June 10, 2009

Horoya live

This post is partly intended to point you into the direction of some very interesting videos, which have been uploaded to YouTube by Graeme Counsel (of the very instructive RadioAfrica website). Specifically I am referring to this superb video by the Horoya Band, recorded by Graeme in October 2008. The video offers proof that the Horoya Band is still very much alive and going very strong! I can't tell you how elated I felt when I saw this video. It means there is still hope I will be able to see this legendary orchestra. Judging by their performance in this video, I am expecting to be seriously steamrollered by them.



In the second part of this post I would like to carry on where I left off in an earlier post, i.e. with the Horoya Band in their mid-1980s glory. This cassette was brought back from Guinea in 1986, and features some tracks which I would label as classics from the post-Syliphone era. The track "Hakilimaya" has been released on some lp's too (which were mostly credited to Conde Demba 'chanteur du Horoya Band'). The quality of the recording is not very good, but the music - live and steaming - is brilliant.

Horoya live

PS: There are more great videos on the RadioAfrica video page!!
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4 comments:

  1. Poutencon10 June 2009 at 15:00

    I've only started listening to Guinean music in the last two years, I enjoy it immensely. Thanks for this link. One thing I'd like to note is that although there thousands of posts on the internet lauding the Bembeya Band I tend to find Horoya [and maybe Balla et ses Balladins ] to be the more accomplished and more authentic of these legendary institutions. I only wish there was more material available by The Horoya Band .

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  2. lemmycaution11 June 2009 at 05:28

    Thank you! I've been listening again and again to that ultra-fantastic horoya(i) cassette you posted before.

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  3. reservatory11 June 2009 at 14:14

    THANKS for both cassettes!! I agree with Poutencon that Horoya is greatly underrated, perhaps simply because they released less stuff than Bembeya and the other big guns. Their sole full-length Syliphone LP is available @ Lucky Psychic Hut. Maybe someone can tackle their nine Syliphone singles...??

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  4. Radio Africa22 June 2009 at 18:35

    Sterns are planning a double CD release of the Horoya Band down the track.

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