Volume One 1970-1979

‘Sorry’? The unusual first name is probably an Anglicisation of ‘Sorhy,’ which is itself a twisted version of the common name ‘Said’. There’s nothing sorry about the man’s music though. The real question left begging by this reissue of classic 1970s Malian pop is: how did those pre-digital African orchestras manage to make their music sound so simple, so raw, so relaxed and so good?

Bamba was, and still is, a doyen of the musical establishment in Mopti, the bustling port on the banks of the great Niger River in central Mali. Both the man and his music are products of the system of national orchestras and troupes instigated by Mali’s first president Modibo Keita, in order to foster national pride and unity among his people. Bamba was the leader of the Regional Orchestra of Mopti, aka Kanaga Orchestra. In other words, he was a state employee who conjured the most glorious fluid raggle-taggle sound from his fellow public-sector musicians. Brittle guitars frolic in echo chambers, coffee-smooth bass lines twist and turn, Bamba’s flute cavorts over salsa licks, riffs stalk like cats, horn sections blare with raw sophistication while percussion just seems to float in the air. Lyrics are barked, chattered, sung or simply spoken. It’s music that comes from the same era as the Ethiopiques series, that period from which many other African pop records are now busily being reissued, an era when African music was confident, raw, brilliant and homemade. In other words, we trusted Africa to make its own glorious music back then. We must do so again.