Guinea’s Syliphone Archives – Part 2 (of 3) (EAP327)

This project will digitise Syliphone studio recordings from their current reel-to-reel format and archive these recordings. Syliphone recordings were the primary means by which the Guinean government communicated its cultural policy of authenticité, a programme whereby artists were encouraged to create new musical works based on local traditional forms. The reels of music contain a large quantity of unreleased material, and would thus reveal the true scope of the authenticité programme.

In 1958 Guinea gained independence and the newly elected government sought ways to revitalise the nation after a long period of colonial rule. In order to instil a sense of nationhood and to reinvigorate the indigenous arts the government introduced the concept of authenticité, a cultural policy whereby artists were encouraged to look at the past for inspiration and to incorporate themes and styles from local traditions into their new works. The authenticité program saw the creation of a vast network of state-funded regional arts troupes, which represented the nation's towns, districts and regions. Over 50 regional and national orchestras formed a major part of these troupes, and together with groups such as Les Ballets Africains they toured the world and travelled extensively within Africa. The concept of authenticité was thus spread to other African nations, such as Mali, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Zaïre, many of whom adopted authenticité as their official cultural policy.

In Guinea, authenticité provided the basis for the development of new styles of popular African music in the 1960s. A key method of the music's distribution was via Guinea's Syliphone recording label. A state-funded enterprise, Syliphone was the first state-funded African recording label of the postcolonial era, releasing some 728 songs which featured Guinea's modern orchestras, folkloric troupes, and solo artists. Production of Syliphone recordings continued until 1984, with the death of President Sékou Touré. In 1985 an attempted coup in Conakry saw the building which housed the Syliphone catalogue destroyed.

The earlier project EAP187 successfully restored the Syliphone catalogue of vinyl recordings, which are now housed in Guinea's national library. The Guinean government recognised this project through the awarding of the national's highest civilian honour, the Medaille de Palme Académique en Or, and a Diplôme d'Honneur through the Ministère de la Culture, des Arts, et Loisirs, to the Principal Investigator. The archive was officially launched in Guinea's National Museum complex in September 2008 as part of Guinea's 50th year of independence celebrations.

Guinea's Voix de la Révolution studio recorded the bulk of Guinean music in the era of the 1st Republic (1958-1984). Many of the original studio recordings date to the early 1960s and exist only on reel-to-reel format. These tapes are deteriorating rapidly but Guinea's sound archives have neither the resources nor the hardware for transferring the music to digital format. During previous research in 2008 over 750 reel-to-reels were discovered - 129 reels were digitised and the remainder will be digitised during this project.

This project has great significance for African researchers. In an era of globalisation, the authenticité movement via the Syliphone catalogue represented a significant chapter in African history, when a new nation asserted its voice and placed the indigenous arts at the forefront of its cultural identity. This project will bring to light the true scope of the authenticité policy, a cultural policy which captured Africa's imagination and led to an extraordinary era of creativity in Guinea and in Africa. A complete archive of Syliphone recordings would serve as a showcase for the nation's rich cultural heritage.