The Classic Guinean Guitar Group

African Virtuosos

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 17, 2007)
• Original Release Date: July 17, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Stern's Africa
• ASIN: B000S0KXM2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #50,125 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A remastered collection of the prized late '70s-early '80s recordings of the string quartet called African Virtuoses, this album will excite old fans and surprise new listeners.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best cd since Talking Timbuktu-Featuring 4 Diabate Brothers, September 3, 2007

By	Mwasha Bukeni (The Bush) - See all my reviews

An amazing acoustic album/cd.

This is the best album/cd to come since Talking Timbuktu with Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure. While it is a re-release it should be considered for album of the year or re-release of the year if you may. Tracks 1 and 3 are simplistic in thier beauty and beautiful in thier simplicity.

This album/cd will quickly be rediscovered and be considered a classic. I hope they plan on printing enough...Martin Sinnock of The Beat Magazine and The Afro Beat on Totallyradio considers the album one of the best accoustic albums of all time...

Excerpt from CD Cover

"When it comes to African Guitar music, Guinea holds a very special place. And when it comes to Guinean guitar music, it doesn't get better than the African Virtuoses. Their story goes to the very heart of the emergence of the guitar as a bona fide African instument in the early era of independence in the 1960's and 1970's, and is inextricably linked with one of the most illustrious guitar playing famlies in Africa, the four Diabate brother heard here. These wonderful, rare recordings of various formations of the African Virtuoses, made in Conakry and Abidjan between 1970 and 1983, showcase acoustic African guitar playing at its most intimate and virtuosic."

Comments from Sterns:

One moment you think it's Spanish, the next you are convinced it is from Peru, until, hearing echoes of Django Reinhardt, you decide on Paris. But each time you are wrong! The group of acoustic guitars featured on this album is 100% African, with roots firmly embedded in Guinean folklore.

These tracks reveal acoustic African guitar playing at its most intimate and beguiling.

Classis instrumental recordings that showcase the gorgeous acoustic guitars of the legendary Guinean group: African Virtuoses. Beautifully re-mastered editions of hard-to-obtain tracks, long-prized by collectors

Historic music - yet one that is as valid and relevant today as when first recorded in the 70s and early 80s

Full-colour, 20-page booklet with detailed notes and full-page reproductions of the original albums

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Musical Excellence, March 3, 2008

By	Vincent L. Smith (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Some folks may denigrate this music by trying to catergorize it WORLD or somesuch nonsense and putting it off in a corner. This is simply musical excellence.

If you love acoustic guitar, then you can find no better music to listen to as you drive, make love, clean the apartment or just daydream in a sunlit cafe. It will fill you with joy, longing, and evoke memories of good times gone...