"..an intoxicating and electrifying album that goes straight into my favourites list in a particularly good year for new music releases. You want to feel alive? Turn this up! 10/10" Truth & Lies Magazine, UK.
"This is vital, exciting, and innovative music, alive with energy and purpose, a band rooted in a very specific community but speaking to the world." Folk Radio UK.
"Magg Tekki retains all of the music’s spontaneity and live energy. The whole album has a strong sense of place, inviting you to basque in the raucous atmospheres of a celebration on the streets of Dakar. Even during the two kora interludes, the album’s only quiet moments, subtle field recordings transport you to the city’s edge, looking out onto the Atlantic ocean." Album of the day, Bandcamp Daily.
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Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff is the sprawling drum collective tearing up the suburbs of Dakar’s nightlife scene. Senegalese poet Djiby Ly (Wau Wau Collectif) and the singers are backed by a gang of drummers playing on fourteen different percussive instruments plus horns, winds, balafon, and the occasional accordion, combining Count Ossie’s spiritually elevated polyrhythms with Fela Kuti’s orchestra and
Tony Allen’s groove. And perhaps some caribbean vibes and also a drum and holler gang playing in a Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans?
Based in the impoverished neighborhood of Grand Yoff and operating as a mutual aid group for the
larger community, the band builds its songs on
ancient rhythms passed on from Senegal, Cameroon and the infamous Gorée Island. In both Wolof and French, Djiby preaches a message of uplift and cooperation rooted in the Sufi teachings of the Mouride Brotherhood, as well as Christianity and animist religions. “Senegal, my life my joy” is the call and response chanted over cascading, infinitely layered drum patterns on opener “La Musique Du Cœur.”
“We build our own country” the band proclaims in Wolof on “Xarritt.”
For twenty years and across three generations of band members, Assiko have played raucous all-night jams at weddings, secret parties, and political rallies. Grainy cellphone footage of their live shows have spread online. But this is their first album, the result of a collaboration with Swedish musician and archivist Karl-Jonas Winqvist (runs the Swedish DIY label Sing A Song Fighter and is also a member of Wau Wau Collectif), who met members from the band
in Dakar in 2018 and facilitated recording sessions and overdubs via Whatsapp (no small feat with so many musicians). This
is vital, exciting and innovative music, alive with energy and purpose, a band rooted in a very specific community but truly speaking to the world.
credits
released November 10, 2023
ASSIKO GOLDEN BAND DE YOFF:
Aziz Gning - vocals and percussion, composer (1, 3)
Oscar Gomis - vocals, composer (2, 6)
Dieugue Diop - thioung percussion, coeur
Henry Coly - bouga percussion
Djiby Ly - flute, poem, vocals, composer (5)
Vincent Mendy - vocals, contre percussion, coeur, composer (8)
Babacar Nging - contre percussion, coeur
Seydou Dia - vocals, basse percussion, coeur
Francois Bass - basse percussion, coeur
Abdoulahad Faye - thiathia percussion, coeur
Joacheme Mendy - djéme percussion, coeur, composer (7)
Ndongo Faye - percussion
Ibrahima Camarra - balafon
Alladi N'diaye - vocals, composer (10)
Laye Mangane - percussion
Pape Faye - percussion, coeur
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Plus:
Lina Langendorf - saxophone
Amanda Fritzén - accordion, backing vocals
Abdou Cissokho - kora, composer (4,9)
Lamine Cissokho - kora
Henrik Sunbring - echo and effects
Karl Jonas Winqvist - bells, rattles and steel pan.
Produced by Karl Jonas Winqvist, Djiby Ly and Cyrus Moussavi.
Recorded one weekend in May 2021 by Vincent at Karantaba records in Grand Yoff, Dakar, Senegal.
The tiny overdubs (bells, saxophone, accordion and kora) recorded in 2022 by Henrik Sunbring at helter skelter studio, Stockholm, Sweden.
Mixed and mastered by Henrik Sunbring.
Cover art and design: Fiona Ryan
Lacquer cut by Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph Audio
Vinyl was pressed at Smashed Plastic, Chicago, US.
Lyrics translated by David Formidoni Diaz and Sarah Keller.
Special thanks: Maria Barrios, Julien Gester, Adam Holofcener, Sam Wenc and Patricia Le Jeune.
The metal’s band revelatory new record crosses genres and styles, effortlessly combining seemingly incompatible subgenres. Bandcamp Album of the Day Apr 26, 2024
