Some time around bebop's coming of age, jazz morphed from a popular music of dance and song
into a rarified art form. Critics and historians can debate the details, but the bottom line is that the
music went through a tremendous shift in its audience. They began to listen more and dance less.
The challenge that faced jazz after its institutionalization (and perhaps the biggest one it still faces)
was how to get back in touch with ordinary people. This has been accomplished to varying extents
through fusions with funk, rock, and other popular styles.
In West Africa, jazz never had anything to do with purity. During the '60s and '70s, the language
of improvisation found a place in hotbeds like Ghana and Nigeria, integrating itself within a context
of traditional song and dance, accompanied by other styles from Europe and the New World. Three
bands which stood tall during the climax of Afro-pop --
Orchestra Baobab, Super Rail Band, and
Bembeya Jazz -- have all recently revived themselves in order to release brand new records and let
the world their
music never died. It just took a nap.
Bembeya Jazz, named after the river of the same name in Guinea, makes its comeback in the
form of a twelve-piece group with the most unusual front line of three horns and four guitars. The
tunes on Bembeya all project a message, whether it be respecting the power of sorcery,
celebrating the beauty of a young girl, drumming for a friend, or acknowledging the omnipresent
nature of change. (Listeners be warned: these messages are not sung in English.) To Western
ears, these ideas may sound feminine--and indeed, if our stereotypes are true in West Africa,
then it's a very girly place. Whatever. No women in this band.
Four sprightly guitars cutting back and forth across the beat reinforce the sort of light pulse that
both supports the music and opens space for singers and soloists. Sekou
"Diamond Fingers"
Diabaté, griot by descent and guitarist by choice, takes a lead role as soloist, uttering sharp unison
lines on "A Koukou We," fluttering off in runs and trills, only to return to balanced
counterpoint. He also
arranges these pieces, which run the gamut from the light ballad "Yelema Yelemaso"
(with
Hawaiian slide guitar) to the perky Cubanized title track, the heady Afro-beat of
"Sanfaran," and the
neo disco-funk of "Sabou." The horns get their share of bright arranged heads, with
relatively brief
solos serving as interludes between vocal passages.
In the grand tradition of African big bands, there is but one imperative: dance. Preferably all
night long. Don't spend too much time thinking about Bembeya. That's really not the point.
Visit
Bembeya Jazz
on the web. The group is currently
touring North
America.
~ Nils Jacobson
