| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Momodou |
Posted - 02 May 2014 : 10:55:51
A tribute to our great pioneers of Gambian and modern Senegambian music.
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LEGENDS:- IFANG BONDI BAND- AFRO MANDING SOUNDS
By Oko Drammeh
The Daily Observer: Friday, May 02, 2014
Revolutionary conscience music
 Africa's Music Revolution partly started in The Gambia with the dynamic Super Eagles with their song Gambia- Zambia in the album, campaigning for ‘ONE AFRICA’. The group travelled widely promoting African integration and the philosophy of the de-colonization of Africans to great effect.
Gambian popular music began in the 1960s, when The Super Eagles was formed while hip bands were playing American, British and Cuban music. The Super Eagles went to London in 1977, appearing on Mike Raven's Band Call.
They played Merengue and other pop genres with an African flourish, including Wolof lyrics and minor stylistic elements. After the performance, the band began jamming out some traditional tunes and an unknown man had told the group that the style was the right one they should be playing.
This inspired the group to return to their country's musical roots and spent two years traveling around The Gambia, in order to study traditional music.
The reformed band was called Ifang Bondi and their style was Afro-Manding blues. Gambian Laba Sosseh was a significant presence in the African and New York Salsa scene. Sosseh, who relocated to Dakar, Senegal as a teenager, spent his entire career outside of The Gambia.
Civil unrest in 1981 caused Ifang Bondi and the band's most Gambian musicians to immigrate to countries like the Netherlands decimating the nascent music industry. Today, Jaliba Kuyateh and his Kumareh Band is the most popular exponent of Gambian Mandinka music.
Revolutionary conscience music from the Gambian group, formally called the Super Eagles. The "Afro Manding Sound" fused Afro-Cuban sounds with traditional griot music & some rock influence to great effect.
Ifang Bondi (meaning "be yourself" in Mandinka language) was formed some 30 years ago in The Gambia, and was on the forefront of popular African music. Being one of the first trying to combine pop music and African roots, they were an example for Orchestre Baobab, (Super) Etoile de Dakar and many other Senegalese stars.
Ifang Bondi, however, never really benefited from their pioneering works, due to bootlegging and copying of their work by other artists. Although they were based in the Netherlands at some time, they are now in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia.
For more than 20 years the Gambian roots band Ifang Bondi (‘be yourself') has had a leading role within West African popular music. It was one of the first groups that decided to return to its African roots by playing traditional Manding music.
To talk about influential band, such as Ifang Bondi, one needs to know how its origins came about. It was the year 1970. The auditorium of Legon University in Accra (Ghana) was filled to capacity.
There was an environment of restless expectation awaiting the arrival on stage of the Super Eagles of The Gambia. The devastating performance of Highlife, Soul, Cuban music, Reggae and Western Pop songs which followed, faultlessly delivered by the men in sharp suits, revealed why this band from The Gambia had become West Africa's number one superstar attraction.
West Africa had just completed its first decade of independence and was in the throes of anti-colonialist sentiment, Pan-Africanism and 'Say it loud, I am Black and proud'. This was to be the last time most people saw the Super Eagles, leaving only the legacy of their all-time classic album 'Viva Super Eagles'.
Unknown to their thousands of fans, this was not the end of the story, but just the end of the First chapter in one of the longest-running sagas in African musical history.
The truth is that the founders of the band, leader Badou Jobe and vocalist Paps Touray had taken a deliberate decision to end Super Eagles at the height of their popularity. Being true revolutionary Pan-Africanists and musical pioneers, they had become increasingly disturbed by the music they were playing and the image they presented. Despite the greater fame and fortune that was theirs for the taking.
They radically gave it all up to go back to square one, back to the roots, to create something African for Africans, to challenge the cultural imperialism of the West which still gripped the continent.
They went into the bush to sit at the feet of the ‘Jalis’ - the master drummers and the old maestros of the Kora, Xalam, and Balafong - the guardians of a thousand years of culture and tradition.
After two years of exhaustive research and hard practice, Badou Jobe and the few musicians like Paps Touray and Ali Harb, who had felt inspired to join, came back with unique new music, born from their amazingly rich heritage.
To their modern electric outfit, including the novelty of an electric organ, they had added traditional drums, which, next to the drum kit's chromium sheen and the fancy sunburst of the guitars, looked like alien objects from another planet. The new repertoire, painstakingly composed according to the rules of the ‘Jali’ teachers, had meant a struggle with unfamiliar scales and mind-boggling rhythm structures.
They proudly coined their music the ‘Afro Manding Sound’ after the legendary Manding Empire, cradle of their West African culture. By 1973 the group had shed its eagles' feathers to reappear as Ifang Bondi ('Be yourself), a fearsome Manding spirit that puts the newly initiated to the test and seeks out evildoers within society.
The band's first public performances were greeted with dismay and disbelief by their devoted fans, who were outraged by the 'bush' sound of ‘Mbalax’ and ‘Jambadongo’ rhythms, although the musicians had been careful to hide the ‘Sabar’ (drums) under the British flag. At that time this type of music was considered to be played only at weddings and family-gatherings and not for big audiences. But bandleader Badou Jobe, veteran of an earlier bade against caste taboos to become a musician in the first place, stuck by his guns through the sticks and stones of this initial period.
The only support at this time came from fellow musicians, later to form Toure Kunda, Xalam, and Super Djamono, who appreciated the Afro Manding Sound for the momentum it was bound to give African music.
Gradually, their revolutionary ideas got accepted, and this was the birth of the popular West African modern music that has since catapulted Xalam, Toure Kunda, Youssou N'dour, Mory Kante, Salif Keita and Baaba Maal onto the world stage.
The role of Ifang Bondi has been pivotal by rehabilitating the traditional musicians; they made people aware of their own heritage and offered new dimensions to African artists in search of an authentic sound.
To rigorously deprive a devoted public of their pop idols, the ultimate symbol of modern Western culture to induce them to set their own cultural values and to get rid of the inferiority complex, a lingering legacy of colonialism had not been a venture for the faint-hearted.
But at the end, the effort proved to be worthwhile. Ifang Bondi has achieved their goal to create something African for Africans beyond expectations.
Badou Jobe's innovative ideas, based on a vast musical knowledge, have crystallised into a comprehensive artistic concept that created also the inimitable sound, Ifang Bondi's trademark. Throughout the years, Ifang Bondi has continued to develop its unique music, which reflects the enormous variety and richness of authentic styles, be it Wolof, Mandingo, Fula, Jola or others.
The band's line-up shows a similar ethnic diversity. They put fresh blood into musical traditions, not only by a prolific output of original material, but also by organising festivals in which they invited Pop, Jazz and Reggae musicians from as far as the US and Jamaica to play with traditional performers.
From the beginning Ifang Bondi have acted as a true academy of music from which many great artists have graduated.
Outside West Africa Ifang Bondi has always had a solid cult following. The infrequency of record releases, all sought after collector's items, plus the enigmatic personality of its bandleader, who seems quite happy to stay out of the limelight.
"I once opened the door to the hell of stardom, had a good look around, and slammed it shut again", has only enhanced the mystique surrounding this group. Badou Jobe received the prestigious Kora All Africa Music Award, also known as the African Grammy Award.
A people without culture is like a tree without roots."
For comments, suggestions or question
Email:drammehoko@gmail.com or call (220) 7732786
Source: Daily Observer
 Photo: Mr. Badou - winner 1999 Kora Music Awards
Super Eagles - Manda Ly
Ifang Bondi - Saraba
Ifangbondi - Sutukung
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| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Momodou |
Posted - 03 May 2014 : 19:24:54
Thanks for setting the records straight.  |
| tiramakhan |
Posted - 03 May 2014 : 16:21:12
SERIAL COPYRIGHT CRIMINAL OKO DRAMMEH aka Dr.O HITS AGAIN
This article of which Oko Drammeh claims to be the author is another flagrant example of Dr.O's pathological plagiarism.
The first part of the article he snatched from different sources and includes some rubbish such as "the band began jamming out some traditional tunes and an unknown man had told the group that the style was the right one they should be playing"
In reality the band were extremely focused, they knew exactly what they were aiming for and definitely didn't need unknown men to tell them what would be the right style for them to play.
Or rubbish such as: "Ifang Bondi, however, never really benefited from their pioneering works, due to bootlegging and copying of their work by other artists."
From the 80's on IB had a highly successful career, with massive international tours, performing at hundreds of festivals, and releasing internationally acclaimed records - see below.
The most notorious pirate of their work is of course Oko Drammeh himself who shamelessly stole virtually every single track of his Soto Koto stuff from the original composers/authors like Badou Jobe, Bye Janha, Momodou Nying, Mawdo Sey, Kojo Spencer etc. By assigning the music to his own business he has been cashing all copyright royalties at the expense of the legal copyright owners, which explains his relentless promotion of his Soto Koto album.
More rubbish: "Although they were based in the Netherlands at some time, they are now in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia."
During a 3 year period in the early 80's core members Badou Jobe, Paps Touray, Karamo Sabally, Senamie Taylor were based in Holland. From 1986 on bandleader Badou Jobe commutes between Europe and The Gambia, whereas other band members lived all over The Gambia and Senegal, only not one lived in Banjul.
From "To talk about influential band, such as Ifang Bondi (..)" on Dr. O has ripped off the entire liner notes of the Ifang Bondi album "DARAJA". The copyright owner of the text is Ifang Bondi/Badou Jobe and by law any use requires explicit written consent as well as explicit mention of the original source and copyright owners.
By unauthorized publication of the copyright protected content DO commits a violation of applicable international copyright laws as the DO article is disseminated through multiple online outlets.
The Gambia tends to stick to obsolete Ifang Bondi pre-80's material.
Whereas since the 80's Ifang Bondi has released a couple of memorable albums: MANTRA, SANJO, DARAJA, GIS GIS, available through all major online outlets - iTunes/Amazon etc.
Mantra (MANTRA)
Yolele (GIS GIS)
Munya Isi Balu (GIS GIS)
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