Momowandel Soumah

b. c.1930, Guinea, West Africa, d. 15 June 2003. In the middle-40s Soumah started employed in radio, ultimately taking on a post at a remote control place in the Fouta Diallo area of the united states. There, he started playing the banjo and became a member of a group called Jovial Symphony. He also performed mandolin prior to trying the clarinet that he soon expanded his multi-instrumental flexibility towards the saxophone family members, including soprano, tenor and alto, the last mentioned ultimately becoming his device of preference. Although a lot of his early repertoire was attracted from regional African music he also performed dance music from various other continents. Soon, nevertheless, he was attracted to the music of Charlie ‘Parrot’ Parker, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Mls Davis and Louis Armstrong. Pursuing Guinea’s self-reliance in 1958, Soumah, in keeping with a great many other Guinean music artists, took a significant curiosity about the nation’s traditional musical forms, signing up for the Sylli Orchestra as well as the Kelitigui Country wide Orchestra. In his very own group, Sex Tet, he combined into traditional Guinean music his followed music, jazz, using many traditional equipment. In 1988, Soumah seduced widespread interest through his shows on the first MASA (African Artwork and Entertainment Marketplace) in Abidjan. During the period of the following 10 years, he travelled thoroughly, appearing at many worldwide celebrations, including those in Limoges, Nantes, Taiwan and Bogota. He had taken benefit of this worldwide travel to prolong his musical understanding, studying tranquility and musical theory on the Academy of Dakar with the International Music Center in Paris, France. Due to the achievement of 1996’s Matchowé, his popularity spread as well as the record became perhaps one of the most important African jazz information. Among his compositions may be the incidental music for the Circus Baobab’s spectacle, The Tale FROM THE Tambourinaire Monkey. Whether playing saxophone, specifically the alto, with surging vitality, or performing in his gruffly amiable way, Soumah was a unique and innovative musician who completely included the disparate however linked musical varieties of two continents.