045° .RAIL BAND SPECIAL.

Superfly Record's second realease, the excellent 'Folk Rail °01', is now available to all as a Limited High Quality reissue Lp. On this occasion, here are 7 tracks extracted from 'Rail Danse' and 'Folk Rail' séries Lp of the most emblematic Malian band.
An intense and deep journey into Mandingo music who got to be played loud and listened carefully.

Superfly Record's second release, the excellent 'Folk Rail °01', is now available to all as a Limited High Quality reissue Lp. On this occasion, here are 7 tracks extracted from 'Rail Danse' and 'Folk Rail' séries Lp of the most emblematic Malian band.

An intense and deep journey into Mandingo music who got to be played loud and listened carefully.

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01° Bajalamale from 'Folk-Rail°01'
02° Finza from 'Folk-Rail°04'
03° Noumounan from 'Tiramakan'
04° Fankanté Dankélé from 'Folk-Rail°03'
05° Kibaru from 'Rail Danse°02'
06° Iounseny from 'Rail Danse°01'
07° Mariba Yasa from 'Folk-Rail°01'



"At one end of the decaying train line between Mali and Senegal, the Buffet Hôtel de la Gare de Bamako stands in a neglected garden surrounded by hibiscus, bougainvillea and palm trees. In its 1970’s prime and glory, this central Bamako location used to be an entertaining hub for a broad and diverse clientele : night people, businessmen, travellers, politicians, policemen, diplomats, music fans or hookers each played their parts in order to dance, drink out and rejoice to the music played by the house orchestra on a tiny stage two steps above the premises.

Nicknamed the Rail Band, the orchestra’s rhythm of seduction was the soundtrack for a golden decade in Mali’s music from 1970 to the early 1980s. Rail Band was led by Tidiani Koné, an outstanding and unsung musician who was both a griot and a jazzman. Koné’s idea was to bring Malian music out of what he felt was the dead-end cycle of Afro-Cuban and European imitations. Much to music lovers’ delight the world over, Koné was also the first to understand that Salif Keita’s voice was pure gold when he took the chance to recruit the young albino singer.

The Rail Band was established to « explore and propel the Mandingo repertoire in order to aim at the neo-classicism of the African chanson ». In combining Mandingo and Bambara folklore, Congolese rumba, and American Rhythm’n’Blues with French Pop and hints of Calypso, the Rail Band paved the way for numerous West African orchestras to follow. '

extracted from 'Folk Rail°01' liner notes by Florent Mazzoleni

Special Thanks to Paulo Goncalvez, Nicolas Skliris & Florent Mazzoleni without whom this post would not have been possible.