New release on World Village: Mamadou Barry, a legendry name in African Music releases Niyo, his first album in his own name which features the finest Guinean musicians and singers, including Missia Saran and Sia Tolna.

From the musical foment of Sekou Toure’s Guinea emerged a great swathe of brilliant bands and musicians. Mamadou Barry was one such musician. The worthy heir of Momo Wandel Soumah, West Africa’s greatest saxophonist, Mamadou Barry - who has been called ‘Maître’ because of his short career as a schoolmaster - has become a major figure in his country’s artistic scene.

In 1968, his talent as a composer and arranger led him to become founding member and leader of Kaloum Star, the new orchestra sponsored by the Guinean state in the wake of the likes of Bembeya Jazz National, Keletigui & his Tambourinis, Balla & his Balladins and the Horoya Band. He has toured the world with Kaloum Star and occasionally Bembeya Jazz and Keletigul. He is also the musical director and arranger of Les Amazones de Guinée (since 1983). More recently he is the leader of Gombo Jazz, which performs every week in the clubs of Conakry. Much respected and valued for his openness and generosity, he is often sought out to accompany young artists, both on stage and in studio.

Mamadou Barry is a multi-instrumentalist - he not only plays tenor, alto and soprano sax but also flute and percussion - as well as a fine connoisseur of all the sub-region’s rhythms and music styles. Open to all musical trends, he insisted on self-producing this first album under his name, in a studio of Conakry It was recorded with the cream of Conakry’s musicians, all generations included, both modern and traditional.

Buy a copy of Niyo