Album Notes

Recorded live at the studios of the legendary Columbia University radio station WKCR, oldest FM station in the World, Radio NYC has an immediate and compelling feel that harks back to an era of live broadcasts. The music feels as though we were listening to a local dancehall/bar performance in Conakry, Guinea. This is a group that projects its vibrancy live and it translates completely on to this CD.

The Mandingo Ambassadors includes three griots: band leader and veteran guitarist Mamady “Djelike” Kouyaté, the charismatic young vocalist/dancer Ismael “Bon Fils” Kouyaté, and journeyman rhythm guitarist Mamady Kourouma. Also included are some of the best talent on the New York City African scene: drummer Andy Algire, bassist Nicholas Cudahy, wind players Oran Etkin* on tenor sax and clarinet, and Sylvain Leroux on alto sax , flute, and Fula flute.

The group has been anchoring Wednesday nights at Barbès, a well-known Brooklyn venue. Attending one of these shows, New York Times journalist Ben Ratliff was moved to write: “The music of the Mandingo Ambassadors has been structured to make you feel good. It puts dazzling vocal and guitar patterns over a rhythm section that is like a perfect system… It could have gone on forever...” (New York Times, October 10, 2008).