Super Biton de Segou - Alioune Sissoko

Super Biton de Segou, what I call a "big band".

Anybody with a slight interest in African music can tell you that there have been many bands from Mali which play the music that carries the essence of traditional Malian music, while complying to the contemporary concept of "groove". That is probably why many musicians from Mali gained international recognition.

The success of Malian music though, can also be credited to the efforts of the government after the independence of the country. You know, normally, the initial intentions of a new government would be to form, or take total control of, a strong armed force that is fearsome enough (who's afraid of the big bad M-16?) to persuade those who disagree with the actions of the administration to avoid expressing their ideas and plotting against them, or simply persuade them to flee to other countries. 

Malian government, though, took a different path and organized competitions between regional bands and created a band for each region. 

Super Biton de Segou, hailing from the city of Segou (this clarification may sound silly for a francophone I know) had won too many regional competitions that it was eventually selected as the national band in 1976. I don't have the slight idea about selecting process, I'm sure they didn't need any electoral fraud. 

This track, having a sad vibe, with vocals and spoken parts that resemble a lament, is indeed "a funeral oration for a son of the country, murdered in Bruxelles" as stated on the back of the LP. 

While it's sad to hear that the namesake of the song was murdered, it's relieving to know that his musician friends did the best they could do to commemorate him; record a memorable song in his name.