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African Virtuosos The Classic Guinean Guitar Group (Syllart/Sterns) 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. The music is fluid, light and enchanting, and yet still has real punch and depth, a testament to their mastery of tools, technique and soul. Highly recommended

Tracks: Nanibali; Kankan Diarabi; Wouloukoro; Hafia; Dembati Galant; Madame Nana; Toubaka; N'fa; Ballade Sur La Lagune; Solo Virtuose. Personnel: Tracks 1-7, 9: Abdoulaye Diabate: guitar; Sekou Kouyate: guitar, kora; Honomou Jerome Claver: guitar; Sekou "Le Docteur" Diabate: bass; Fassou Habass: percussion; Pierre Houon: congas. Track 8: Sekou "Le Docteur" Diabate: guitar; Abdoulaye Diabate: guitar; Sire Diabate: guitar; unidentified: bass. Track 10: Papa Diabate: lead guitar; Sekou "Le Docteur" Diabate: guitar. More info: Reviewed in AllAboutJazz.com: This enchanting and exquisitely beautiful album, originally released in 1983, features four of the top electric guitarists of the pre-world music 'golden years' of west African music, performing unplugged. Fragrant, lyrical and reviving, a ripe mango of aural pleasure, it is the perfect soundtrack to a sunny summer afternoon. It is also a timely companion to the recently released Authenticité: The Syliphone Years (Sterns, 2007), which features some of the same players in their more familiar electric settings... There simply isn't a moment on this lovely album which isn't magical and transporting. Every track is a delight, but if I had to take one only to a desert island it would have to be 'Toubaka.' A tune widely recorded in west Africa, including a vocal version by Salif Keita with Les Ambassadeurs, it features a chord progression which somehow manages to sound simultaneously surprising and Lord-have-mercy inevitable, and includes a vibrant guitar dialogue between Abdoulaye and Sekou Kouyate." - Chris May

Other recordings you might like: various Authenticité - the Syliphone Years various Golden Afrique: Congolese dance music