Bembeya Jazz National :: Regard sur le Passé

hqdefaultWe recently took a look at Bembeya Jazz National’s “Petit Sekou,” a sultry and Latin-inspired slice of late 70’s West African psychedelic rock. Slightly sinister in groove, it finds the group in a free spirited moment of unadulterated cool. But the group’s origins lie  largely in the politics of their West African home.

In the aftermath of the Guinean Independence in 1958 and through the cultural policy of “authenticité”, which encouraged cultural pride, numerous bands were created throughout the regions of Guinea. Guinea’s President,  Ahmed Sékou Touré, disbanded all private dance orchestras and replaced them with state-supported groups, the most popular of which was Bembeya Jazz National, formed in 1961.

Bembeya Jazz, also referred to as the Orchestre de Beyla in the early days, started as the regional orchestra from the town of Beyla in southern Guinea. They were formed with the help of the local governor, Emile Kondé, to act as the region’s “orchestre moderne”.  The initial line up included Sékou Camara and Achken Kaba in the brass section on trumpets, Sékou Diabaté on guitar who was the youngest member at the time, Hamidou Diaouné on bass and Mory “Mangala” Condé on drums. The group would soon would add singers Aboubacar Demba Camara and Salifou Kaba, calling themselves Orchestra Bembeya  after a local river.

In 1970, Bembeya Jazz National released the majestic Regard sur le Passé a musical tribute to the memory of  Samory Touré, who at the end of the 19th Century was able to resist the advances of the French colonization of West Africa for over twenty years, founding a Mande conquest state in much of what is now northern Guinea in 1870, and becoming a nationalist emblem following 1958.

Regard sur le Passé, which translates roughly to “look to the past,” draws upon  the West African griot  tradition of traveling poets, musicians, and storytellers who maintain a practice of oral history. It blends this part spoken word, part harmony-sung storytelling form with elements of tranquil West African highlife. Heavy on vibraphone, trumpets, palm wine guitar and the heavenly humming of the backup vocalists, the album consists of two epic recordings that recount Touré’s historic anti-colonial resistance and pay tribute to his legend of building collaboration amongst diverse ethnic groups.

And such is the spirit of this record: a joyous and celebratory mix of styles, sounds and forms. A highlife masterwork whose climate is lively and serene, a sense of tranquility and ease floating right off the grooves. A pure and glorious delight. words / c depasquale

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