Les Ballets Africains is the national dance company of Guinea [1] and is based in Conakry. It is one of the first African national dance companies. [2] It has toured extensively around the world. [2] Although the French name might suggest the idea of European ballet to English speakers, the focus of the company is actually on promoting traditional African dance and culture. [3]
The roots of Les Ballets Africains go back to Guinean poetry student, dancer, choreographer, and musician Fodéba Keïta. [4] [5] In France, in 1948, he founded a poetry group for Africans, which gradually evolved into the drumming, dancing, and storytelling African Theater Ballet of Fodeba Keita. [4]
The company toured Europe from 1951 to 1955 and the United States in 1953. [4] It became Les Ballets Africains in 1952 in Paris. [5] [6] Some initial strong opposition came from various tribes, who were offended that others were dancing their dances and singing their songs, but that objection was eventually overcome. [6]
In the 1950s, among the notable musicians recruited were djembe drummers "Papa" Ladji Camara of Mali [4] and Guinean Famoudou Konaté. [7]
In 1958, after Guinea obtained its independence from France, then President of Guinea Ahmed Sékou Touré made the ballet the national ensemble. [8] Regional and nationals orchestras from Syliphone supported Les Ballets Africains on tours. [9]
In 1959, the company performed in the United States, with a run of 48 performances on Broadway, following a successful European tour. [10] They appeared at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1964. [11]
In 1967, while touring in Quebec, Canada, the troupe's director had to go to court in Montreal to answer the charge of inciting minors to give an indecent performance, since both men and women performers, regardless of age, were dancing topless, as was traditional. The judge dismissed the charge. [12] [13]
When President Sékou Touré died in 1984, government support came to an end, and the troupe encountered financial difficulties for several years, but has subsequently resumed touring. [14]
In 1991, Italo Zambo, the company's artistic director, noted that the Los Angeles day performances differed from the night ones and performances in Africa and Europe in one respect: traditionally, Guinean men and women dance bare-chested. [6]
A djembe or jembe is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying "Anke djé, anke bé" which translates to "everyone gather together in peace" and defines the drum's purpose. In the Bambara language, "djé" is the verb for "gather" and "bé" translates as "peace."
Ahmed Sékou Touré was a Guinean political leader and African statesman who became the first president of Guinea, serving from 1958 until his death in 1984. Touré was among the primary Guinean nationalists involved in gaining independence of the country from France. He would later die in the United States in 1984.
Guinea is a West African nation, composed of several ethnic groups. Among its most widely known musicians is Mory Kanté - 10 Cola Nuts saw major mainstream success in both Guinea and Mali while "Yeke Yeke", a single from Mory Kanté à Paris, was a European success in 1988.
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic groups in Africa. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family, which are a lingua franca in much of West Africa. Virtually all of Mandinka people are adherent to Islam, mostly based on the Maliki jurisprudence. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako, the capital of Mali.
Bembeya Jazz National is a Guinean jazz group that gained fame in the 1960s for their Afropop rhythms. They are considered one of the most significant bands in Guinean music. Many of their recordings are based on traditional folk music in the country and have been fused with jazz and Afropop styles. Featuring guitarist Sekou "Diamond Fingers" Diabaté, who grew up in a traditional griot musical family, the band won over fans in Conakry, Guinea's capital city, during the heady days of that country's newfound independence. Bembeya Jazz fell onto harder times in the 1980s and disbanded for a number of years, but reformed in the late 1990s and toured Europe and North America in the early 2000s.
Mamady Keïta was a drummer from the West African nation of Guinea. He specialized in the djembe. He was also the founder of the Tam Tam Mandingue school of drumming. He was a member of the Manding ethnic group.
Kouroussa is a prefecture located in the Kankan Region of Guinea. The capital is Kouroussa. The prefecture covers an area of 14,050 km.² and has a population of 268,630. With Kouroussa town by far the largest in the Prefecture numbering only 10,000, the vast majority of the Prefecture's population live in small rural communities, making their living from subsistence and small scale cash crop agriculture, as well as small scale trade and mining. The majority of the population are members of the Malinke ethnic group or related Mande speakers. The eastern portion of the prefecture is formed from the Niger River valley, while most of the area characterized by low rolling hills and dry savanna grasslands or scrub-like forest.
Famoudou Konaté is a Malinké master drummer from Guinea. Famoudou Konaté is a virtuoso of the djembe drum and its orchestra. One of only a handful of initiated masters of the Malinké drumming tradition, Famoudou is universally respected as one of the world's premiere djembe master drummers. He has dedicated his life to performing and preserving the music of his people, helping to elevate the djembe orchestra from its traditional roots to worldwide popularity.
Mamady "WADABA" Kourouma is a drummer from Guinea.
Les Percussions de Guinée was founded in 1987 by the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism of the Republic of Guinea with the meeting between seven nationals drummers and the French artist François Kokelaere. It is a government sponsored national ballet of the finest percussionists, musicians, and dancers from Guinea, West Africa.
Manimou Camara is a master drummer and dancer from Guinea. Manimou specializes in several percussive instruments, namely the dynamic hand drum called djembe, three bass drums called dunun, sangban, and kenkeni as well as the kringni. He is the founder of Dounia Djembe, a Seattle-based percussion and dance company. He is a member of the Kpelle people and Malinke ethnic groups.
Camp Boiro or Camp Mamadou Boiro (1960–1984) is a defunct Guinean concentration camp within Conakry city. During the regime of President Ahmed Sékou Touré, thousands of political opponents were imprisoned at the camp. It has been estimated that almost 5,000 people were executed or died from torture or starvation at the camp. According to other estimates, the number of victims was ten times higher: 50,000.
The National Council for Democracy and Development was the ruling junta of Guinea from 2008 to 2010.
Fodéba Keïta was a Guinean dancer, musician, writer, playwright, composer and politician. Founder of the first professional African theatrical troupe, Theatre Africain, he also arranged Liberté, the national anthem of Guinea.
Mamadi Keïta was a leading Guinean politician and member of the Politburo of the First Republic of Guinea.
Loffo Camara was a senior Guinean politician and a member of the Politburo of the First Republic of Guinea in the years immediately following independence. After falling out with the President Sékou Touré, she was dismissed from the cabinet, and later was arrested and executed.
Syliphone was a Guinean record label which ran from 1967 until 1984. The label was based in Conakry, Guinea. Created and funded by the Guinean government, Syliphone was the first African record label to attain funding from the state within the post-colonial era. The music on the label has been described as representing "some of the most sublime and influential that any West African nation has ever produced." The dissolution of Syliphone came with the death of the first president of Guinea, Ahmed Sékou Touré in 1984.
Fodeba Isto Keira is a Guinean politician and cultural figure. He is a former Minister of Youth, Sports and youth employment and current Secretary general of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Historical Patrimony since 2016.
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