Les Amazones de Guinée Vocalist Sayon Bamba Performs at Skirball
Skirball Cultural Center (2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049)
- Full Price:
- $25.00
- Our Price:
- $12.50*
* Additional fees apply.
All offers for Sayon Bamba have expired.
The last date listed for Sayon Bamba was Friday May 4, 2012 / 8:00pm.
Goldstar Member Tips
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Goldstar Member on Where to Eat
Food and drinks available for purchase
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Casual
2 Goldstar Member Reviews
Goldstar Member
Sayon and her band were amazing!! I loved their music! While a few of the songs were explained, I think each song could have been introduced and explained to the audience before being performed. Besides that- great venue & wonderful performance. Sayon is an amazing talent!Written on May 07 2012
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Goldstar Member
A really wonderful evening of music. I loved the venue and the singer was fantastic.Written on May 07 2012
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More Information About Sayon Bamba
Website
http://www.skirball.org/programs/music/sayon-bamba
Quotes & Highlights
- Visit Sayon Bamba's website.
Description
As both a recording artist and live performer, Sayon Bamba has impressed critics and audiences alike with the originality of her songs, the energy she exhibits in both singing and dancing, and the fusion of diverse musical styles.
Bamba was born in 1976 in Conakry, Guinea. Her mother was a pharmacist and her father was a pilot who worked for President Sekou Touré until he was jailed by Touré himself. Nonetheless, Sayon was brought up to prize freedom of speech, so much so that she was sent to the Catholic sisters to learn French. As her father often said, "In order to say what you think of the devil, you'll have to speak his language."
Despite her family’s openness to self-expression, it was not always easy for Bamba to perform on stage. As a teen, she ran away a number of times in order to follow her dream. During these runaway excursions, she discovered Conakry’s vibrant nightlife, mingled with the best Guinean artists, and discovered the music of South African civil rights activist and singer Miriam Makeba, as well as Guinean musical greats MomoWandel, Kaloum Star and Bembeya Jazz.
After her schooling, Bamba followed her passion for music and the performing arts. She joined the Théâtre National D'Enfants, then for a short time was the lead singer of the all-women band Les Amazones de Guinée. Les Amazones set the standard for female groups in post-independent Africa as a symbol of African women’s emancipation. However, Les Amazones was affiliated with the National Gendarmerie (police force), and Bamba did not want to be associated with the gendarmes. She eventually left Guinea and settled in Marseille, France, where she met artists from a variety of backgrounds. In Marseilles, Bamba felt at one with the culture of the city and its strong identity as one of the doors to Africa.
In 2005, Bamba released her first album, Chansons des Rues et des Maquis, on which she combined traditional music from Guinea with Mediterranean sounds. Beginning in 2007, her voice has been part of the Circus Baobab troupe, with whom she has performed the world over. In 2008, Bamba released Mod'vakance (holiday spirit), which features songs about critical social issues such as increasing poverty in Guinea, corruption, and social disintegration, alongside joyful compositions like the album’s title track.
Currently living in Belgium, Bamba continues to make music that speaks of freedom and denounces the violence of war, which inflicts particular harm on women and children. Singing in Sousou, Toma, Malinke and French, Bamba addresses poverty, pollution, inequality, and injustice, and calls upon African women to stand up for their rights. Her fierce stance against the oppression of women and her strong character are reminiscent of musician and activist Angelique Kidjo, who encouraged Bamba to follow her instincts. For Sayon Bamba, music and singing are a mission. She gives voice on stage to “all the things that women have told her in gatherings but do not dare express out loud for fear of being ostracized.” Accompanied by Spanish guitars or mandolins, wooden trumpets, flutes, Latin percussion and mixed with various African drums, Bamba’s voice has been described as assertive, strong, sensual, and at times, fragile.
On Bamba’s latest album, Dougna, released in 2010, she sings about children at war, people disconnected from their culture, and about female genital mutilation, still perpetrated in parts of Africa. In one song, she sings (transcribed here in English): “Stop this child rape, perpetrated by you, you stepmothers and aunts, so underhand, so unbearable. Is it my daughter's fault that we've suffered what you know? I know all pleasure has left your body and your empty eyes see nothing. I can read your sadness. Whatever our origins, I know we all want this nightmare to end, so that Binta, Fatoumata and Soghoni may no longer be sacrificed.”
Bamba has performed on major festival circuits, paying tribute to Miriam Makeba and sharing the stage with Angelique Kidjo, Youssou N’Dour, Rokia Traoré, Vieux Farka Toure, Baaba Maal, Vusi Mahlasela and others, along with her own band. At the Skirball, she will perform in a sextet featuring musicians from France and Africa.