History of Music in Guinea-Bissau

The Guinea-Bissau music is usually associated with the polyrhythmic gumbe genre, the country’s main musical export. Though, civil unrest and a small size have mixed over the periods to keep gumbe and other genres out of normal spectators, even in generally syncretist African countries.

source of picture: www.theguardian.com

The calabash is the main musical instrument of the Guinea-Bissau, and this is used in extremely swift and rhythmically difficult dance music. Lyrics are almost always in Guinea-Bissau Creole, a Portuguese-based creole language and are often funny and topical, rotating around the current occasions and controversies especially AIDS.

The word gumbe is sometimes used generically, to mean any music of the country, though it most specifically mean to a special pattern that fuses about ten of the country’s folk music traditions. Tina and Tinga are other famous genres while extent folk traditions include the ceremonial music used in funerals, initiations and other rituals, as well as kussunde, Mandinga djambadon, Balanta brosca and the kundere sound of the Bijagos islands.

Guinea-Bissau gains their independent in the year 1974 from Portugal, after long years of struggle. In contrast to other Portuguese colonies such as Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, the fado song tradition did not penetrate Guinea-Bissau to any important degree. Gumbe was the first famous song tradition to arise in the country, and began in the year 1973 with the recording of Ernest Dabo’s MBa Bolama in Lisbon. Dabo’s record producer was Ze Carlos, who had formed the famous band in Guinea-Bissau’s history. Cobiana Djazz, in the year 1972, was the next famous band to establish was the Super Mama Djombo, whose 1980 debut, Cambanca was extremely well-known all over the country.

These early bands, and other such as Africa Livre, Chifre Preto and Kapa Negra, had a stormy relationship with the Guinea-Bissau’s dictatorial government. Ze Carlos criticized the government, and died in a plane crash in Havana under doubtful conditions that many of his fans believed to indicate a government role in his murder. Later, Super Mama Djambo both helped the PAIGC and mocked its perceived nepotism and corruption.

During the 1980s, genres such as kussunde began to become famous all over the country, led by Kaba Mane whose Chefo Mae Mae used an electric guitar and Balanta lyrics. Some performers were banned by the government include the Ze Manel after he started singing Tustumunhus di aonto (yesterday’s testimony) in the year 1983 using lyrics written by Huco Monteiro, a poet. Justino Delgadom another well-known singer was arrested for criticizing the President Joao Bernardo Vieira.

Angolan pop music is known as Kizomba who supports a fairly large number of the musicians singing in both English and Portuguese.