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About Bamba Wassoulou Groove
Bamba Wassoulou Groove was founded in 2012 in Bamako by Bamaba Dembele, percussionist and co-founder of Super Djata Band, the legendary band of Zani Diabate, the most eccentric and functional guitarist in post-independence Malian music.
Bamba Wassoulou Groove consists of 7 musicians (3 guitars, bass, drums, percussion and 1 singer) who display psychedelic and bluesy electric guitars, hypnotic solos, soulful voices and rhythmic music.
When Africans discovered the guitar, it was the beginning of a fascinating era. They transposed melodies played on local lutes onto its fingerboard and created styles completely outside the horizon of Western players. Among the masters was Zani Diabaté from Mali with the Super Djata Band, which was a strong competitor to Les Ambassadeurs, with whom Salif Keita sang. The legacy of the pioneers of the Super Djata Band was continued by their drummer who, with three Malian guitarists, formed the group Bamba Wassoulou Groove. Chief among them is Moussa Diabaté, once a mainstay of the legendary Rail Band from Bamako.
Bamba Wassoulou Groove is partly a tribute to the legacy of the Super Djata Band – but thanks to the potential of the players involved, it takes that legacy further. The Super Djata Band garnered international success in the 1980s, long before their traditional music became a trend. ”Their music is harder than the soukous of the Congo and more fiery than the mbalax of Senegal,“ wrote American critic Robert Christgau at the time.
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