Federation of Magic Pop UFOS

There are lost records. Then there are 9,410 songs sitting on magnetic tape telling the story of a country attempting to reinvent itself. After Guinea gained independence from France in 1958, President Ahmed Sékou Touré's government treated culture as serious political machinery. During the country's Cultural Revolution, regional and national orchestras were supported as part of a policy known as authenticité : musicians were encouraged to move away from colonial cultural models and build modern music from Guinean traditions. The government even operated its own record label: Syliphone. This wasn't background music to the revolution. Music was part of the program. Groups such as Bembeya Jazz National, Balla et ses Balladins and Keletigui et ses Tambourinis fused traditional melodies and griot history with electric guitars, brass, Cuban rhythms and modern dance-band arrangements. The result was fantastic music. It was also state cultural policy. And th...