Balla et ses Balladins

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Balla et ses Balladins


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Origin = Guinea Conakry
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Years_active = 1959 onwards
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Balla et ses Balladins were a dance music group formed in Guinea-Conakry in 1959 following the break-up of the government subsidised Syli Orchestre National de Guinée.

They made a number of recordings for the state-owned Syliphone label.

Background

The newly-independent state of Guinea established a number of music groups, competitions and festivals throughout the country to play the traditional musics of Guinea rather than the European styles that were popular in the colonial period. The government also set up the Syliphone label to record the ensuing music and thus preserve and enhance the culture of the new nation. Balla et ses Balladins were one of the most popular groups arising from these initiatives.

Career

The group was named after their leader trumpet player Balla Onivogui, who was born in 1938 in Macenta, a small town in south-east Guinea and was a student at a conservatory in Senegal before being recruited to play in the Guinea independence celebrations in 1959. He quickly became a member of the state's leading orchestra, the "Syli Orchestre National de Guinée", who were tasked with working with music groups throughout Guinea to train them to play the traditional musics of the country. In order to expand this programme the government split the orchestra into smaller units, one of which under the leadership of Balla became "Balla et ses Balladins" and held a residency at the Conakry nightspot "Jardin de Guinée". (The other group emerging from the split was the equally renowned Keletigui Et Ses Tambourinis.)

Les Balladins made a number of recordings for the state-owned labels including Syliphone, which was founded in 1968. The group also toured abroad representing Guinea and some members worked as backing musicians for Miriam Makeba when she lived in Guinea in the 1960s.In 1970 Balla had a falling-out with some government officials and was briefly replaced as leader by his friend and trombone player Pivi Moriba, to be restored following the intervention of president Sékou Touré himself.

Guinea suffered a series of economic crises in the 1970s and in 1983 the state-owned orchestras were all established as private concerns. Following this both Balla et ses Balladins and the Syliphone label were disbanded in 1984.

Discography

ingles

Tracks on Syliphone compilations

Compilations

*"The Syliphone Years" (2008) Sterns

Various artist compilations

*"Authenticite - The Syliphone Years" (2008) Sterns

References

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