On October 2 1958, after over 60 years of colonial rule, Guineans voted overwhelmingly for their independence, and Guinea was declared a Republic with Sékou Touré as President. To free Guinea from its colonial legacy, president Touré sought to restore dignity to his nation and give cause for Guineans to take pride in their culture, history and newfound freedom. To achieve this, he instructed his government to implement new cultural policies to revitalise indigenous culture.

In 1961, President Touré launched authenticité, the new cultural policy for Guinea. One of its first acts was to assemble the best Guinean musicians into a new state-sponsored orchestras that were tasked with presenting traditional Guinean music in a new and modern style. During the years of Sékou Touré’s presidency (1958 – 1984), the government’s cultural policy of authenticité was applied strictly to the creative arts. Guinea’s sole political party exercised complete authority over artistic production.

From 1967 to 1983, Guinea’s government presented selections of songs on its own recording label, Syliphone. These recordings were revolutionary in many aspects: Syliphone was the first recording label to feature traditional African instruments within an orchestre setting; it was the first to present the traditional songs of the griots within an orchestre setting; and it was the first government-sponsored recording label of post-colonial Africa. Syliphone represented authenticité in action, and over 750 songs were released by the recording label on 12-inch and 7-inch vinyl discs. All are highly sought after by collectors worldwide.

This first volume of a two-volume series presents a selection of the best of early Syliphone recordings. The songs demonstrate not only the essence of Guinea’s authenticité policy and of its subsequent Cultural Revolution, but of a confluence of musical styles from Cuba, jazz, highlife and the diverse influences of Guinea’s cultural groups.