Bambara language
The first incarnation of the Rail Band was founded in 1970, sponsored by the Ministry of Information and the railway administration. The Malian government had, since the '60s, been sponsoring cultural events and groups to promote national traditions, the Rail Band was among those programs. The band performed as the house band at the Buffet Bar of the Station Hotel in Bamako, from which it takes its name. Beginning as a Latin Jazz band in the style of Congolese Soukous, it soon began integrating local Manding musical styles and traditions, with vocals in the Bambara language. From early on the band featured electric guitar, electric organ, saxophone, horns, and a western drum kit alongside Mande music using kora, balafon, ngoni, talking drums, Islamic-style, Mande hunter co-fraternity song, and griot praise-singing vocals.