One of the positives that emerged from post-colonial Africa was the willingness of some new governments to actively champion ethnocentric artists. Guinea’s Bembeya Jazz — along with Sengal’s Orchestra Baobab — benefited from such largesse and, between their 1961 founding and their mid-’80s dissolution, the ensemble kept Guinean audiences dancing with their infectious blending of Afro-Latin rhythms. “Bembeya” is the first album since their recent reunion as a private enterprise, and the 11 members are as loose and funky as ever. Stretching out along Afropop’s boundaries, Bembeya Jazz proves that sometimes, a government just might have the good idea.
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2003.