Radio Africa was
presented by Graeme Counsel and
was broadcast on 3 CR in Melbourne,
Australia.
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Occasional reviews of rare and out of print classic recordings
from Africa
L'Orchestre Kanaga de
Mopti
The decade of
the 1970s was a golden era for the big bands of West Africa. State-funding in Guinea,
Mali, Burkina Faso, and to a lesser extent, Senegal, had created a vast network
of modern orchestras across the region. In Guinea alone there were more than 45
regional and national orchestras. In Mali, the
regional orchestras performed for both state and private
functions. When performing under their private guise the orchestras used
their commercial name. For example, the Regional Orchestra of Mopti also
performed under their private guise as Kanaga de Mopti. In 1977 the Malian government released a series of LPs on the
Mali Kunkan label highlighting some of the great Malian orchestras of the
period. Kanaga de Mopti's release is pictured above.
The opening track,
Gambari, encapsulates the essence of the Malian orchestra style. The guitar solo,
which evokes the best of Sekou "Diamond Fingers" Diabaté, plays a central role,
and explores the melody across several
octaves. The solo is
well-supported by electric organ, and the brass section is used sparingly to
punctuate and reiterate the melody. All the sections of the orchestra combine in
the last stanza of the song, thus unifying and reinforcing the theme. Gambari
is unquestionably one of the great songs recorded by Mali's orchestras, yet,
incredibly,
it is available only on this LP. Side B opens with Kanaga, and a
funk-laden organ solo which segues into one of the most compelling brass section
riffs one is ever likely to come across. This song really swings and towers
above its contemporaries. The track is followed by N'do N'do, another classic, which
features a weaving organ and staccato brass section. The backing vocalists
propel the number with their call-and-response Fela-like chorus, and
are led by the vocals of Sory Bamba, who is in career-best form throughout the
LP.
This record is quite simply one of West Africa's masterpieces. Why it has never been
re-released is a tragedy, and one that underscores the need for a retrospective
of Mali's regional orchestras. Other LPs on the Mali Kunkan label featured
National Badema, Kéné Star de
Mopti, Mystere Jazz de Tombouctou, L'Orchestre Sidi Yassa de Kayes, and
L'Orchestre Bida de la Capitale, with only
the National Badema LP released on CD. There are many other classic Malian orchestra
recordings from the 1970s (for example, Regard sur le passé à
travers le présent - 1973, Panorama du Mali - 1973, and the Rail
Band's RCAM series of five LPs recorded in Nigeria in 1975) resting in the
vaults, gathering dust, and waiting to be brought back to life.…
For the discography of the Mali Kunkan label
click here and for a discography of Malian vinyl
recordings
click here.
L'Orchestre Kanaga de Mopti continues to perform today.
Graeme Counsel
© Copyright 2001-2008
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Links to more
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Bibliography
of Graeme Counsel
Forthcoming:
Keletigui et ses Tambourinis.
2 x compact discs
The elephant that will not die: The Syliphone label
2008
Annotations to Balla et ses Balladins.
The Syliphone years.
Sterns STCD 3035-36.
2 x compact discs.
Available from this site.
"The search for Authenticity in a global age: Artists and arts policy in
Francophone West Africa". Conference paper, Africans in Australia
and outsiders in Africa, Australian National University.
2007
"Music and politics in West Africa". Seminar, The Institute of
Postcolonial Studies, Melbourne.
Annotations to Bembeya
Jazz National.
The Syliphone years. Hits and rare recordings.
Sterns STCD 3029-30.
2 x compact discs.
Available from this site
Annotations to Authenticité.
The Syliphone years. Guinea's Orchestres Nationaux and Federaux 1965 -
1980. Sterns. STCD 3025-26. 2 x compact discs.
Available from
this site
Book review – "Conflict and
collusion in Sierra Leone", David Keen. Australasian Review of African
Studies. 28, pp. 168-170.
2006
Mande popular music and cultural policies in West Africa. PhD thesis,
Faculty of Arts,
University of Melbourne.
Available from this site
"Syliphone records". World Music. Volume 1. Africa & Middle East. Simon Broughton,
Mark Ellingham & Jon Lusk, eds. London: Rough Guides.
Available from this
site
2005
Directory
of Africanists in Australasia and the Pacific. 6th edition. (with Wayne
Pelling). Melbourne: AFSAAP.
Available from this
site
Book review – "Sunjata. A West African epic of the Mande
peoples", trans. by David C. Conrad. Australasian Review of African
Studies. 27 (1), pp. 96-97.
2004
Annotations to Bembeya Jazz National. The
Syliphone Years. Sterns. STCD 3021-22. 2 x compact discs.
“Music in
Guinea’s first republic”, 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.
“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.
"Popular music and
politics in Sékou Touré’s Guinea". Australasian Review of African
Studies. 26 (1), pp. 26-42.
Available from this
site
Book review –
“Eurafricans in Western Africa”, George E. Brooks. Australasian Review of
African Studies. 26 (2), pp. 76-77.
2003
“Cultural policy and
music in Mali”. Africa Quarterly. 43 (3), pp. 36-51.
“Views of the
past: Music and politics in West Africa”. Seminar, African
Research Institute, La Trobe University.
“Cultural policy in Mali”.
Conference paper, Africa on a global stage: Politics, history, economics and
culture, Flinders University.
2002
“Regionalisation”. fRoots. 225, pp. 45, 47.
Available from this site
"Cultural
policy in Guinea's first republic: Music, militants and myths". Conference
paper, Africa confronts globalisation, Macquarie University.
2001
“Golden Guinea”.
fRoots. 211/212. pp 46-47, 49. Available from this site
2000
“Music’s political dimension in West Africa”.
Conference paper, African identities, University of Adelaide.
1999
Contributing
writer: West Africa, 4th edition; The Gambia and Senegal,
1st edition; Sénégal, 1st edition; India, 7th
edition; and East Africa, 5th edition. Australia:
Lonely Planet Publications.
1995
Contributing writer: West Africa, 3rd
edition. Australia: Lonely Planet Publications.
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This page was created on July 2 1999 and was last updated on May 8 2008.