Rail Band, by Rail Band

Rail Band

by Rail Band

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Charlie Moonbeam Mississippi Records reissues music from Mali?? Yes please!!

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
*BLACK VINYL*

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MRI-206 Art Edition
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Silkscreened cover with blue and metallic silver ink. pressed on TRANSPARENT BLUE VINYL

Edition of 50

Includes unlimited streaming of Rail Band via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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MRI-206 Transparent Blue Vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
*TRANSPARENT BLUE VINYL*

Includes unlimited streaming of Rail Band via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

1.	Jurukan 07:58	buy track
2.	Marabayasa 05:21	buy track
3.	Bajala Malé 04:50	buy track
4.	Sunan 06:24	buy track
5.	Duga 07:54	buy track
6.	Tidiani Koné 04:40	buy track
7.	Nantan 04:57	buy track
8.	Moko Jolo 05:53	buy track

about

One of the greatest, heaviest, and most sought-after guitar records from 1970s West Africa, available on vinyl for the first time in over a decade!!!

Bamako, Mali, 1973: Rail Band, the official orchestra of the Malian state railway, drops their self-titled LP. It’s a relentlessly soulful and hypnotic blend of American funk, jazz horns, and Afro-Cuban music, reflected through centuries-old Mandé tradition and blasted at top volume by some of the continent’s greatest artists.

Led by legendary trumpet and saxman Tidiani Koné and held aloft by the intricate web of Djelimady Tounkara’s rumbling, reverb-soaked guitar, Rail Band’s sprawling compositions embody West African storytelling traditions while exulting in the technology and modernity of a newly independent Mali. Vocalists Salif Keita and Mory Kanté, two heroes of African music who would achieve global fame as soloists, are endlessly emotive, oscillating between silky ballads and funk screams. The band’s sound is filled out by layers of percussion, rolling guitars, and melodic horns filtered through the Caribbean.

Starting in 1970, Rail Band played five nights a week, from 2 pm til the early hours, at the Buffet Hotel de la Gare. Their audience was an international array of businessmen, young partiers, and people of the Bamako night. The band was incredibly versatile, switching genres, rhythms, and styles to meet their crowd. It was a volatile mix, one that would fall apart soon after these recordings were made, with Salif Keita’s departure to start the rival Les Ambassadeurs. Though Rail Band continued in many distinguished forms, the eight songs on this album reveal one of the greatest bands to ever exist, at the height of their creative powers.

On “Duga,” a composition dating back to the 13th century and passed on through oral tradition by the jelis (griots), the Rail Band replaces balafon with the interplay of Cheick Tidiane’s speaker-rattling bass and Alfred Coulibaly’s tasteful organ. “Marabayasa,” with its iconic sax intro and Mory Kanté channeling James Brown, is a deep-cut favorite of DJs around the world. Part of a long and regal lineage of Malian guitar orchestras initially tasked with translating the region’s traditional music to modern instrumentation, Rail Band morphed and reenvisioned those traditions with a style and energy that has never been matched.

High-quality black or translucent blue vinyl (limited to first pressing), old school jacket faithfully reproducing the iconic “mermaid” design from the 1973 release. Licensed from Syllart Records and Djelimady Tounkara.

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released April 5, 2024

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Mississippi Records New York, New York

Mississippi Records was dreamt up 21 years ago.

Vital but often overlooked music made accessible through quality and affordable records and tapes, with respect to artists and their vision.

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