ALPHA OULARE & SUGE - ALAKHAWONMALY

Alpha Oulare and Sugé perform outstanding West African percussion ensemble music on this new album, Alakhawonmaly!! (God will help us!!). Alpha Oulare was born in Faranah from an original Mandingo family in Guinea Conakry and comes from the generation of the seventies. He started playing drum at the age of 5. He describes himself: -I saw the Djembé in a dream after I had left a cultural place where I had met Ma Siré Camara. I was 10 years old and I said to him that I love the music, then he told, come with me-, -I studied with him for 5 years and soon became a member of his ballet. Afterwards I joined the group Kounkouré Bamba. At first, I accompanied and later became a solo Djembé player...- -I then met Famoudou Konaté and Mamady Keita. We also played with Faduba Oulare and his Ensemble in numerous traditional festivals all over Guinea.-

Alpha has this to say about his experience with the djembe: -The Djembé will make you suffer, but it can show you the way to obtain knowledge of nature... To learn the Djembé I suffered a lot, but today I thank God, because of the Djembé I am well known in Africa and Europe.--You have to always play the Djembé to get a new spirit.- -When I am asleep, the Djembé is in my dreams, Djembé playing the is in my blood, I will keep on playing till the end of my life.-

In Berlin at the beginning of the new millenium Alpha Oulare had the idea to form the group SUGÉ. His idea was to form a group that could express the traditional music of Guinea, with songs from the Mandingo and Sousou traditions. Sugé is a tree which you can find all over Guinea. It is also known as the tree of life whose fruit is popular in Guinea because it gives a lot of power. This is why Sugé represents the positive influence that comes out of nature. Sugé is also the name of an old Guinean song expressing the necessity of protection against negative things that happen in life, like today in this century: racism, violence, war, illness...! Sugé, is the new generation of Guineans who expresses the tradional Mandingo, Sousou and Griot music mixed with their own new style.

The album consists of 9 tracks featuring a mixture of traditional rhythms played by djembe players around the world and original music based on traditional rhythms. Recorded a Solune Studio in Berlin, Germany.

Tracks and Samples:

1. Sugé (4:16)
2. Kakilambe (4:28)
3. Coniadon (2:14)
4. Yankadi (3:07)
5. Iha Montre Sa Leurr (5:28)
6. Sofa (4:19)
7. Sisajango (3:05)
8. Kuku (2:45)
9. Soli (2:30)