Tinariwen releases her 9th studio album Amatsou (La peu), produced by Canadian Daniel Lanois (U2, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan). Then Malan Mané, historical artist of the Guinean Super Mama Djombo returns after a long absence with a new album Fidjo di Lion.
Our first guests come from the Sahara: Tinariwenwhich means “deserts” are in #SessionLive.
For decades, the Tinariwen are the ambassadors of the Tuareg people (Kel Tamashek), of a way of life in harmony with nature which is more than ever threatened. Throughout their ninth album Amatsou, the legendary collective set out to explore the shared sensibilities between their desert blues and the vibrant country music of rural America. Registered at Djanetan oasis in the southern desert of Algeria located in the national park of TassiliN’Ajjerwith an additional production of Daniel Lanois (Bob Dylan, U2, Emmylou Harris, Peter Gabriel, Willie Nelson), we find in Amatsou sinuous guitar lines and hypnotic grooves characteristic of the group, which coexist harmoniously with banjos, violins and pedal steel.
Although the Tuareg culture is as old as that of ancient Greece or Rome, the songs ofAmatssou talk about the current and often difficult reality of the lives of Tuaregs Today. Unsurprisingly, there are passionate references to the political and social unrest in mali. Full of poetic allegories, the lyrics call for unity and freedom. There are songs of struggle and resistance with oblique references to recent desperate political upheavals in mali and the growing power of the Salafists. The message of Tinariwen has never been more urgent and compelling than on Amatsou.
Tinariwen, the Tuareg collective winner of a grammysbegan a marathon of 34 concerts across the United States and then Europe.
Titles performed at the big studio
– EzlanLive RFI see native video RFI Videos
– extracts 7 Nation Army White Stripes and Heavy Sun Daniel Lanois
– ArajghiyineTinariwen, from the album Amatsou
-Kek Alghalm Live RFI see native video RFI Videos.
Line Up: Sanou Ag Ahmed, Elaga AG Ahmidguitar, voice; Abdallah Ad Alhousseyni, voice, guitar; And Said Ag Ayaddjembe, calabash, darbouka.
Sound: Benoît Letirant & Mathias Taylor.
► Album Amatsou, The fear (Wedge 2023).
Then we receive Malan Manethe voice of Super Mama Djombo, which was the soundtrack of independence in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. It is in France that the gentleman has lived since 1990. Fiju di Lion, his new album sounds like a resurrection and is released on Archieball, the label of American saxophonist Archie Shepp. He is accompanied by Samuel Thiébaut, producer of the film “ Bissau, the return of an idol(Oleo Films).
Disappeared from the musical sphere for decades, so much so that some believed him to be dead, the singer Malan Mané, the essential voice of the people of Guinea-Bissau within the group Super Mama Djombo, recorded his first solo album in Lisbon in early 2022. , at the famous Valentim de Carvalho studios, where the historic recordings of the legendary group were recorded in 1979.
It is the story of a resurrection. A classic of the world of music, a fairy tale that, after so many evils, ends well. This story, made up of high debates, is that of Antonio “Malan” Mane, born in 1956 in Buba, when Guinea-Bissau was still under the colonial yoke of Portugal. Three years later, the Pidjiguiti massacre will be the spark that will trigger the inevitable movement towards the emancipation of an entire people, a liberation led by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde. Grown up in a family of Muslim faith, the kid tall as three mangoes is very quickly in contact with this party, to which he will remain faithful until the end. On his small radio, his father listened to news about the liberation party, which Amilcar Cabral intended to lead to final victory in 1974. In the meantime, the family moved to the capital, Bissau, in 1969, and the teenager was then torn between two passions: football and music. As a good fan of Cobiana Djazz, the mythical combo whose soundtrack boosted the rebellion, the one we designate from a simple Malan, will choose his camp at the time of the proclamation of independence, on September 24, 1973. After a few experiences, this disciple of the singer Laba Sosseh, the true star of Dakar, will join in 1975 the Mama Djombo, a group formed at the end of the 1960s by young Guinean scouts, which has become “Super” since the arrival of Tundu, self-taught weaned from Jimi Hendrix, and Atchouchi, composer-in-chief with a willingly more militant tone.
Mama Djombo, the symbol makes good sense in post-colonial times: this name is inspired by a famous fetish that protected the sparse ranks of guerrillas, a simple handful that will grow over time, guided by Amilcar Cabral, rimmed glasses and a sharp verb, assassinated even before having seen his small country free itself. It is the beginning of a new story, for Malan and his family, who are set up as cultural ambassadors by the first President, Luis Cabral, who takes them more than once on his tours in Africa, then sends them to the festival. youth in Havana, as evidenced by the LP Festival published in the process. Success is on the way. The Super Mama Djombo recipe? A sense of the collective, each of the dozen members having a voice in the matter, and a skilful balance between music to dance to and melodies to cry in, like the unstoppable turnery that is dissan Na M’bera, and the ballad Julia, a story of love and loss. Their repertoire summons the ethnic diversity of the country, and on this federative faith, they will write in local Kryol their legend, pan-African, singing Sol mayor for commandersecond national anthem to the glory of Amilcar Cabral, as honoring the griot N’Famara Mané.
Titles played
Friend I Guineense (I am Guinean)
From Buba, where I live, to Bissau On the LDG boat, a pelican confided in me: “When you’re in Bissau, tell everyone you meet: It doesn’t matter whether you’re Catholic or Muslim It doesn’t matter whether you are Mandinka or Fulani or Balanta or Diola It doesn’t matter all that! The only thing that counts is what our identity cards say: I am Guinean, you are Guineans, we are all Guineans! »
-Dissan Na me bera extract Super Mama Djombo
– Fiju di Lion (son of the lion)
A song about the legacy of the founding father of independence, assassinated in 1973 by the Portuguese: Amilcar Cabral, “the lion”. Where are his sons? Is there a single politician today who can afford to claim his legacy? Who is he, the one who one day will perhaps finally become “the Son of the lion”.
– Nelson Mandela Feat. Mamani Keita and Jupiter
– Recado (the message)
O our Guinea Fathers and mothers, I ask you: Why did you wage this war in the past if comrades are now killing comrades?
► Album Fiju di Lion (Archieball / The Other Cast 2023).
” Bissau, the return of an idol» Almighty Mama Djombo (Oleo Films).