Music for a Revolution Vol 1: Guinea’s Syliphone Recording Label (1967-1973)

"The fruit of the revolution" - vol. 1 in a series presenting music released by the Guinea government between 1967 and 1983.

"From 1967 to 1983, Guinea’s government presented selections of songs from the Voix de la Révolution catalogue on its own recording label, Syliphone. These recordings were described as ‘the fruit of the revolution’.

Syliphone was revolutionary in many aspects: it was the first recording label to feature traditional African musical instruments such as the kora and balafon within an orchestre setting; it was the first to present the traditional songs of the griots within an orchestre setting; and it was the first government-sponsored recording label of post-colonial Africa. 

Syliphone represented authenticité in action, and over 750 songs were released by the recording label on 12-inch and 7-inch vinyl discs. All are highly sought after by collectors worldwide. This first volume of a two-volume series presents a selection of the best of early Syliphone recordings. The songs demonstrate not only the essence of Guinea’s authenticité policy and of its subsequent Cultural Revolution, but of a confluence of musical styles from Cuba, jazz, highlife and the diverse influences of Guinea’s cultural groups.

On October 2 1958, after over 60 years of colonial rule, Guineans voted overwhelmingly for their independence, and Guinea was declared a Republic with Sékou Touré as President. Guinea was the first of West Africa’s Francophone colonies to gain independence. To free Guinea from its colonial legacy, president Touré sought to restore dignity to his nation and give cause for Guineans to take pride in their culture, history and newfound freedom. To achieve this, he instructed his government to implement new cultural policies that were intended to revitalise and celebrate indigenous culture. The focus of these new policies was on music.

In 1961, President Touré launched authenticité, the name of his new cultural policy for Guinea. One of its first acts was to assemble the best Guinean musicians into a new state-sponsored orchestras that were tasked with presenting traditional Guinean music in a new and modern style. All musicians in Guinea’s orchestras were officially designated as members of the public service. During the years of Sékou Touré’s presidency (1958 – 1984), the government’s cultural policy of authenticité was applied strictly to the creative arts. Guinea’s sole political party, the Parti Démocratique de Guinée exercised complete authority over artistic production. The scale of the Guinean government’s commitment and efforts to invigorate its indigenous musical cultures was unmatched in Africa, and it presented a clear contrast to the minimal endeavours undertaken by Guinea’s former colonial rulers."

Ahmed Sékou Touré (born January 9, 1922, died March 26, 1984)

“We prefer freedom in poverty to wealth in slavery,” declared Guinean union leader Sékou Touré before a crowd of thousands. On stage with him was an irate Charles de Gaulle, the new President of France and the architect of the constitution of the Fifth Republic. A key aspect of de Gaulle’s constitution was a French Community that would grant limited autonomy to all of the country’s African colonies. On October 2, 1958, Guinea voted for independence instead, making it the only French colony to refuse the offer. In response, the French made an example of Guinea by cutting off financial assistance, implementing punitive economic measures, and confiscating all government property—even the office furniture.

In the face of a desperate financial situation, Touré, now president, made a bold move by funding a wide-ranging cultural program called authenticité. With the slogan “regard sur le passé”—look to the past—he insisted that Guineans define their nation through their own heritage. Foreign music was banned in favor of traditional Guinean music. Groups called orchestres were organized featuring a brass section, electric guitars, and Afro-Cuban percussion. Their members were placed on the government payroll and their work was released on the government-run Syliphone label, each record featuring the state symbol of an elephant. Music For A Revolution Vol. 1: Guinea’s Syliphone Recording Label (1967–1973) collects outstanding tracks from the early years of Guinea’s independence—a time when revolution turned into repression.

President Touré was of Mande ethnicity, a group known for their oral historians called djely, griot musicians who play the kora or balafon. Touré thus used Mande music as a blueprint for his cultural program, and one of the most important orchestres in this regard was Balla et ses Balladins. Their track “Sakhodougou” is based on a traditional Mande song meant to honor bravery, but in an effort exemplary of the modernizing impulse behind authenticité, the kora melody is translated to electric guitar and the lyrics altered to praise the actions of Touré’s political party. When the singer and civil rights activist Miram Makeba was exiled from both South Africa and the United States, she made Guinea her home and Touré loaned her the services of five of the Balladins for her own group, Myriam’s Quintette. Their song “Solo Quintette,” a catchy, uptempo, blues-based number that features the kora prominently, took advantage of Makeba’s international audience to showcase Guinea’s heritage on the world stage.

Despite the insistence on traditional Guinean music, authenticité welcomed certain outside influences, especially from Cuba. Tracks like the Horoya Band National’s “N’banlassouro” integrate Cuban rhythms with congas and claves and melodies through their lively brass arrangements. The Cuban inspiration was perhaps most apparent in Bembeya Jazz National, one of the most popular national orchestres, who mixed Afropop and Latin jazz on songs like “Sabor de Guajira” and their version of the classic “Guantanamera.” Within Africa, a process of reciprocal influence began with neighboring countries including Mali and Senegal, where regional variations on songs like “Jarabi” (here performed by Orchestre de la Paillote) helped usher in a more contemporary sound. For the first time in decades, Guinean musicians were mixing the traditional with the modern and the local with the international, and forging a new style of music in the process.

The hope and freedom associated with the early years of Guinea’s independence movement were short-lived. Touré quickly turned dictatorial, suppressing any opposing political parties. Dissidents either fled or were arrested and held in concentration camps. Musicians faced censorship and exile if they spoke out against the regime. According to ethnomusicologist Graeme Counsel, who supplies the liner notes to this album, “The socio-political situation of the era required the artists’ creativity and conscience to be silenced, lest they risk their lives.” Not surprisingly, the music released on Syliphone speaks of the glory of the revolution but not the horrors of the dictatorship. Touré’s party ruled unopposed until 1984, when his death was followed by a military coup. The incoming government left Syliphone’s recording studio in shambles, and it remained in a state of neglect until Counsel, through the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme, began restoring and digitizing its recordings in 2008.

Guinea is still grappling with the legacy of authenticité, with its seeming promise and its ultimate tragedy. Music For A Revolution documents the energy and optimism of that early moment in which the country, recently freed from colonial rule, was able to redefine its cultural identity. It also documents the music of a people in an increasingly restrictive and dangerous political atmosphere, expressing themselves how and where they could. In the words of the Horoya Band National’s Métoura Traoré, during this period “Guinean music was the avant-garde of African music… It was like the lighthouse to music in Africa. They said it couldn’t be done—to modernize African music!” -By Matthew Blackwell

Various – Music For A Revolution Vol 1 : Guinea's Syliphone Recording Label (1967-1973)

Label: Radio Martiko – RMLP013
Visit: https://radiomartiko.bandcamp.com/
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: Belgium
Released: Jun 27, 2025
Style: Mande Music
Source: Digital

1. Orchestre Du Jardin De Guinée : Sakhodou 3:13
2. Orchestre De La Paillote : La Guinée Moussolou 6:07
3. Bembeya Jazz National : Guantanamera-Seyni 3:57
4. Bembeya Jazz National : Sabor De Guajira 4:50
5. Balla Et Ses Balladins : Sakhodougou 5:03
6. Balla Et Ses Balladins : Samba 5:38
7. Orchestre De La Paillote : Kankan-Yarabi 3:02
8. Myriam’s Quintette : Solo Quintette 3:19
9. Pivi & Les Balladins : Ka Noutea 5:05
10. Horoya Band National : N’Banlassouro 2:33
11. Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine : Sabouya 2:59
12. Keletigui Et Ses Tambourinis : Samakoro 5:09
13. Keletigui Et Ses Tambourinis : Miri Magnin 4:58
14. 22 Novembre Band : Kouma 4:58

15. Les Frères Diabaté : N’Fa 6:34