November 17, 2005

On the heels of their 2005 Juno for World Music Album of the Year—recorded for the Global Village imprint of CBC Records—the African Guitar Summit has recently appeared at the Canadian Live8 concert alongside the Tragically Hip, Barenaked Ladies, Bruce Cockburn and Blue Rodeo, among others.

The eight-member touring group features one performer familiar to Yukon audiences through a memorable appearance at the Dawson City Music Festival. He is none other than the blues-influenced Mighty Popo, originally from Burundi/Rwanda. Complementing his sound will be the smooth fire of Juno-award winner Alpha YaYa Diallo and his fellow Guinean Naby Camara on balafon; from Ghana, the elder master of the guitar, Pa Joe, with “golden voice” Theo Boakye and drummer Kofi Ackah; the quicksilver guitars and harmonies of Donne Robert from Madagascar; and, the Fiesta guitar of Professor Adam Solomon, a Kenyan who has performed in the Toronto subway system for the past nine years.

“If African Guitar Summit confirms anything, it is that the sounds of the guitar can be as varied as the people who play them,” Steve Hartong of the music website Global Rhythm writes of the group’s self-titled CD. ”The guitar has crossed seas, cultures and social classes. Electrified, the guitar now sits at the forefront of most genres of music. Captured here is a diverse group of competent African guitarists living in Canada, celebrating this thoroughly indigenized instrument. Showcasing traditional and contemporary African sounds and styles, this collection contains a dense thicket of influences….”