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CD Review
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Amazon.com, CD Review >>
BY Eugene Holley, Jr
In 1961, a group of musicians from Guinea formed the 12-piece band, Bembeya Jazz Nacional, after the river that runs through their hometown, Beyla. It celebrated the spirit of their 3-year-old, newly independent nation, combined traditional and popular African musical genres with Afro-Cuban grooves, and paved the way for Senegal's Orchestre Baobob and Mali's Super Rail Band. They were state supported, and they ran their club. But in 1973, their fortunes turned sour when their musical director, Aboubacar Demba Camara, was killed. By the '80s, they group shut down operations. This CD is the group's first recording since 1988, and it shows that they still have that motherland swing. The band's 4-guitar lineup is lead by the mercurial guitarist Sekou "Diamond Fingers" Diabate. Salifou Kaba's ancestral vocals, Dore Clement's full-bodied tenor saxophone, Mohamed Kaba's brash trumpet, and Conde Mory Mangala's folkloric and funky drums still form the core of the ensemble. The 8 tracks on this CD reprise the group's greatest hits, from the '60s to the '80s, including their conga-fied calling card, "Bembeya." The songs, sung in their country's Manding, Fulani, Konkianke, and Kono languages, talk about their culture and history. "Sanfaram" is a soulful, syncopated ditty about an old woman sorcerer. The "Soul Makossa"-like "Sabou"--which roughly translates as "the cause of something"--reflects ancient griot roots, while "Gbapie" is a hypnotic seduction song, laced with Diabate's famous Hawaiian guitar strains. Bembeya Jazz's tight hornlines, intricate percussion, and contrapuntal guitar fills will inspire new moods and grooves from the African continent in the 21st century, just as they did in the 20th. 05/22/03 >> go there
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