African classics: Syliphone SLP 29
Reviews of classic recordings from Africa
As with
Syliphone SLP 28, "L'arbre
eternel", this LP illuminates a
dark period in Guinea's history. On the 22nd of November 1970 a
naval force invaded Conakry. It was led by Portuguese
soldiers and included Guinea Bissauan infantry and exiled
Guineans. Their attack on the Presidential palace and attempted
coup failed, with most of the invading force either killed or
taken prisoner by locals. A military trial was held with many of
the insurgents receiving death sentences. 91 of the prisoners
were publicly hanged in Guinea's major towns and capital city. The
events of November 22 galvanised Guineans, with the date giving
rise to the orchestra "22 Band de Kankan".
On Syliphone LP 29 the Ensemble
Instrumental et Choral de la Radiodiffusion Nationale perform
"Victoire a la révolution", a song which honours the Parti
Démocratique de Guinée, Guinea's ruling party.
Kouyaté Sory Kandia also leads the group in a performance of
"Sur le grande route". President Touré's poem "Adieu les
traitres", written a few weeks before the sentences were carried
out, is on the back cover of the LP. The final stanza reads:
Goodbye stateless ones,
goodbye renegades!
Of your dreams, the knell has sounded
Which consecrates our bright victory.
The Revolution is triumphant
In galvanizing the mass population.
It is the total failure of the torturers
It is the total victory of the anti-colonialist front.
Goodbye, goodbye traitors, goodbye opportunists!
Welcome to the tomb of the imperialists!