Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: Sayon Bamba Camara

Frank Bessem's
Musiques d'Afrique:

Sayon Bamba Camara
(Guinée)

Musiques d'Afrique
Musiques de Guinée

Sayon Bamba was born in Conakry in 1976, her mother was a pharmacist, her father was a pilot, who had worked for President Sekou Touré until he was put in jail by the same president. At that time, one could be arrested for a simple suspicion, but Sayon was brought up with liberty of speech, her family never denied her right to speak up. Moreover, in a country where national languages were promoted in education, she was send to the catholic sisters to learn French, as her father often repeated " in order to say what you think of the devil, you'll have to speak his language " (cf. www.jeuneafrique.com).

After her schooling (she studied science and mathematics), Sayon follows her passion for music and performing arts. She joins the Théâtre national d'enfants, followed by a short stay with the all-women band Amazones de Guinée. The Amazones is a band of the National Gendarmerie, and Sayon didn't want to become a Gendarme, so Sayon eventually ends up in France. She settled in Marseille, where she meets with artists from a variety of horizons. She fuses traditional music from Guinea with various mediterranean sounds, and produced a first album « Chansons des rues et des maquis » in 2005. In 2008, a new album was released, with songs about issues such as increasing poverty in Guinea, corruption and social desintegration, but there are also joyful songs: as the album title « Mod'vakance » suggests, Sayon is in " holiday mode ". Both on her albums as during her live shows, the originality of the songs, the energy Sayon is showing in both singing and dancing and the fusion of various music styles are quite enjoyable.

Sources:
Jeune Afrique [external link].
Sayon's Myspace [external link].

Musicians on the Mod'vakance album:
Sayon Bamba Camara lead vocals, percussion
Dominique Beven flute, mandoline, mandola, cornemuse
Abdoulaye Kouyaté, Pierre Fernandez guitar
Alhassane Camara « Darthagnan » bongo, djembé, calabash, bolon
Mohamed Keita « Dany » gongoma, calabash, backing vocals
Willy Le Cor kamélé n'goni, balafon, backing vocals
Guest musicians:
Riad Challoub vocals on « Sadjo »
Ibrahima Sory Diabaté balafon on « Bara »
Maestro Barry saxophone, clarinet on « Sily » and « Nemalon », flute peul on « Bara »
David Camara « Tito » vocals on « N'na », backing vocals on « N'na », « Khimouwa » and « Bara »
Aïcha Deen Magassouba backing vocals on « Salimaoré » and « Bara »
Emma Bamba backing vocals on « Salimaoré » and « Bara »
Aïcha Camara backing vocals on « N'na »
Elisabeth Camara backing vocals on « N'na » and « Bara »
Mimi Camara backing vocals on « N'na »
Sibongilé Mbambo backing vocals on « Sily »

Born: 1976, in Conakry
Style: modernised traditional music / fusion.

Discography:

Title	Year	Label	Remarks
Mod'vakance	2008	Cobalt 138625 / L'Autre Distribution
Chansons des rues et des maquis	2005	Self produced album (Association Sobé)