Posts tagged Guinea

V/A – Bustin’ Out (New Wave To New Beat: The Post Punk Era 1979-1981)

Bustin’ Out is set in a time went the punks limelight was dimming but in its place, the independent DIY label ethic took hold and a whole new generation of musicians started to experiment a little deeper than 3-chord wonders.

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Kimi Djabat?© – Karam

With so many West African traditional-modern ensembles making a name on the scene, is there more room for many more? The Cumbancha label obviously thinks so as the first release of its new ‘Discovery’ series is by young singer and balafón player Kimi Djabaté. Listening to Karam, it seems like a great catch

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Salif Keita – Roundhouse, London (Live Review)

For such a highly polished musician with a legendary talent, ’s gigs are surprisingly varied. On a bad night everything is muted, distant, by the numbers, but this was not a bad night, oh no, a bad night this was not…

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Ba Cissoko – Visitors from Electric Griot Land

Catching Ba Cissoko’s band on stage is like watching African lightning bottled in front of you. The aching beauty of the acoustic , the thrill of an electrified and the cross currents of tradition and modernity in west African music meeting in one band. The whole — as dazzling as it is — feels unstable, powerful, beguiling.

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The Seckou Keita Quartet – Afro-Mandinka Soul

This album has a new take on a very ancient tradition. The and the culture presides over this musical meeting in the masterful hands of Seckou Keita from , but it’s teased and challenged by other instruments and musical traditions, represented by the Egyptian violinist Samy Bishai, Italian double bassist Davide Mantovani and Gambian percussionist Surahata Susso.

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Introducing Daby Balde – Competition Closed

We have given away three copies of this elegantly seductive introduction to the work of Daby Balde (a rising star in , a soon-to-be star everywhere else).

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Sekouba Bambino

So it seems like I’m one of the last to know about Sekouba Bambino. The Beat Magazine was calling him “among the best of ’s solo vocal performers” in 2002, and Charlie was raving about him in 2003. Now I’m doing it in 2005.

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