BEMBEYA JAZZ NATIONAL

Bembaya Jazz National is a Guinean jazz group that gained fame in the 1960s for their infectious afropop rhythms. They are considered one of the most significant bands in Guinean music. Many of their recordings are based on traditional folk music in the country and have been fused with jazz and Afropop style.  Featuring guitarist Sekou 'Diamond Fingers' Diabate, who grew up in a traditional griot musical family, the band won over fans in Conakry, Guinea's capital city, during the heady days of that country's newfound independence. Bembeya Jazz fell onto harder times in the 1980s and disbanded for a number of years, but reformed in the late 1990s and has toured Europe and North America in the early 2000s. In the aftermath of the Guinean Independence in 1958 and the encouragement of cultural pride, numerous bands sprang up throughout the African country.  The first dance bands were read more...