Bamba Wassoulou Groove

Bamba Wassoulou Groove

A heavy dance machine

Biography

The Bamba Wassoulou Groove was born in Bamako in 2013 on the initiative of Bamba Dembélé, (who passed in 2018) percussionist and co-founder of the Super Djata Band, mythical group of Zani Diabaté, the most original and funky guitarist of music of Mali after independence. The Bamba Wassoulou Groove is composed of 6 musicians (three guitars,one bass, a drum and a singer) and is here to create a real wall of sound. Solis with Hendrixian virtuosos, trance voice, evil bass and drum sections, the band is a heavy dance machine who electrifies the Malian music and recreates the excitement of the hot nights in Bamako.

Philippe Conrath (creator of Festival Africolor) explains : “To create the Bamba Wassoulou Groove a connoisseur was needed, a man of confidence who would also ensure human and musical unity. Who better than Bamba Dembélé to build such a band? Bamba, the indispensable, the fixer, the invincible. Former member of Zani Diabatatés legendary Super Djata Band, he had all the contacts in Bamako to set up the Wassoulou Groove. Helaunched a formidable machine with an unrelenting rhythm, that allowed the three fierce guitars of the group to soar, carrying Ousmane Diakité’s voice into a trance. funk, rock, the Bamba Wassoulou Groove is a new virus that will contaminate the world’s dance floors.” « In our Music, no praises ” Maguett « Dr Drum » Diop drummer of Bamba Wassoulou Groove

Albums

Dankélé – 2020

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Boubacar Traoré

Boubacar Traoré

The vital connection between Mali and the Mississippi.

About

Boubacar Traoré carries within him all the beauty of African blues. A diamond among the jewels of Mandingo music, he shines with the dark glow of exceptional purity. Only the voice of “Kar Kar” (a footballing nickname meaning “The Dribbler” given him by his friends, who also love the beautiful game) can blend Niger and Mississippi river alluvia with such moving authenticity. His unique, inimitable, self-taught guitar technique owes a great deal to his kora influences, but its shades and phrasing also suggest the great black bluesmen of the deep South: Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and others.

Back in the 60s when the euphoria of African independence reigned, the 20-year-old Boubacar Traoré was Mali’s Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. He was the first to play Mandingo-based music on electric guitar, long before his junior, Ali Farka Touré. In those days, Malians would wake to the sound of Boubacar’s poignant voice and saturated riffs. Hits including “Mali Twist” (Children of independent Mali, we must stand on our feet / Let all the young people return to their homeland / We must build the country together) and “Kayeba” provided dance music for a generation who were enjoying freedom for the first time. But then the celebrations and lyrical illusions ended. On the 19th November 1968, a bitter wind blew across Mali when Modibo Keita’s socialist government was overthrown by a military coup. Kar Kar and his songs were exiled from the airwaves. Returning penniless to Kayes, his hometown in the Kassonké region (to the northeast of Bamako near the Senegalese border), Boubacar became a farm worker, opened a shop with his elder brother – the one who had introduced him to the guitar and given him his first one – and worked to feed his family.

He was rediscovered in 1987 when reporters from Malian national television visited Kayes. “Kar, you have to come to Bamako. You’ve never been seen on television since it began. Everyone should realise you’re not dead, you’re alive…” It was a renaissance for the artist. “People were amazed to see me. Most of them had only heard me on the radio,” he said at the time. Yet fate was to put a stop to Kar Kar’s musical rebirth. Pierrette, his beautiful mixed-race wife, his muse, his love, died bringing their last child into the world. Despairing and distraught, Kar Kar became a shadow of himself. It was then that he decided to look for work in Paris, where he joined the community of Malian migrant workers and shared their harsh life. “I was a building worker for two years,” is his only comment on this personal experience, but one of his songs says it all: “You can be a king at home, but when you’re a migrant, you’re a nobody.” The legacy of his time in the Barbès immigrant quarter of Paris and the hostel in Montreuil where he sometimes performed is the flat cap the tall Malian wears today.

In Paris, an English producer discovered him and took him to the studio to record his first album, “Mariama”, in 1990. Poignant, spare and melancholic, Kar Kar’s music had changed since his youth in the 60s. Now it was more refined, the art of a mature man expressing his heartaches and joys in song, his unique vocal timbre shrouded in nostalgia and poetry. Boubacar Traoré’s life changed quickly after the record’s release. He recorded another 6 albums: “Sécheresse” (Drought) in 1992; “Les enfants de Pierrette” (Pierrette’s Children) in 1995, “Sa Golo” in 1996, “Maciré” in 1999, music from the eponymous film directed by Jacques Sarasin: “Je chanterai pour toi” (I’ll Sing for You) in 2002, and “Kongo Magni” in 2005. Kar Kar made up for lost time, triumphing on stage first in Europe and then in the United States and Canada.

When Lusafrica bought the Marabi label in 2010, it is naturally that José da Silva proposed to Boubacar to join the catalog of Cesaria Evora and Bonga. Released in 2011, “Mali Denhou” is Kar Kar’s first album since 2005. It is recorded in June 2010 at Studio Moffou, on the outskirts of Bamako, with the same musical cast who had performed with him all over the world for years. The first takes were laid down with his old friend Madieye Niang on gourd and Vincent Bucher on harmonica, playing in live conditions.

The following album “Mbalimaou” (2015) was recorded at the Bogolan studios in Bamako. As with each new recording, he has added new, different touches to his music, but without losing sight of the basics that make up his supremely distinctive style. Accompanied by discreet percussion – from the young Babah Koné, precise and steady on the gourd, Yacouba Sissoko on the karignan, shaker and small traditional percussion instruments, Vincent Bucher on the harmonica and Fabrice Thompson, a drummer and percussionist from Guiana, who seasons tracks that include “Hona”, “Mbalimaou”, “Kolo Tigi”, “Saya Temokoto” and “Africa” with a heady mix of spice and original beats, Boubacar weaves gloriously simple patterns of guitar and inimitable vocals into these new songs, written whenever he could spare a moment between laboring in the fields and touring internationally. Ballaké Sissoko, a musician he has worked with before, has always been a fan. He joined in the album’s artistic production and his playing fits easily and comfortably into the elder man’s music. Ballake’s generosity, open-mindedness and responsiveness did a lot to create a relaxed, positive atmosphere during the sessions. His subtle, elegant kora perfectly complements the guitarist’s fluid, minimalist approach.

It is in the United States, in Lafayette Louisiana, that Boubacar Traoré wished to record his third album for the label Lusafrica. The guitarist’s intention was to change the coloration of his songs (old numbers like “Dounia Tabolo” ou “Kanou”, and new ones, “Ben de Kadi”, “Mousso”) while conserving their original character. So it is with musicians from the Southern States of the USA he had met on tour, Cedric Watson on violin and washboard, and Corey Harris on guitar, that he undertaked the recording of his album “Dounia Tabolo” at the end of 2016. And when he told them he wanted to add a cello and female voice to the album, Cedric Watson suggested Leyla McCalla. This recording is a new milestone in the work of this extraordinary but modest artist. From blues to folk and Cajun to Zydeco music, his new traveling companions have provided a touch of folly and swing (Cedric Watson), blues depth (Corey Harris) and discreet elegance (Leyla McCalla). More than ever, Boubacar Traoré has shown himself to be the living, vital connection between Mali and the Mississippi.

Boubacar Traoré is respected and acclaimed in his country, especially by young people. They are rediscovering the artist, one of the founding fathers and great ambassadors of modern Mandingo music. When his international tours end, Kar Kar returns to the piece of land he has bought on a hill in Bamako. There, he raises sheep and works a vegetable plot, his pride and joy. “In Mali, everyone is a farmer. It’s the most reliable way of making a living.”

Albums

M’Badehou (FNX Omar & Cee ElAssaad Remix) – 2018

Dounia Tabolo – 2017

Mbalimaou – 2015

Mali Denhou- 2011

Kongo Magni – 2005

Je Chanterai pour Toi – 2002

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Zé Luis

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Zé Luis

The power of his voice deserves to be heard

About

Zé Luis is nearly sixty. For years, he has been singing informally for Cape Verdean audiences. Now, for the first time, the rest of the world has a chance to hear his warm, enchanting voice on record.

José Luís was born in Praia in 1953. His mother passed on two great passions to him: music and cooking. He still remembers the fados – and, of course, the mornas – that she loved to sing while working around the house.

José Luís is at home with morna. He fully identifies with the genre as both an artist and a Cape Verdean. For the singer, morna is the most typically Cape Verdean style of romantic expression. Combining sadness, melancholy and sensuality, it is rooted in the soul and identity of his people.

When he was just eight, José’s family emigrated to Principe, one of the two islands that form São Tomé and Principe. The archipelago was then a Portuguese colony, as was Cape Verde. Back in the day, many Cape Verdeans moved there to farm the islands’ fertile volcanic soil. Many hoped to find a better life away from the poverty and famine of Cape Verde, but some were actually forced to move there by the Portuguese authorities. When they were not labouring in the fields, workers and their families gathered on Sundays, holidays and ceremonial occasions to meet and remember those they had left so far behind in their homeland. Their aim was to “kill nostalgia” (matar sodade). Of course music and particularly morna played a vital role at these reunions.

When in 1969 he finally returned to his homeland, the young José naturally found a place in the musical life of the capital, under the nickname of Zé Luis. His singing was recognised and enjoyed by all. Invited to every last serenade, party, musical competition and cultural event, he delighted audiences with his melodic, charming vocal talent and limitless repertoire as he performed the work of the greatest contemporary songwriters, along with forgotten songs which he revived with gusto. Yet he led a simple life, working as a carpenter. Music was always his great passion, a vital part of his life, but it was only for his personal pleasure. He sang as an amateur – rather fancifully, as if it were just a hobby. But today, at an age when most people are thinking of retiring, Zé Luís has decided to share the art he once kept for his small hometown community with the rest of the world. The power of his voice deserves to be heard by more than such a small audience.

Albums

Serenata – 2013

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Tito Paris

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Tito Paris

The dear child of São Vicente

About

Tito Paris, «the dear child of São Vicente», began his professional career in a family of musicians in Mindelo when he was nine; first, he has been initiated by his brothers to the cavaquinho, then to the guitar; later he became a bass-player before to take his chances composing his owns songs. He was around 19 when Bana, the famous Capeverdean singer based in Lisbon, Portugal, invited Tito to join his band, The Voz de Cabo Verde.

In Lisbon, Tito got soon his fame on the very flourishing Capeverdean musical scene: besides Bana, he was backing many other musicians, such as Dany Silva, Paulino Vieira, Paulo de Carvalho, Celina Peirera, or Vitorino… But it was as a composer that he made a name for himself, writting songs for many singers like Bana and Cesaria Evora. With a wealth of success on the Lisboan scene, he founded his own band with which he offered a acoustic but also electric show.

In the acoustic formation (piano, cavaquinho, bass, clarinet) Tito, who accompanied himself on the guitar, sang amazingly, with his husky voice, the standards of the Capeverdean morna; in its electric version and with an excellent brass section, the band that was really guitar oriented, gave a colorful and energetic show, that was composed of coladeras. And Tito has already become a coladera master.

Previously, Tito Paris has recorded two albums: Tito Paris ( released in Portuga, 1987) and Dança ma mi criola (on the Boston based label, MB Records in 94). His first record produced by Lusafrica, Graça de tchega, was released in October 96. On that occasion, Tito performed in Paris, Brussels, in the Netherlands and for the ’97 Midem in Cannes. But Tito’s heart belongs to Lisbon, his adoptive city, where he likes to perform. That’s where that, in June 98, Lusafrica decided to record a live album, at the Club B. Leza.

Albums

Preto É Mi (Bruxas Remix) – 2018

Live in Lisbon – 1998

Graça de Tchega – 1996

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Teofilo Chantre

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Teofilo Chantre

A solar swing

About

It has often been said of Teofilo Chantre that he “appeared in the shadow of Cesaria Evora” before making a name with his own records. The expression used should be corrected, since it is hard to imagine an art as bright as that of the great lady of Cape Verde spreading anything other than light.

In fact, Teofilo Chantre’s name was immediately noted by lovers of Cesaria’s records, from “Miss Perfumado”, on which he was already credited with three tracks, to “São Vicente di longe”, where he provided no fewer than five songs. Teofilo also wrote the lyrics for Cesaria’s Ausencia, to music composed by Goran Bregovic for the original soundtrack of the Emir Kusturica film Underground.

Since 1993, the six albums he has released in his own name have made him increasingly famous. There is a Teofilo “style”, which cannot be summed up as just Cape Verdean “authenticity”. Indeed, Teofilo Chantre has lived in France for more than twenty-five years and the diversity of his musical tastes – ranging from Bossa Nova to the classical boleros of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean – have shaped his ear and heart, opening them to wider horizons. All his influences are marvellously distilled in a writing whose melodic obviousness (his refrains often seem immediately familiar) is fully equal to its great harmonic sophistication. Suddenly, given modulations, given passages in distant keys, bring delightful surprises. And while most of his songs are steeped in “sodade” – Cape Verde’s unique insular melancholy – the elegant swing of his coladeras reminds us that dancing is still one of the finest antidotes for sadness.

In 2004, “Azulando” – which might be translated as “blueing” – offers a rich palette of shades, from indigo to ultramarine. “For me, blue is inextricably linked to sodade,” explains Teofilo. “But it’s not really a concept album or anything like that. Some of the songs on the record were written fifteen years ago; I’m happy to continue down my path.” True to the musical team who have been his companions for several years on both record and stage (Jacky Fourniret, accordion; Fabrice Thompson, drums and percussion; Sébastien Gastine, double bass and electric bass; Kim Dan Le Oc Mach, violin), Teofilo Chantre is also accompanied by many guests, including Cesaria Evora (featuring on Mae pa fidje) and Bonga, the great Angolan singer (Canta Cabo Verde). In the course of a track – Des bleuets dans les blés (Cornflowers in the wheat), co-written by Marc Estève, Art Mengo’s partner – Teofilo effortlessly proves that the language of Molière is perfect for his sea-mist voice… As always, the lyrics convey his concern for the humble and disowned, favouring cosy intimacy over braying manifestos. Some are signed Vitorino Chantre, the singer’s father. “He always encouraged me,” Teofilo says. “It was a sort of tribute when I asked him for lyrics.”

In 2007 sees the release of “Viajá”. The record showcases his warm voice, sinuous guitar work and personal lyrics. It features an emergent Brazilian style that is often apparent on “Viajá” today, as if Teofilo were inventing Cape Verdean bossa nova, a light Creole jazz. Just listen to Segunda Geração, a sublime duet with his compatriot Mayra Andrade, also a lover of Brazilian melodies. Other songs – the tender, disenchanted Chelicha (Whim), the fraternal Appel pa tude Naçon (A Call to All Nations), the regret of Tchoro di Guiné (Guinea’s Lament), the partings and reflection of Bô Viaja (Bon Voyage) or the frustrated love of Dérobade (Evasion) are co-written with Vitorino Chantre.
“Viajá” was partly recorded in Mindelo with the help of the great Bau, one of the finest musicians in Cape Verde, and Hernani Almeida, the rising young guitarist of the moment. It was a first for Teofilo Chantre, who enjoyed the very special atmosphere: “We took our time, eating together as friends before we recorded. Sometimes it was magical, like the voice I have on Bô Viaja, a voice I’ve kept. I could never do it again in Paris”.

Teofilo Chantre has succeeded in translating into musical form the famous saying of the great Miguel Torga: “The universal is the local without walls.”

Albums

Rodatempo / Viajá – 2018

MeStissage – 2011

Viajá – 2007

Azulando – 2004

Live … – 2002

Rodatempo – 2000

Di Alma – 1997

Terra & Cretcheu – 1997

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Tcheka

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Tcheka

A new reading of batuque

About

Manuel Lopes Andrade, aka Tcheka, was born on the 20th July 1973 in the port of Ribeira Barca, Santa Catarina district, on Santiago, the most African island of the Cape Verde archipelago. At a very early age, he began to perform alongside his father, Nho Raul Andrade, a highly popular violinist at the island’s village dances and festivities. Tcheka was in good hands. Every wrong note brought a rap on the knuckles from his father’s bow, but he learned quickly and soon made his mark at dances, weddings, baptisms and so on.

However, the boy had other ambitions. At 15, he began to develop a more personal style, based on batuque, one of Santiago Island’s more popular beats, originally played by women. One of the first pieces he wrote, “Man’ba des bes kumida dâ”, gave a clear idea of the musical path he wished to follow. His aim was to widen the appeal of batuque, turning it into a beat that everyone would love.

In the meantime, a man must earn his living. Tcheka left his rural home and went to live in Praia, where he became a cameraman for national television, a job that involved travel and broadened his horizons. In Praia, Tcheka met journalist Julio Rodrigues and wrote a number of songs with him. The two played informally in the bars of the Cape Verdean capital and other musicians soon joined them: percussionist Pery, bassist Kizo, flautist Robert Pemberton (a Scotsman who lived in Cape Verde) and, more recently, percussionist Raul.

Today, Tcheka is well-known in Praia for his work in modernising “batuque”, in much the same way as Catchas updated Funana, the other great Santiago beat, in the seventies. Providing a new reading of batuque while conserving its traditional structures is the message of Tcheka.

Albums

Dor De Mar – 2011

Lonji – 2007

Nu Monda – 2006

Argui ! – 2003

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Sékouba Bambino

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Sékouba Bambino

A leading light of Guinean Music

About

Born in 1964 in Kintinya, High Guinea  Sékouba “Bambino” Diabaté is a leading light of Guinean Music and has spent most of his career in Guinea. After being noticed in various local groups, young Sékou wins Best Guinean Singer Award in 1979 which gets him hired in Bembeya Jazz. This is when he is given the nickname Bambino: to make the difference with Sékou Bembeya Diabaté, the group’s guitar virtuoso.

The year 1992 confirms him as a real star with the release of his second solo album “le Destin”, followed by other successes such as Kassa in 1996. In 1997, producer Ibrahima Sylla hires him on the Africando project, a unique artistic experience which takes the singer around the world and connects him with latin music. With Sylla, he records and releases several successful albums among which Sinikan (2002), 15ème Anniversaire (2004), Can History (2006) and participates to the Mandekalou experience – two albums (in 2004 and 2006) gathering the greatest mandingue contemporary griots.

Sékouba Bambino comes back releasing Innovation in 2012, an album with a dancing atmosphere and a lusophone inspiration, under the auspices of famous producer Manu Lima’s who has composed with Sekou the strong single, Sinontena.

Albums

Innovation – 2012

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Polo Montañez

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Polo Montañez

From farm worker to a international star

About

Polo Montanez was discovered in 1999 by José da Silva, who recognised his genuine talent as a singer-songwriter. José quickly made up his mind to record the artist, who had already adopted the name Polo Montanez in honour of the “mountains” where he was born on the 5th June 1955, an area of wooded hills around sixty kilometres from Havana.

Lusafrica released Polo Montanez’ first album, Guajiro Natural, on the 14th March 2000. A few months later, the record was released on the MTM label in Colombia and met with almost immediate success, making a star of the artist overnight. The tracks Guajiro Natural then Un monton de Estrellas reached number 1 on all the country’s radio stations and the album’s sales rapidly climbed to an extraordinary level (to date, it has sold a total of 60,000 copies in Colombia where a platinum record is awarded for sales of over 40,000). This success spread to other countries in the region: Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico… The modest Cuban farm worker was suddenly a household name.

The Cuban media finally paid tribute to this remarkable triumph. At the end of 2001, Polo became a sensation in his own country where his guajiro build and plain speaking won the hearts of the people, unaccustomed to such unaffectedness. A tour was organised for the following spring and Polo Montanez succeeded in doing what no other Cuban artist had done before him: holding around twenty concerts in the island’s largest towns and managing to draw a frenzied crowd of 50,000 to 150,000 in each provincial stadium and more than 100.000 on La Piragua, in Havana. This was considered as an unprecedented feat for a popular artist. Cuban television broadcast the event to many other Latin countries.

Polo Montañez’ second album, Guitarra Mia (recorded in Havana and Paris), was released by Lusafrica in Colombia and Cuba at the start of summer 2002, then in Europe in October. The artist came to perform in Europe at the start of October. During his stay, he recorded 3 tracks: Locura de Amor, Pueblo Mío and Amor e Distancia, a song he had just written in Paris for Cesaria Evora. Polo then flew back to Cuba with many plans. The European tour had gone very well and another, bigger one was being prepared for the following spring. Otherwise, he was to leave again 10 days later to launch Guitarra Mia in Mexico, where he was expected for a week of intensive promotion.

But fate decided otherwise. Fernando Borrego Linares died in the night of the 26th November 2002 at the Cimex hospital in Havana. He had been fighting for life since being brought there after a terrible road accident on the 20th November. The singer’s death was a tragedy for the Cuban people, who had been kept informed day by day, hour by hour, of his condition after the accident.

Now, two years after he passed away, Lusafrica has decided to bring out a posthumous album of 10 previously-unreleased tracks, including Siete Anos, on which Polo gave his backing vocalist Gladis Pérez her big chance, as well as a new orchestration of Guitarra Mía and 3 major tracks from his previous albums: La Ultima Cancíon and Desde Abajo from the Guitarra Mía album and Un Monton de Estrellas, his greatest hit, from the Guajiro Natural album.

Albums

Guajiro Natural / Guitarra Mia – 2018

Un Montón De Estrellas (Mo Laudi Remix) – 2018

Memoria – 2004

Guitarra Mía – 2002

Guajiro Natural – 2000

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Pierre Akendengue

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Pierre Akendengue

The poet troubadour

About

Pierre Akendengue is a pioneer. Although the term is often misused, it fits perfectly in his case. Born on the 25th April 1943 on Aouta, an island to the southwest of Gabon, the singer-poet and storyteller-philosopher who studied at the Mireille Petit Conservatoire released his first album, Nandipo, in 1974, on Pierre Barouh’s Saravah label. Back then, he played a part in the emergence of a primarily African-flavoured world-music explosion in France, where he had come to study and would stay for twenty years, before returning to Gabon in 1985. Over his career, Akendengué has increasingly filled out his orchestrations and given more emphasis to his lyrics. A brilliant storyteller, he sculpts fluid music copiously nourished by woody percussion sounds and flamboyant backing vocals. His songs draw metaphors to achieve a dazzling parable effect.

The singer explains that storytelling is a heritage of ancestral society. “I’m loyal to the oral civilisation I come from. Aside from that, I think it’s also a way of expressing what’s on my mind. Artists can’t sing aimlessly. Art should be a hotbed of protest in society to avoid it stagnating. Stories provide this possibility of protest. They say one thing and mean another.” While he was a student in France, Pierre Akendengué was banned from the airwaves in Gabon and even from returning there. He was guilty of belonging to the AGEG – the General Association of Gabonese Students, a Marxist organisation. Times change though. Since 2004, he has been personal advisor to the President of the Republic of Gabon, responsible for cultural affairs, youth and sport. The songs he writes convey his philosophical and humanist aspirations; his commitment shines through them. Pierre Akendengué refuses to sing solely for pleasure. “The artist’s role,” he emphasises, “is to sound the alarm, enlighten people and heighten their awareness.” He does this as best he can, whatever clouds, pitfalls and frowns life may bring, because he still believes in his ideals. So he sings about his dreams of freedom, his hopes of a united Africa and his trust in humanity. He sings in French, the language of his audiences when he started out, and in Myene, his native tongue. “Since I don’t sing to pass the time, I try to convey a number of my ancestral culture’s values, things that involve my native language and are often untranslatable. It’s essential that we preserve the vitality of our languages. A country that loses its language loses its culture and so its identity.” On Afrika Obota (one of two covers, along with Considérable, re-recorded for Vérité d’Afrique), he sings of African unity, something he sees as fundamental. “I still believe in it – more and more, in fact. If Africa is to construct its political and economic independence, it really must unite. With the help of our survival instinct, we’ll achieve unity in the end. Humanity isn’t in the business of scuppering itself. I believe in our ability to react. African unity is part of that reaction. Dreams of unity aren’t at all utopian. They were behind the OAU – now disbanded – which re-appeared as the African Union, actually much more efficient than the former OAU, which often used to simply mark time. The African Union intervenes more in African conflicts.”

Albums

La Couleur de l’Afrique – 2018

Gabon, Eveil de la conscience patriotique (Single) – 2017

Libérée la liberté / Mvt Arusha (Single) – 2016

Destinée – 2013

Véritée d’Afrique – 2011

Gorée – 2005

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Orquesta Aragón

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Orquesta Aragón

A history page of Cuban music

About

Double bass player Orestes Aragón Cantero formed the Orquesta Aragón in 1939. With now 70 years of uninterrupted existence, it is probably the oldest band still playing today, in terms of popular music.

The group played its first gig at a private party on September 30, 1939 in a house on the corner of Cristina and Gloria Streets. The date was chosen as the official birth of the band first called Rítmica del 39. The young musicians chose Rítmica rather than Tipica as they wanted to show that while they respected the old danzon, the interpretation they gave was full of real vim and vitality. The group’s name soon changed and their very first slogan proclaimed: “Dance with Rítmica Aragón. We take our commitments seriously, we’re carefully presented and have a select repertoire.” At the end of 1940 they settled on their final name of Orquesta Aragón. The first months were hard, but, by dint of their work, the band carved out a solid reputation in Cienfuegos that spread out through the whole Las Villas province. Rafael Lay distinguished himself as an outstanding violinist, and the band gradually filled out: after ten years, the Orquesta was a clear match for the best bands in Havana. The capital, however, operated as a closed shop, nevertheless Orquesta Aragón did succeed in it in an unexpected way. Then, led by Rafael Lay, the band set off to conquer the world at the start of the fifties.

Albums

The Lusafrica Years – 2009

En Route – 2001

La Charanga Eterna – 1999

Quien Sabe Sabe – 1998

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