BALLA ET SES BALLADINS

Balla et ses Balladins (also known as Orchestre du Jardin de Guinée) were a dance-music orchestra formed in Conakry, Guinea in 1962 following the break-up of the Syli Orchestre National, Guinea's first state-sponsored group. Also called the Orchestre du Jardin de Guinée, after the "bar dancing" music venue in Conakry that still exists today, the group made a number of recordings for the state-owned Syliphone label and become one of the first modern dance musical groups in Guinea to use traditional musical instruments and fuse together traditional Guinean folk music with more modern influences. The newly independent state of Guinea established a number of music groups, competitions and festivals throughout the country to play the traditional musics of Guinea rather than the European styles that were popular in the colonial period. The government also set up the Syliphone label to record the ensuing music and thus preserve and enhance the culture read more...