standards etc. etc.

in the post-independence world, you have a direct link between cuba and quasi-communist pan-african nations..... direct in the sense that musicians were travelling between cuba and mali/senegal/guinea and elsewhere to play and study, this is why you have maravillas de mali recording in havana, etc.

further direct in the sense that african music is the african diaspora. cuban music is african music. music is a history of migration, adaptation, change, and innovation.

Flomotion

the contemporary influence of cuban music and latin rhythms is much more direct.
the par course were to play rhumbas, pachangas, cuban son standards etc. etc.

in the post-independence world, you have a direct link between cuba and quasi-communist pan-african nations..... direct in the sense that musicians were travelling between cuba and mali/senegal/guinea and elsewhere to play and study, this is why you have maravillas de mali recording in havana, etc.

further direct in the sense that african music is the african diaspora. cuban music is african music. music is a history of migration, adaptation, change, and innovation.

Very nicely put.

zimb

the back and forth influences of W. african and cuban music in general is pretty fascinating stuuf. There's a lot of theories that cuban son moutni, in general is indebted to drumming rythms from west and central africa, and you can hear these in the more traditional cuban records that come out. As mentioned above a lot of W. african folks also were heavily by later cuban sounds, I've heard that the 40 and 50s HMV series of cuban records were among the first really popular records in W. africa and that most of the musicians there learned their chops imitating and later putting their own spins on those LPs, el manicero especially is said can still be heard when bands warm up, and a lot of bands did travel to cuba - les maravillas de mali, whose members later joined the national bands there, spent their student years in havana, and its leader boncana maiga, has been the driving force behind africando.

Balla et les balladins has always been a favorite of mine - I think Paulette is perhps one of the most perfect pieces of music, I've ever heard and Super Boiro rocks, of the two lps I've heard "en super forme" is particularly great

Hey frank are these the sources for your mix (below) or did some of the sounds come from singles rather than the LPs?

00:00 Pivi et ses Balladins "samba" - SLP 40 Discoth??que 72. [1973]
05:44 Sombori de Fria "n'kolea" - SLP 69 Sombory de Fria. Minerai musical. (1980)
10:56 Super Boiro Band "si ississa" - SYL 573 Super Boiro Band. So ississa / N???tan gara. (1975)
16:52 Myriam's Quartette "solo quintette" - SLP 35 Discoth??que 71. [1972]
20:08 Kaloum Star "maliba" - SLP 48* Discoth??que 74. [1975]
23:28 Sombory Jazz "nana" - SLP 50 Sp??cial X??me Festival National. [1976]
30:20 Simbadou de Beyla "festival" - SLP 72 Le Simandou be Beyla. La confiance. (1980}
35:20 Balla et ses Balladins "moi ca ma fout" - SLP 35 Discoth??que 71
39:19 Quintette Guineenne "douga" - SLP 54 Musique sans paroles. [1976]
42:40 Balla et ses Balladins "nyo" - SYL 571 Balla et ses Balladins. Ancien combattant / Nyo. (1975)
47:08 Bembeya Jazz "super tentemba" -SLP 45 Discoth??que 73. (1974)
61:24 Syli Authentique "andree" SLP 57 Syli Authentic. Dans l???ar??ne. [1976]

btw, there's a very complete syliphone discography maintained by graeme counsel (the guy who did the liner notes to the bembeya jazz syliphone years reissue) at:

http://www.radioafrica.com.au/Discographies/Syliphone.html

Frank

Zimb, you're pretty much on point with your list there,
except Balla et ses Balladins "moi ca ma fout" which I used the 45.
I guess the Lp (which I also have) has a scratch on that track.
There's a few things I have on LP that also exists on 45
but I think the 45s are pretty much all pressed in "microgroove"
in order to get the lengthy tracks on a 7" record.
This means that in many case, the songs sound better & louder on LP.
Also, if you don't find them in unplayed condition,
Syliphone 45s often have a lot of noise...
dust, sand and moisture mess up those tiny
grooves quite easily and people used to play the shit out of those
records...

hendravis

16:52 Myriam's Quartette "solo quintette"

=

captainplanet

the contemporary influence of cuban music and latin rhythms is much more direct.
the par course were to play rhumbas, pachangas, cuban son standards etc. etc.

in the post-independence world, you have a direct link between cuba and quasi-communist pan-african nations..... direct in the sense that musicians were travelling between cuba and mali/senegal/guinea and elsewhere to play and study, this is why you have maravillas de mali recording in havana, etc.

further direct in the sense that african music is the african diaspora. cuban music is african music. music is a history of migration, adaptation, change, and innovation.

Very nicely put.

so true. back in the day the cubans were paying to bring west africans to havana to be educated about communism and politics. the soviets were doing this too. when I was over there I met multiple school teachers and elders who got their education via communist programs like this. obviously the exchange of music couldn't be avoided as well. it's cool to hear direct versions of traditional african songs done by latin groups - "Che Che Cole" by Willie Colon is a perfect example. sometimes you can hear the same exact african melody echoed in both brazilian and latin/nuyorican tracks.

I love seeing Geraldo Rivera talk about tracing these musical roots. If you've never checked the movie "Salsa", change that!

The_Hook_Up

what the fuck is it about African (and South American) fuzz pedals!!?!?!?!? goddamn...they never sounded like that at our latitude and longitude...

crazypoprock

what the fuck is it about African (and South American) fuzz pedals!!?!?!?!? goddamn...they never sounded like that at our latitude and longitude...

haha, good question. maybe it's the heat? and the way it's recorded. fantastic guitar being played thru the fuzz pedal thru a tube amp in a rediculously hot environment being recorded to tape...?