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Radio Africa is a web site by Graeme Counsel featuring West African music news, reviews, discographies, videos, and information.

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Bokoor African Popular Music Archive Foundation

Dear Friends,

As you may know the respected Ghanaian musician and researcher, John Collins, suffered a calamity recently when his house was flooded in Accra. Besides devastating his personal property, the flood destroyed equipment and archival documents that were part of the Bokoor African Popular Music Archive Foundation (BAPMAF). Given the scale of the disaster, John has asked for donations to help repair the damage to the archive and its holdings.

I have donated to this cause, and I encourage others to do so. Those who wish to contribute to help getting BAPMAF back on its feet should send donations to a Paypal account that has been set up with the help of  well wishers. Anyone who already has a PayPal account can simply make a donation through PayPal to <newbapmaf@yahoo.com>.  People who don't have a PayPal account should click on the donate button (marking these as a "gift") at either of these two blog spots -

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Occasional reviews of rare and out of print classic recordings from Africa

Le Mystère Jazz de Tombouctou

Mali Kunkan. KO 77.04.17. 1977

  
During the era of Mali's first President, Modibo Keita (1960-1968), the government created regional orchestras and arts troupes in each of the nation's 7 regions. These groups were state-sponsored and from 1962 they competed in annual arts festivals known as the "Semaines Nationale de la Jeunesse" - or "National Youth Weeks". In 1968 a military coup ousted President Keita and the new regime dropped most of his arts policies, though kept the "Semaines Nationale de la Jeunesse" as a way of appeasing the public. The festivals were renamed the "Biennale Artistique et Culturelle de la Jeunesse" and would now be held every 2 years. The first was held in 1970, and in that year the prestigious recording label Barenreiter-Musicaphon released a series of recordings of Malian musicians to celebrate the event. Of the 7 regional orchestras only recordings by the groups from Bamako, Mopti, Sikasso, Ségou and Kayes were released on LP by Barenreiter-Musicaphon - so what of the groups from Gao and Tombouctou? The Orchestre Regional de Gao later recorded 3 songs on the Malian government's Regard sur le passé à travers le présent and Panorama du Mali LPs, released in 1973, but the Orchestre Regional de Tombouctou, also known as Le Mystère Jazz de Tombouctou, did not release a recording until 1977, when the above LP was issued by the Mali Kunkan label. It is perhaps the rarest release by Mali Kunkan, and in my first trip to Mali in 1994 I endeavoured to find a copy. I was staying in central Bamako at the Hotel du Niger, and nearby was a little bar where I used to escape from the heat. I'd bring in my cassettes of Malian orchestras and ask the bar staff to play them. An older guy was interested in the music and we chatted about Mystère Jazz and he told me that he could get  a cassette copy of their recordings. The next day he delivered me cassettes not only of that group but also of the regional orchestras of Gao, Sikasso, and the National Orchestra formation "B", lead by Kassé Mady Diabaté. These rare recordings were probable dubs from reel-to-reels stored in the sound archive at Radio Mali. It is a sad fact that over many years the Radio Mali archives have lost a lot of material, and some high profile West African "producers" have been caught red-handed smuggling tapes out of the country. The cassette copies I received were very muddy in quality and over the years I cleaned them up as best as possible.

Years went by and I never found a copy of the Mystère Jazz LP. Recently however, a VG++ copy went for auction, though I came 2nd in the bidding. Thankfully, the seller put all of the tracks in their entirety on the web site so I at last I now have a decent copy of their recordings - after 16 years! The opening track to the LP, "Leli", immediately launches into the big brass sound and ostinato lead guitar which identify Mystère Jazz's Malian style. The brass and guitar sections are also teasers for later solo passages - and what solos they are. Malian music of this period is renown for the quality of the lead guitar solos (e.g. National "A" Orchestra, Orchestre Regional de Kayes, Super Djata Band, etc) and Mystère Jazz are right up there with the best. The 2nd track, "Dina waligi", is a slower tempo number, and is in praise to Allah. Side A closes with "Teiduma", and here the Touareg influence becomes evident. A great sax solo is a highlight. Side B opens with "Walé", a song which praises the sacrifices of women. The Touareg rhythms are again at the fore, somewhat Gnawa-like, with a strong bass line and percussion styles that imitate a qrakeb. "Tarekh" is the next song and is Tamashek in origin. Here Mystère Jazz are at their peak: a drum and sax intro the song, then the rhythm guitarist lays down the ostinato melody, with the lead guitarist swooping in to announce the arrival of the brass section. It's one of the best introductions in Malian orchestral music. During the song the lead guitarist continually improvises with flourishes and runs, and the song builds in tension until deliverance by a sax solo, which segues into the long awaited guitar solo. This explores several octaves and closes with an exquisite melodic phrase. "Apolo" closes the LP, and I'll write more on this song later.

Since that first cassette in 1994 I have come across other cassettes by the group. Though not all can be 100% certified as Mystère Jazz, for they were bootlegs with no information written on them, I consider them to be genuine recordings by the group.  The vocalist is the same, the lead guitarist, too, and it "feels" like the group. Now here is a real mystery: I was sure that the cassette I was given in Bamako in 1994 was simply a dub of the Mali Kunkan LP. It in fact isn't, and appears to be a studio session recorded at the same time. Many tracks from the LP are present but are definitely different versions, and much better than the LP versions in my opinion. There are also completely new songs. I don't usually upload songs to the internet, though on this occasion given the rarity of the recording, the low sound quality of it, and its magnificence, here it is - an alternate version of Tarekh. The guitar solo is exceptional, the best, and it's one of all time favourite songs. If you have this song, somehow, in better quality than this, please let me know.

I have written extensively on the history of Mali's cultural festivals and cultural policies. For further information on this unique period of modern African history see "The return of Mali’s national arts festival", in Mande-Manding. Background Reading for Ethnographic Research in the Region South of Bamako. Jan Jansen (ed). Leiden: Leiden University Department of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (2004); "Cultural policy and music in Mali", Africa Quarterly. 43 (3), pp. 36-51 (2003); and Mande popular music and cultural policies in West Africa. Germany: VDM (2008).