 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Artist List:
Amampondo
Amjad Ali Khan
Asad Qizilbash
Bembeya Jazz
Chico Cesar
Clave Y Guaguanco
Eliza Carthy Big Band
Ensemble Kaboul
Jimmy Cliff
Julien Jacob
LoJo
Manecas Costa
Manu Dibango and
Ray Lema
Nitin Sawhney
Ojos de Brujo
Oumou Sangare
Pape and Cheikh
Samba Sunda
Sevara Nazarkhan
Sierra Maestra
Super Rail Band
Temple of Sound
Teofilo Chantre
|
|
 |
|
Profile:
Super Rail Band
 
Listen to Djelimady Tounkara's set from Andy Kershaw's dj slot on the Village stage.
Imagine if British Rail had sponsored a rock band to play in the Great Western Hotel next to Paddington Station in the early 1970s and that the same band had then gone on to become one of the most popular, innovative and durable musical attractions in the land. Mind boggling eh? Well that, in a nutshell, is the story of the Super Rail Band except that their patron was the National Railway Company of Mali and their regular spot was the Buffet Hotel de la Gare next to the Malian capital Bamako's main railway terminus.
The group was launched by the astonishingly far-sighted directors of the Railway company in response to newly installed dictator Moussa Traore's heathen policy of dismantling the national music and dance troupes which had been set up at independence and had gone on to develop a new style of west African dance music by fusing American Jazz and Latin rumba with the native traditions of the Manding people.
The Super Rail Band soon became Bamako's main attraction and principal nurturers of local talent. Both Salif Keita and Mory Kante did stints as lead vocalists before going onto to pursue solo careers. Their successors included the immensely talented Makan Ganess, Lafira Diabaté and the present lead singers Damory Kouyaté and Samba Sissoko.
The Super Rail Band is also the home of Djelimady Tounkara, one of Mali's most accomplished guitarists and subject of the book 'In Griot Time' by American journalist Banning Eyre.
As the golden age of the great west African dance orchestras began to fade in the 1980s, the Super Rail Band managed to survive by adapting their sound and releasing a string of superb CDs including 'Mansa' (1995) and the latest 'Kongo Sigui'.
The Rail Band have a new home, the Djembe Club in the Lafiabougou district, but their energy is still as unstoppable as the 17.30 express to Dakar Central, and all points in between.
Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2003
Elsewhere on BBCi:
Djelimady Tounkara profile
Album review
|
|
|
|
|
|
