Orchestre Super Mande (Côte d'Ivoire, 1980)




Still a wonderful weapon, the Super Mande band with three great names of African music from Mali, Burkina-Faso and Benin. This sublime and rare record was recorded in Ivory-Coast in 1980. An example of culture exchange and beauty...
Abdoulaye Diabate, a griot singer from Mali, who began his career with the Orchestra Regional de Segou, and who will make famous later the great Orchestra Kene Star de Sikasso, is composer and leader. he gives us full scope of his talent.
Mangue Konde, from Burkina, is on guitar and his talent explodes on all tracks of the album. It is pure psychedelic happiness. We can feel that Konde is transcended by Diabate's songs. I do not know if the Super Mande band was created by Mangue Konde, but he is one of the undisputed leader.
Gilbert Dossou, alias Prince Dgib's, from Benin and already discovered in this post, was a famous producer in Ivory Coast. He had created his own label Sodogil. Dossou has directed this volume N°9 and we can recognize typical Beninese bells arrangements in the fantastic  song "Bolon".



Encore une merveilleuse arme de guerre, l'orchestre Super Mandé avec trois grands noms de la musique africaine venant du Mali, du Burkina et du Bénin, et qui enregistrent ce sublime et rare album en Côte d'Ivoire. Un exemple de culture, de rencontre et de beauté...
Abdoulaye Diabate, chanteur et griot du Mali, qui a commencé sa carrière avec l'Orchestre Régional de Ségou, et qui fera briller plus tard l'Orchestre Kene Star de Sikasso, est, sur cet album, compositeur et chef d'orchestre, et donne toute l'ampleur de son talent sur des nappes psychédéliques.
Mangué Konde est à la guitare et son talent explose littéralement sur tous les morceaux de ce disque, je vous le dis, c'est du pur bonheur. On sent que Mangué est transcendé par Diabate. Je ne saurais dire si Konde a créé l'orchestre Super Mande, mais il en est leader incontesté.
Gilbert Dossou alias Prince Dgib's, que vous avez déjà découvert avec Poly-Rythmo dans ce courrier génial, était un producteur de renommé en Côte d'Ivoire, il avait crée son propre label Sodogil, dont je partage aujourd'hui le numéro 9. Dossou a réalisé cet album dantesque et on reconnait dans le sublime morceau "Bolon", des arrangements de gons typiquement Béninois. Seul reproche à faire, un enregistrement qui parfois sature.



8 comments:

reservatory said...

Flat out wonderful! THANKS!

Jaime said...

...! Wow. C'est magique.
Grand merci, Oro.

Mr. OK Jazz Tokyo said...

Excellent! Thanks so much for this!

Anonymous said...

This album is exceptional, but the singer is not the same Abdoulaye Diabaté of the Kene Star etc.

oro said...

Hola Ngoni,
I hope you'll find some more informations about the obscure Abdoulaye Diabate from Super Mande.
Gracias por todo y feliz ano

Anonymous said...

Oro dear friend, your magic is still strong, I had failed before looking for information on Aboudoulaye Diabaté.

But today while I was busy reading some notes in this book, I found at the bottom of the page what we wanted.

Gracias a ti amigo,que este año te devuelva tanto como tu has dado.

Anonymous said...

Abdoulaye 'Djoss Diabaté.

Diabaté was born in Kela to a jali family and raised in the heart of the Mande tradition.
At 18 he already developed into a remarkable singer and guitarist and left his village to join Tenetemba jazz in Bamako.

In 1975. he moved to Abidjan, the capital of Cote d'Ivoire where he formed a 12-piece band callled Super Mande. joined by some of Mali's greatest stars such as Salif Keita and Ousmane Kouyaté.

His style was a mix of balfon, percussion, drums, electric guitars and a horn section. Ever respectful of tradition and a great collector of historical Malian tales, Abdoulaye was an unforgettable presence on stage.

This griot's performances were full of fun and entertainment. His band became one of the leading ensembles and, in 1978. Super Mande released their first recording [Wahabia-Ke Daschi.

The album, however, was banned front airplay as the title song criticised some marabouts or religious leaders. In the early 1990s, Abdoulaye was enlisted as the star singer in the celebrated Ballets Koteba and in the mid 1990s, toured the world with Les Go de Koteba.

In 2002, he was noted for his remarkable performance on the Smithsonian Folkways compilation Badenya Manden jaliya in Nan Yink City.
He has since collaborated with jazzmen Don Byron, Peter Apfelbaum and guirarist-journalist Banning Eyre and in 2005, released his own album Haklima.

Source the book Mali of Ross Velton.

Unknown said...

Abdoulaye "Djoss" Diabate lives in New York City where he contributes his immense talent to the American cultural landscape. He performs regularly on the scene with his group Super Mande and others, such as Source and Fula Flute.

Last year he performed the the epic of Sundjata with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra.

Abdoulaye is deeply talented and a profound natural artist who radiates joy.

Here are some links:
BIOs:
http://www.fulaflute.net/fula_flute/artists/abdoulaye.html
http://www.fulaflute.net/source/djoss.html
VIDEOS:
http://youtu.be/8KwIgykEmOc
http://youtu.be/6jrmdO3hA5Y
http://youtu.be/lB9AKabjncw
http://youtu.be/guhANjliPsI
http://ebru.tv/en/genres/ArtsLiterature/rhythm-and-roots/episodes/2/205-Source