Super Rail

As I reported a while ago I have been very busy - in my spare time - backing up my collection of CD's. Unfortunately this process is taking a lot longer than I anticipated. And the backing-up process itself is not a very pleasant or exciting one. In fact, it is just slightly more entertaining than watching paint dry.
So every now and then I like to take a break. Earlier this week I broke the monotony by listening to and digitising a few cassettes. And I was so pleasantly surprised by one of these that I decided to share it with you in this post.

This cassette is a (more than likely bootleg) version of the first of two lp's released in 1979 on the Disco Stock label in Abidjan by guitarist Djelimadi Tounkara and the Rail Band du Mali. Graeme Counsel has dedicated a page on his website to these two albums, which to be honest leaves me slightly confused. He writes: "Djelimady Tounkara was the lead guitarist of the Rail Band until 1979 when, with Mory Kanté, he left to form L'Orchestre Super Rail Band International in Abidjan. He rejoined the Rail Band in 1984. The above recordings were released on the Disco Stock label and finds the group at their creative peak, with the tracks "Dosoke cery" and "Djiguiya" stand-out numbers. Tounkara is one of West Africa's foremost guitarists, and is well supported by the keyboard solos and the excellent brass arrangements."

These recordings are from 1979, but does this mean that they are in fact by "L'Orchestre Super Rail Band International"?
Although neither the cassette sleeve (right) nor the lp sleeve of the Disco Stock lp (left) mentions the "Orchestre Super Rail Band International" I am inclined to believe the answer to this question is "yes".

The two tracks Graeme cites are both from the second volume*. I am surprised he has left out what I consider to be the highlight of this first volume: the brilliant, passionate version of "Soundiata" by Mory Kanté.

To be honest, I started off on the wrong foot with Mory Kanté. The first songs I heard, in the mid-1980s, were from his European albums, 'culminating' in the hit "Yeke Yeke", - which even gave rise to a sentiment bordering on resentment. It took me more than ten years to get over this negative feeling. Since then I have come to appreciate especially his older work, like for example the wonderful album he made as part of the ensemble of kora legend Batourou Sekou Kouyaté. This version of that Malinké classic "Soundiata" is another of my favourite Mory Kanté songs.

On the three other tracks of this album the emphasis is on the instrumental. The guitar playing by Djelimadi is in the typical Malinké style. Nowadays he regularly accompanies griots from his native Kita (like diva Kandia Kouyaté). On this record too he stays close to his roots.
Notable too are the penetrating organ chords, particularly on "Nama" (another** version of the song about a historic sinking of the ship of the same name on the Niger river?) and "Famadenke" (see my earlier post and the link to the history and lyrics of this song). But I certainly don't want to leave out the horn section, which in my opinion is classical in its own right.

Kosmo KS 230 [Disco Stock DS 7918, 1979)

EXTRA LINK (MF)

* which, if you like, I will gladly post later.
** well before the one by National Badema.

Batourou Sekou Kouyaté

Although this post is supposed to be about one of the greatest kora players of all times (and all places too), one can easily be distracted by an artist who has -long after this recording- become a world-wide star of popular music. Because one of the singers on this lp by the ensemble of Batourou Sekou Kouyaté is none other than Mory Kanté (see this post).

This record was released in 1975, and probably recorded a year earlier. So this is from the time when Mory had already joined the Rail band and had replaced Salif Keita as the lead singer (Salif had left in 1973).

Born near Kissidougou in Guinea into a family of griots, Mory had been sent to Bamako in the 1960s to stay with his aunt, singer Manamba Kamissoko, and to learn the griot métier. He played in a band called the Apollos, until he was 'discovered' by Tidiane Koné, the chef d'orchestre of the Rail Band.
In the early 1970s he became more and more interested in the kora, and even more when he heard Batourou Sekou Kouyaté, who was the father of a friend. Legend has it that he learned to play the instrument on Batourou's kora. According to Mory himself, the kora which he uses on stage was given to him by the kora legend in 1974.

I am not sure about the names of the musicians on this lp, but I suspect the female singer on these superb and rare recordings (featuring classic interpretations of "Keme Bourema", "Belebele", "Djandjon", "Wara" and "Koulandjan") is Nantenegwe Kamissoko, who presumably is a cousin of Mory.

No doubt coached by the brilliant Malian kora master, Mory manages to pluck emotional strings which in my opinion very few of his later recordings have been able to touch....

Makossa KR 28 or (MF) here

Mory Kanté

With a career mostly in Mali and Europe it is easy to forget that Mory Kanté was born in Guinea. It is a pity that most western audiences only know him by his 'hit single' Yéké Yéké. Although it has no doubt brought him fame, it has also labelled him as a pop artist. Anyone who has heard his work with the Rail Band (e.g. this CD) will know that he's more than that.

In a later post I will post some tracks by Mory Kanté with the ensemble of the kora legend Batourou Sékou Kouyaté, but for now here is some evidence of the level of respect he has in Guinea: a programme of the Interprétation Comparée series from 1988, dedicated to Mory Kanté, and to one track: "Balakononfing".

And that's not all. Here is a video from the mid-1980s, of Mory Kanté accompanied by the great Malian singer/griot Mah Damba*. The track is called "Mariama" with an "m", but Mory stubbornly sings "Mariana".... *more about Mah Damba in a later post UPDATE Jan. 6, 2010: the link to the "Interprétation Comparée" broadcast had gone dead. I have replaced it with a (hopefully) more stable link. EDIT June 11, 2013: I have replaced the link to the Interprétation Comparée programme with a faster one.