Bembeya jazz national biography dictionary

Bembeya Jazz was (and still is) the most famous orchestra of Guinea. It was founded in 1961 as Orchestre de Beyla, named after their home town in the South-East part of Guinea, far from the capital.

After a first album in 1962, they became known as Bembeya Jazz National and singers Aboubacar Demba Camara and Salifou Kaba joined the band. They won the first price at the national arts festivals in 1964 and 1965, subsequently, Bembeya became a National Orchestra in 1966.

Blending Guinean mandingo musical traditions with Cuban and Congolese influences, the outstanding voice of Demba Camara, and the guitar hero Sekou "Bembeya" Diabaté were the ingredients that contributed to their fame.

Bembeya toured throughout Africa, and they visited Cuba as well as Russia in the 1960s and 1970s. They were the first in Africa to make a musical « Régard sur le passé » abo