Sammba Hammaat Gaajo

*****

Quintette Guinéenne

Sekou Diabaté- solo guitar
Ke Moko Kouyaté- rhythm guitar
Famoro Kouyaté- bass guitar
Amadou Thiam &  Abdou Tumbas- percussion

the 3 tracks they recorded without Miriam Makeba

and 3 more with her 

*****

N'gola Ritmos

Ngola Ritmos were the first modern  band to  sing in kimbundu,and were the  group that shaped semba  to it's present form and infused  to Angolan society  a dream about a national identity.,Activists of the resistance against the Portugese colonialists, transmitting musical messages about the necessity of  change in Angola's sleeping spirit, after 500 years of occupation."The message was, be prepared for tomorrow," and the group that laid some solid foundations for modern Angolan music should never be forgotten,thanks to our times that permit us to have some glimpses to this,not very distant  era and learn from these people while alive ,before their story is wiped by the  time

Liceu Vieira Dias, Domingos Van-Dúnem, Mário da Silva Araújo, Manuel dos Passos and Nino Ndongo created around 1947 the Ngola Ritmos band, in order to assert their Angolan identity. They sung kimbundu music with guitar and small percussion.

In the 1950s, the band comprised Liceu, Nino, Amadeu Amorim, José Maria, Euclides Fontes Pereira, José Cordeira, Lourdes Van-Dúnem and Belita Palma. Their lamentos were inspired by the daily chronicles or funeral laments sung by bessangana women and their sembas by popular dances. 

Carlitos Vieira Dias once said: "The semba is an adaptation of the kazukuta rhythm.

 My father transposed the kimbundu rhythms for the guitar. 

He knew European, Portuguese and Brazilian music. He composed in the minor mode, notably the lamentos". Zé Maria quote of Liceu: ”He was a master. He was the leader of Ngola Ritmos and gave us the matrix for musical conception. His mom and mine acted as our judges. When they told us it wasn’t good enough, we had to go back and rehearse some more“.

Ngola Ritmos created a style that would inspire generations of musicians.

 The lead guitar introduced the theme and often intervened in counterpoint to the voice.

 The second guitar ensured the rhythmic frame, the bass guitar (six-stringed at the time) marked the beat, almost like a percussion, while the drum and dikanza (scraped instrument) backed up the ensemble. Singing was inspired by popular traditions, the chorus answering the lead voice.

 While such songs as Mbiri Mbiri, Kolonial, Palamé or Muxima have been covered by numerous singers, recordings by Ngola Ritmos are very rare. Muxima and Django Ué were recorded in Luanda. 

Most of the members of Ngola Ritmos were nationalist militants, Liceu, a founding member of the MPLA liberation movement and Amadeu were arrested in 1959 and deported to the Tarrafal prison in Cape Verde, to return only ten years later. 

Nevertheless, the band lasted until the late sixties, recording the song Nzagi in Lisbon. The heritage of Ngola Ritmos is not only a music genre. It is also a state of mind, an attitude."

also:

http://www.casadeangola.org/arquivo/Cronicas/NGOLARITMOS/ngola.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngola_Ritmos

http://www.nexus.ao/milonga/ver.cfm?m_id=6838

a collection of Ritmos

The Life of Dawidi Owiti

the Life of .....

Makwayela

Makwayela is an expressive mode who played an important role in the culture of Southern Mozambique.
It includes singing, dancing, oral literature, and elaborate clothing.
It is performed by groups of men both in the neighborhoods of Maputo as in the small villages of the South. makwayela texts perform an integrative function in society, and are full of allegories and parable.
They mention family, health and sickness, religion, marriage, politics, war and death.
Its importance as modulator in family, work-place and the Mozambican society at large is enormous.
Makwayela songs point to socially accepted rules of behavior.
They are a functional element in the culture of the region.
Makwayela, the expressive mode portrayed by these recordings, originated and

developed according to historical junctures in both Southeast Africa and Mozambican society.
Unlike any other expressive mode, makwayela reflects the historical events that shaped
modern Mozambican society and made Southern Mozambique an important part of the economic system
of South Africa.
Its historical itinerary included: its genesis, which took place when migration paths from Southern Mozambique to the Transvaal became well established; its expansion in the city when substantial numbers of migrants returned to the countryside started to settle in Lourenço Marques; its heightening when it was adopted and fostered as a national symbol,during the lst Republic (1975) regime in Mozambique; and its decline with the advent of the 2nd Republic (1988), when changing economic policies brought performance state patronization to an end.

Makwayela was to play an important role in the expression and articulation of national identity.
choral performance acts as   functional solidarity strategy both for performers and audiences, since a common historical and emotional experience is channeled through visual, sonic and motional sensations.
Choral performing groups in Maputo act as voluntary associations, which help to promote migrational paths and to successfully adapt urban migrants to the social and economical reality of the city,
If, on the one hand, urban dwellers are limited and conditioned in their acts by groups to which they belong, on the other hand these groups provide a focal point for personal interaction and urban integration.
The play of groups' networks, and their ways of social action, provide newcomers the necessary tools
to operate within the constraints imposed by a new physical and social urban environment.

from the notes

Makwayela

"Makwayela. Moçambique" (Comissão Descobrimentos [CNCDP] / Expo-98 - Pavilhão de Portugal/ Tradisom; 1998), a recolha e gravação de 17 canções, dos grupos Makwayela Riya Ndlheve Muyingiseti (5 canções: Satana, Atiku Dzezu, Davula Mananga, Psinuyane, Hi Mani Leyi a Psitiwaka), Makwayela Confiança (5: Watsongwani Wa Masiku Lawa, Hé Nwina Masungukate, A Mahanyele, Tindjombo, Tiwoneleni Ka Maputso), Makwayela LAM (2: Wana Wa Moçambique, Ghogo Mandela), Makwayela TPM (5: Satana, Famba Teresa, A Hi Tiwoneleni A Wayiwi, Tatana Wa Watsongwana, Xitimela Ka Manhiça).

merci beaucoup   Miguel



*

Gestu de Dakar

Djirime

*

Zongo Adama

...is the name of this group of young warriors from Burkina


Naab Koega

Lucie Eyenga

Grande voix de la rumba congolaise des années 1950/1960, Lucie Eyenga a été découverte par Zacharie Elenga et s’est produite avec de nombreux artistes majeurs de la scène congolaise comme Joseph Kabasélé , Tino Baroza, Dechaud, Nino Malapet, Dr Nico, Papa Noël et Abeti Masikini.
Née en 1934 à Coquelathville (actuel Bandaka), Lucie Eyenga nait dans une famille « Mongo » et baigne dans les rythmes « Zebola » et « Odemba ».
En 1954, elle est découverte à Léopoldville (Kinshasa) par Zacharie Elenga, pionnier de la guitare hawaïenne. Chanteuse expressive, capable d’improvisations, elle est bientôt remarquée par Joseph Kabasélé, leader de l’African Jazz et en 1954, se distingue sur la scène nationale en interprétant le titre « Bolingo ya la Joie » dédiée à l’association féminine kinoise, « La Joie », accompagnée par les guitaristes légendaires Tino Baroza et Dechaud.
En 1957/1958, elle se produit également avec l’orchestre Rock-A-Mambo, s’imposant rapidement avec des titres comme « Brigitte », « Mabe na yo moko », « Dit moninga », « Nasepeli mingi » et « Zozo moke ». En 1962, après la disparition de Rock A Mambo, elle rejoint à Brazzaville en 1962 l’orchestre Negro Band et enregistre avec le groupe deux chansons devenus des classiques,  « Adoula » et « Georgette » .
En 1973, elle rejoint le groupe Bakolo Miziki de Papa Noël et enregistre plusieurs succès sous le label Opika. Après plusieurs années d’inactivité, elle reparaît en 1983 dans l’African Fiesta Sukisa de Dr Nico puis rejoint Abeti Masikini l’année suivante et enregistre avec elle deux albums produits par l’IAD (Industrie Africaine du disque) et qui reprennent ses grands succès au sein de l’African Jazz et Kabasele et du Rock-a-Mambo de Nino Malapet.
Lucie Eyenga s’éteint le 12 Décembre 1987 à Kinshasa, à l’âge de 53 ans. Elle demeure dans la mémoire des Congolais une des plus grandes voix féminines de la rumba.

from
http://www.starducongo.com

*****

the Kela tree

...and from the mother to the children

Not all the Diabate from Kela become famous artists, but among every generation there are some who are successful. The patrilineage to which Siramori belongs seems to have a special talent for music. Her grandfather Kelabalaba is considered to be the first Diabate ever to be the official spokesman in the septennial recitation of the Sunjata epic. His four sons have inherited this talent . Siramori's father, Bintufaama, was a renowned player of the ngoni, the traditional Mande lute. The people in Kela still mention him as a great artist, and his ngoni is said to have continued to play even after he had stopped playing it. Siramori's agemates El Haji Bala and El Haji Yamudu both had impressive careers as musicians.  They both had their own music group with which they toured Mande.  Among Siramori's classificatory grandchildren, Kasemadi (aka Kasse Mady) is by far the most famous. Kassemadi sang in the 1980s with bands like National Badema A and B. Today he lives in Paris and his records are sold all over the world. His younger brother Lanfia is not only a fine ngoni player, but has also an outstanding voice and features in the Bajourou trio. In the 1980s Lanfia was the singer of Mali's legendary Rail Band.
Some of Siramori's children have "inherited" their parents' talent. Siramori was married to Nankoman Kouyate, a balafon player who played in the group in which Siramori was a singer and dancer. Her two daughters Sanudje and Bintan are considered to be the inheritors of Siramori's secrets. Sanudje is a professional singer, who alternates stays in Bamako and Paris. She has made one cassette in Paris, with Ibrahim Sylla, the producer for many Malian artists. Sanudje's sister Bintan has married a Diabate from Kela and she has acquired a central role in music performances in Kela. Two of Siramori's sons are also active as professional musicians. Her youngest son, Lansine Kouyate, is a talented balafon player who played on Salif Keita's latest album, Folon. Her second son, Sidiki, is a guitar player who travels through the Mande region with his electric band. His home base is his mother's compound in Kangaba.

Jan Jansen

and as it is a family affair 

Siramori Diabaté:
Tira magan 

Lansiné Diabaté & Bintan Kouyaté with El Hadji Yamudu Diabate, Lanfia Diabate &  Kasemadi Kamisoko:

Tiramagan fasa

Sanungwe Kouyaté & Kassé Mady:

------

Siramori Diabaté

from the daughter to the mother .....

Siramori was first of all a descendant of the famous Diabaté griots of Kela, a village at the banks of the  Djoliba river (aka Niger), 100 kilometers southwest of Bamako. She was born  around 1925, the daughter of Bintufaama Diabate .

Being a Diabaté from Kela more or less shaped her life. The Diabaté  have long been considered
the keepers of the "true" version of the Sunjata epic and Kela is a so-called "school of oral tradition ". Siramori Diabaté   was  rolled in this tradition, and therefore she stayed in Kangaba but on the other hand  she actively participated in urban life in Bamako.

She appealed to a new generation that derived its identity primarily from being citizens of the nation state of Mali, and less from its ethnic background. Siramori is generally acknowledged as a person who bridged the old and the new and her songs are appreciated by all kinds of people, whatever their age or ethnic background .This is a remarkable achievement, and Y. F. Koné does not exaggerate when hè writes:

Rare are the jaliw who know how to speak to all Malians in their diversity
Siramory Diabaté has managed this....

 Jan Jansen from  this pdf



2 versions of the Tiramagan Fasa with Siramori Diabaté

1988 rec by Jan Jansen  with Sidiki Kouyaté on acoustic guitar

1974 rec by John W. Johnson

A Yelema

Bintan Kouyaté

A Yelema