Wamato - Les Amazones de Guinee - 17.99
Les Amazones de Guinée are a unique and quite amazing institution within African music. Since the early 60s they have criss-crossed the continent, with only occasional forays beyond, to help bring their particular brand of joy to the cause of women’s emancipation. Yet this is only their 2nd album, tight yet fluid, with the loping rhythms so particular to Guinea, bitter-sweet harmonies and vocals full of conviction. As the cry of “Retour en force des Amazones!” at the beginning of this album attests, these women demand to be heard. The Amazones are back with a vengeance. This is the gold-standard for female (or any other) bands in Africa and an enduring symbol of African women’s emancipation. Highly recommended. Listen

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Authenticité: The Syliphone Years - Balla Et Ses Balladins - 22.99
2 CD collection by one of Guinea's most interesting and influencial bands. Listen

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Healing Feasting and Magical Ritual: Papua New Guinea - Topic World Series - 19.99
Songs and dances of hunting, war, work, totemistic ritual, cannibalism, myth, initiation, courtship, rain-making, funerals, magical healing, shark catching and marathon feasting, recorded in remote coastal and inland villages in five far-flung regions of Papua New Guinea, to the north of Australia.

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The Syliphone Years (2 CDs) - Bembeya Jazz National - 20.99
Newly repackaged set of two CDs with a 44-page illustrated booklet and 27 tracks from the 1960s and 70s, in chronological order from their first single, 'République Guinée,' a celebration of Guinea's independence, to 'Petit Sékou,' one of their last recordings for the Syliphone label. Those shrill horns, those watery, reverbed guitars, that heavy bass and percussion... and those voices! This is damned near perfect African pop. Highly recommended!

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The Classic Guinean Guitar Group - African Virtuosos - 17.99
instrumental recordings made in Conakry and Abidjan in the 70s and 80s. They were essentially a Diabate family band, the four Diabate brothers playing acoustic guitars along with another guitarist or two, a kora player and one or two percussionists. Their style was rooted in traditional Mande music for stringed instruments but displayed their knowledge and love of Arabic taqasim, Spanish flamenco and even French jazz manouche. Still brilliant after all these years.

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Le Mandigue: Empire de la Musique - Various - 17.99
A collection of 16 tracks by artists featured at the Festival Musiques Métisses in France. Originating in Mali and Guinea, these musicians are the cultural ambassadors of the vast region once known as the Mandingo Empire, which stretched from the shores of the Gulf of Guinea to the sands of the Sahara, from the forests of Africa’s Atlantic Coast to its desert dunes. Includes previously released tracks by Salif Keita, Amadou and Miriam, Rokia Traore, Nahwa Doumbia, Ali Farka Toure, Boubacar Traore, Super Rail Band, Mory Kante, Habib Koite and many others.

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Cultural Revolution (2 CDs) - VA/ African Pearls 2 - 22.99
Guinea's fantastically successful experiment in state-supported arts, conducted by artists like Sory Kandia Kouyaté and bands like Bembeya Jazz and Keletigui and ses Tambourinis.

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Authenticite - The Syliphone Years: 1965-1980 - Orchestres Nationaux and Federeaux - 19.99
2 CD set, with excellent packaging and notes, of classic, 'golden age' music from Guinea's finest ensembles in recordings from 1965 to 1980

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Electric Griot Land - Ba Cissoko - 18.99
Guinean kora player Ba Cissoko and his band use age-old traditions to reach new musical heights. Born in 1967 in Guinea Bissau, he moved to Guinea Conakry in 1989, to work with M'bady Kouyaté, partriach of the Kouyaté clan, eventually working with the M'Bady 's sons, Kourou and Sékou, who now play bass, kora and electric kora in the ensemble. Hot, hard and defiantly modern, the ensemble ba Cissoko use the play on the old hendrix title to make their point, to show this music in in today while of yesterday. They have been experienced! Listen

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Sabou - Mory Kante - 13.99
The Guinean singer and kora player, veteren of some of western Africa's greatest bands (including the Rail Band in the early 70s) presents an all-acoustic tour-de-force in this 2004 release.

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Lope Kai - Eneida Marta - 18.99
The music of Guinee-Bissau-born artist Eneida Marta is colored by a variety of influences from traditional music: her father's Angolan roots, the Portuguese Diaspora (she is a resident of Lisbon) and a variety of African cultures. Marta speaks Fula, Biafada, Bijago, Mandjak, Mankanya, Futa Fula, Balanta, Papel and Mandinga. There is also the instrumentation, the tchifre cow horn, the onomatopoeic bumbulum tree trunk drum, the tina, made from a wine barrel cut in two, immersed in water and played only by women. This is vibrant music from one of the under-recorded corners of West African.

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Diamond Fingers - Sekou Bembeya Diabate - 18.99
"Few acoustic guitarists have the power to dazzle and entertain like Sekou Bembeya Diabaté a.k.a Diamond Fingers; he of the Bembeya Jazz National, the Guinean state band that set West Africa afire in the late 1970s. ...the fifty-two year old Diabate accompanied by two other guitarists is so brilliant and vibrant that he mesmerises the beholder much in the same manner that an animal is frozen in the bright headlamps of an approaching car. The only difference is that the animal dies, but the listener is forever washed with pleasant sensation. The tunes 'Anfila,' 'Kolankoma" and 'Mami Wata' leave you panting for more. This is an instant classic, a must have album..." - RootsWorld

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Songs of the Volcano - Papua New Guinea stringbands and Bob Brozman - 14.99
American guitarist Bob Brozman travelled to Papua New Guinea and recorded (and played with) the Rabaul community’s local stringbands. The package also features a full length, behind the scenes DVD documentary of the making of the album.

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Golden Afrique Vol. 1 - Various - 38.99
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the popular music scene in Africa exploded with new ideas of merging ancient culture with contemporary ideas and tools. This first volume in the series includes artists from Guinea , Mali , Guinea-Bissao , Gambia , Ivory Coast , Chad and Senegal – many of the tracks are available on CD for the very first time. Artists include Youssou N'Dour, Salif Keita, Baobab de Dakar, Bembeya Jazz National, Super Eagles, Amazones de Guinea, Miriam Makeba, Super Mama Djombo, Maitre Gazonga along with a host of artists you may never have heard of before. Double CD with informative book includes 24 full tracks and 2 and a half hours of music.

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Kchaba - Hijas Del Sol - 17.99
The third album by the singing duo Hijas del Sol is a very cheerful and 'African' album, even though it has more songs in Spanish than any other. Exceptional musicians from Equatorial Guinea like Pablo Tarifa, David Owono, Alex Ikot and Chery Malé seek out the traditional musical base of their home region (Sibeba), then open up to others styles from the African continent and Europe. They run from roots to pop, never losing the core sound of two great voices in harmony.

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Guitar Fö - Sekou Bembeya Diabate - 16.99
Sekou Bembeya Diabaté (aka Diamond Fingers) is a legend of West African guitar. As lead guitarist and co-founder of Bembeya Jazz, Diabaté and his band brought the Mandingo tradition onto the dancefloors and airwaves of West Africa. When dance bands went into decline in the 1980s, Diabaté began to work as a soloist. His guitar work has influenced and inspired many of the great guitarists on the African continent. For this album, Diabaté has put together re-readings of his solo favorites, along with some classics from Bembeya Jazz. Guitar Fö is a lesson in African swing.

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Kankele-Ti - Diabate, Sona - 18.99
Sona Diabaté, two female backing voices, the acoustic guitar of Sekou Bembeya Diabaté (Bembeya Jazz' diamondfingers) and Demba Camara on 12-string-guitar in an unplugged recording from 1988. the two bonustracks feature Sekou Bembeya Diabaté live; N'diarabi documents one of his rare performances as singer and deri is a guitar duo with his brother Kaba.

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Guitar Sèche - Djessou Mory Kanté - 18.99
Guitar sèche is the French term for acoustic guitar, an imported instrument, affordable and easy to carry around. This album features four of these instruments: a new one, a fairly good one and two battered specimens. the album has been recorded in Conakry directly onto digital 8-track. Djessou Mory Kanté is joined by grand papa diabaté, the father of modern guinean guitar playing. by djessou mory's brothers bakary and djekoria mory kanté and by moriken kouyaté. with comprehensive notes by eric charry, of wesleyan university, an authority on mande guitar music.

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Gare Gare - Sona Diabate - 18.99
Sona Diabaté accompanied by Djessou Mory Kanté on guitar and Papa Diabaté on kora. Additional musicians are Djelimady Kouyaté, balfon, Amadou Sodia, bolon, Pierre Marcault, doundoumba, Alpha Camara, djembé, and Kova Bavogui (both ex bembeya jazz), bass. Backing vocals are by Djanka and Sayon Diabaté plus Mama Keita. Kanté Manfila took care of the musical arrangement and added a few guitar licks - as did Sona`s brother Sekou Bembeya Diabaté

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Sabolan - Ba Cissoko - 17.99
Ba Cissoko (kora), Sekou Kouyaté (traditional and electric koras), Kourou Kouyaté (electric bass) and Ibrahima Bah (percussion) form the core of this contemporary roots ensemble from Guinea.

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New Destiny - Dallam-Dougou - 15.99
A unique ensemble of African and European-American musicians, who merge the dougou (place) of west African with the dallam (melody) of Hungary to create a new musical sound completely imaginary and completely original.

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Bembeya - Bembeya Jazz - 17.99
A brilliant new recording from one of western Africa's most important bands.

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Desert Blues -- Ambiances du Sahara - Various artists - 36.99
a journey through the rich traditions of ballads from the Sahara, the Sahel and neighbouring African regions. Artists include Baaba Maal, Youssou N'Dour, Abou Djouba, Ali Farka Toure with Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, Oumou Sangare, Sali Sidibe, Hassan Hakmoun, Dimi Mint Abba, Tata Dindin, Kante Manfila, Abdel Gadir Salim, Hamza El Din, Aster Aweke and Mahmoud Ahmed.

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Espace - Tama - 13.99
Musicans from Guinea Bissau, Mali and UK join forces in a rich Afro-pop mix

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Sinikan - Sekouba Bambino - 17.99
Bambino's worldwide recognition is long overdue and Sinikan is a weighty work that might just turn him into a household name. Bambino is acutely aware that his country's eyes are fixed on him, awaiting the great breakthrough of their 'ambassador of Guinean music'. I love my country, avows Bambino patriotically. Whatever I sing at home, I want to sing to the whole world. But I'll always remain the Bambino of Guinea. Our land has rich cultural treasures which I want to develop in my own way and take as far as God will allow me. - from the interview in fRoots

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The Music in My Head 2: Guitars are from Mars, balafons are from Venus - Various African artists - 17.99
Classics, hits and unknown wonders from oft-mentioned 'the golden age of African music' from the late seventies into the early nineties, when bands like Etoile De Dakar and singers like Youssou N'Dour still ruled the African music scene, when groove was god. This set includes major artists like N'Dour and the Etolies, Thione Seck, The Rail Band and Baobab, but more important, some of the less- published but important artists of the time like Kelitigui et ses Tambourins, Aminata Fall and Balla et ses Balladins.

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The Guinea Years - Miriam Makeba - 17.99
Classic tracks from the queen of African song, recorded in 1968 in Guinea.

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Palop Africa! - Various African artists - 17.99
Music from the Portuguese speaking countries of Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome

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M.B.S. - Malabo Strit Band - temp out of stock-17.99
David Owono (guitar) , Pepe Dougan (keyboards), Alex Ikot (drums), and singer Muana Sinepi come from Equatorial Guinea. Their music is definately pop, with hints of jazz, reggae and various Latin influences throughout.

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