Language:

Mandinka

Genre:

Modern manding

Articles:
On guitarist Djelimady Tounkara

On the Internet
On Super Rail Band

Biography

Rail Band is one of African pop music's most important bands, a sort of African answer to The Beatles or Rolling Stones. The parallels are not as unlikely as they may at first appear. Both the Beatles and Stones began by copying American prototypes, while in 1960s and 1970s Africa people copied Cuban music. After liberation, several African governments wished to do something to stimulate their own African culture and several of them - for example the Governments of Mali and Guinea - set about constructing state bands. Without coercing musicians to play only traditional music, they gave them instruments and put them on the state payrolls. Several of these bands came to play an important role in the blossoming of African music in the 1960s and 1970s, among other reasons because many artists for the first time had access to modern instruments such as electric guitar, keyboard and saxophone. Rail Band belongs to this tradition but stands in a unique position because of its closeness to the Malian railway. In 1970 the stationmaster in Bamako asked the Griot Tidiana Kone to put together a band that could play in the foyer of the railway hotel and drive the culture forward. In the beginning Rail Band played for hours, a cultural blend of pop songs and more traditional Malian songs with modern settings. Salif Keita came to the group in the early days as a singer and was with them for ages before breaking out and forming Les Ambassadeurs. Mory Kante started his career with Rail Band when he studied the kora in Bamako. One day Salif Keita arrived too late to play, so overtook Mory Kante as vocalist, and both worked for a while as singers. In the five years that Rail Band existed, they developed a special style and mixed calypso and Latin American music, jazz and big band sounds with their own, local traditions.

Relevant artists:
Salif Keita
Mory Kante
Sekouba Bambino

RAIL BAND, MORY KANTE & SALIF KEITA  
Sonodisc/Musisoft/1999

A good collection of the classic songs from the legendary band. Much of the material is quite special and provides an atmosphere of jamming sessions, with songs lasting up to ten minutes. The sound quality can’t match those of the newer recordings, obviously, but these songs have a unique authenticity, characterised by a newly created optimism that in many ways can be compared with The Beatles in Europe. It is also terribly interesting to hear the predecessors to the recent songs of Salif Keita, for example "Jurukan" that is an early version of the successful track "Mandjou", but here sounds more raw and rickety. The soul and atmosphere are not lacking here, anyway, and it's just like stepping into the railway hotel in Bamako in 1971.

SIGUI  
Indigo/Label Bleu/2001

Mali has housed many brilliant guitarists. The gifted guitarist from the world famous Super Rail Band has now recorded a solo album. After the Second World War the guitar was the symbol of the new music that burst forth just before the end of colonial times in 1960. Many towns like Kita and Segou had their own dance bands to play waltz, tango, paso doble, rumba and French chansons. Djelimady Tuonkara, a member of the popular Bamako band Pioneer Jazz at the time, has said that he hardly ever played traditional Mandinka music. The band used primarily Latin American music, a little jazz, and a little rock. Djelimady Tuonkara especially liked Chuck Berry and tried to imitate the style of the American rockabilly artist. When the Cuban music wave rolled in over the Francophile Africa of the 1960s, it caught up many followers of the West African music style. The then president of Mali, Modibo Keita, sponsored a musical journey to the Caribbean communist island.
Djelimady Tuonkara plucked up the sound and rhythm in the Cuban guitar playing that he heard on the radio. Son-songs reminded him of the rhythmic and melodic structure in Mandinka music - the music of the West African Mandinka people. The Latin American style was therefore a rediscovery of the dance and song that their forefathers took with them on the slave ships to the American continent. On "Sigui" one can hear the Caribbean influence, judging by the swinging solo play of Tuonkara himself.
But the album is most notable due to easy and powerful songs, such as "Sigui" and "Amary Ndaou", compositions that, with traditional connivance and respect, show what knowledge Tuonkara has about his own musical origins. In an elegant manner he has presented the traditional Mandinka style, usually brought out on kora, balaphon or the one-stringed ngoni-fela, in his guitar playing. Djelimady Tuonkara is first and foremost known for having accompanied the early musical steps of Salif Keita and Mory Kante in The Super Rail Band. He uses powerful brass sections, sonorous songs, ageless rhythms and his own brilliant solo guitar. The Super Rail Band has become the most important musical export from Mali. Obviously Djelimady Tuonkara has known success as a solo artist, too. This tough guitarist has done his bit to make "Sigui" a stylish and tasteful disk here.

Noralv Pedersen

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