Diamonoye Tiopité L'Epoque de I'Evolution

In 1974, a millionaire Senegalese businessman named Ndiouga Kebe opened Sahm, the first shopping complex in Dakar. It had its own nightclub and resident band, both called Sahel. Cuban music was still popular then but the group, which included lead vocalist Idrissa Diop, Thierno Kouyaté (on saxophone) and Cheikh Tidiane Tall (on organ and guitar), were among the first to integrate sabar drums and mbalax rhythms. In 1975 their LP Bamba was recorded on a reel-to-reel machine by Moussa Diallo.

For the past ten years, Greek record producer Amantios Kafetzis has been in hot pursuit of the best music from that era. For his first release on the Teranga label he has chosen the Sahel tracks which best illustrate the transition from Cuban covers to local hit tunes. ‘Caridad,’ sung in Spanish, is a reprise of the Larry Harlow Orchestra original but it has all the hallmarks of the new Sahel sound. ‘Bamba,’ with its swinging mbalax drumbeat, was such a massive hit that singer Idrissa Diop had to hire a bodyguard to protect him from all the crowds of fans shouting its hook ‘Touba Touba’ (the town founded by Cheikh Amadou Bamba) at him. The final three tracks on the album: ‘Fonkale Garape’, ‘Diamonoye Têye’ and ‘Gueth’, were recorded in 1976 but were never released, until now. Presaging the style of the Etoile de Dakar, Sahel prove just how much Senegalese music changed in the year following the release of ‘Bamba’. For that one track alone, it is worth buying this album.