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Bembeya Jazz a real treat at Fete de la Musique
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Sun-Sentinel, Bembeya Jazz a real treat at Fete de la Musique >>
One of West Africa's musical treasures arrives in South Florida next week as part of an eclectic music festival.
The concerts are designed to celebrate a variety of world music styles while introducing fans to music they might not have previously heard.
Bembeya Jazz, a band from Guinea that plays a hybrid of African sounds and Afro-Cuban music, performs Monday during Fete de la Musique. The cultural celebration is a presentation of the French Consulate in Miami, and is produced by the Rhythm Foundation.
The concerts will take place on three stages near 10th Street and Miami Avenue in downtown Miami's Brickell Village. The festival will include several genres, from classical music to world beat and electronica.
But the biggest draw undoubtedly will be Bembeya Jazz. The dance orchestra formed more than 40 years ago near the Ivory Coast, when African musicians were influenced by Cuban rhythms sweeping across their continent. The band build a large following on its version of Afro-Cuban rumba and son. Its popularity waned in the 1980s, when it entered a period of relative obscurity.
International fans were reacquainted with the group in 2002. That's when Bembeya Jazz released Bembeya, its first recording in 14 years. Since then it has been riding a wave of popularity leading to tours of Europe and parts of the United States.
The Miami concert marks the group's Florida debut. Fans of Afro-Cuban music here will see a group that blends folkloric music with worldwide influences in a way that is modern and accessible to both dancers and listeners.
"Our contribution is an act of translation," band director and trumpeter Mohamed Achken Kaba told the Chicago Tribune last year. "It was important to transfer, or translate, traditional music into the modern world."
The group features a signature four-guitar section led by Sekou "Diamond Fingers" Diabate, one of Africa's most influential guitarists. Vocalists also are backed by ample brass, bass and percussion.
Rhythm Foundation executive director Laura Quinlan saw the group perform at the World Music Expo in 2002. She likens the band's sound to that of Orchestra Baobob, another West African band known for its rich take on Afro-Cuban music.
"I fell in love with them and have been trying to get them to South Florida ever since," Quinlan said. "It is classic African big band." 06/18/04
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