Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

is a

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

n nation, composed of several

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

s. Among its most widely known musicians is Mory Kanté – ''10 Cola Nuts'' saw major mainstream success in both Guinea and Mali while " Yé ké yé ké", a single from ''Akwaba Beach'', was a European success in 1988.

National music

French is the official language of Guinea and is the main language of communication in schools, government administration, the media, and the country's

security forces Security forces are statutory organizations with internal security mandates. In the legal context of several countries, the term has variously denoted police and military units working in concert, or the role of irregular military and paramilitar ...

. Independence for Guinea came in 1958. Guinea's President, Sekou Toure, disbanded all private dance orchestras and created a network of state-sponsored groups. The government soon formed the Syli Orchestre National, a dance orchestra that featured some of the best musicians in the land. "" (Liberty) has been the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

since independence in 1958. It was arranged by Fodéba Keïta, based on the melody "Alfa yaya".

Traditional music

Guinea's 10 million people belong to at least twenty-four ethnic groups. The most prominent are the Fula (40%), the

Mandinka Mandinka, Mandika, Mandinkha, Mandinko, or Mandingo may refer to: Media * Mandingo (novel), ''Mandingo'' (novel), a bestselling novel published in 1957 * Mandingo (film), ''Mandingo'' (film), a 1975 film based on the eponymous 1957 novel * ''Man ...

(30%) and the Susu (20%). Fula is widely used in the central

Fouta Djallon Fouta Djallon (, , ; ) is a Highland (geography), highland region in the center of Guinea, roughly corresponding with Middle Guinea, in West Africa. Etymology The Fulani people call the region Fouta Jallon Kingdom, Fuuta-Jaloo ( ) in the Pular l ...

, Maninka in the east and Susu in the northwestern coastal region. It is a predominantly Islamic country, with Muslims representing about 85 percent of the population.http://www.visualgeography.com/categories/guinea/religion.htm

/ref> Christians, mostly Roman Catholic, about 10 percent of the population, are mainly found in the southern region of ''

Guinée forestière Guinée forestière (Forested Guinea) is a forested mountainous region in southeastern Guinea, extending into northeastern Sierra Leone. It is one of four natural regions into which Guinea is divided and covers 23% of the country. It includes a ...

''. Mandé music is dominated by the djelis, travelling singer-historians who sing praises to noble patrons. Traditionally, popular instruments include the ngoni, a distant relative of the

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, and the

balafon The balafon (pronounced , or, by analogy with ''xylophone'' etc., ) is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé peoples, Mandé, Bwaba Bobo people, Bobo, Senufo people, Seno ...

. Famous balafon players include El Hadj Djeli Sory Kouyaté and, early in his career, superstar Mory Kanté. The kora, a cross between a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

and a

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

, is also widespread. Other popular folk music utilizes the cylindrical

dunun Dunun (; plural dunun) (also spelled dundun or doundoun) is the generic name for a family of West African drums that have developed alongside the ''djembe'' in the Mande drum ensemble. A dunun is a rope-tuned cylindrical drum with a rawhid ...

paired with the goblet shaped

djembe A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...

. As in

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

, a

roots revival A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly composed songs with socially and politically aware lyr ...

occurred in the 1960s and 1970s with state support from

Sekou Touré Sekou, also spelled Sékou or Seku, is a given name from the Fula language. It is equivalent to the Arabic ''Sheikh''. People with this name include: People * Sekou (singer), British singer Given name * Seku Amadu (1776–1845), also known as S� ...

. He introduced a radical cultural policy called ''authenticite'', whereby musicians and artists were instructed to "look at the past" for inspiration and to incorporate traditional practices in their arts. ''Authenticite'' ended with the death of Sekou Toure in 1984.

Popular music

After

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...

, the guitar was imported to Guinea and players like Kanté Facelli and his cousin Kanté Manfila developed their own style of playing. In modern times, the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

plays a very important role. Some of the early dance bands included popular groups like Keletigui Et Ses Tambourinis, Balla et ses Balladins, and Kebendo Jazz (also known as Orchestre de Danse de Guéckédou). Many of these bands recorded on Syliphone records. Bembeya Jazz National further enriched Guinea's musical melting pot after visiting

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

in 1965.

References

* Duran, Lucy. "West Africa's Musical Powerhouse". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), ''World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East'', pp 539–562. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.

Suggested listening

BBC Radio 3 Audio clip (60 minutes): Koo Nimo and King Ayisoba.
Accessed November 25, 2010.
Audio clips - traditional music from Guinea.
French National Library. Accessed November 25, 2010. *
Audio clips: Traditional music of Guinea.

Musée d'ethnographie de Genève The ' ("Geneva Ethnography Museum") is one of the most important ethnographic museums in Switzerland. History The MEG, or Geneva Museum of Ethnography, was founded on 25 September 1901, on the initiative of Professor Eugène Pittard (1867-1962), ...

. Accessed November 25, 2010. * ''Authenticite - The Syliphone Years'' (2008) Sterns Music {{Music of Africa

National music

Traditional music

Popular music

See also

References

Suggested listening