Music of Guinea-Bissau
The music of Guinea-Bissau is most widely associated with the polyrhythmic genre of gumbe, the country's primary musical export. Tina and tinga are other popular genres.
Traditional music[edit]
Guinea-Bissau's 1,596,677 people (July 2011 estimate) include Balanta (30%), Fula (20%), Manjack (14%), Mandinka (13%) and Papel (7%). The European and Mulatto population is less than 1% and there is a small Chinese population.
The word gumbe is sometimes used generically to refer to any music of the country, but it refers specifically to a unique style that fuses about ten of the country's folk music traditions.
The Balanta play a gourd lute instrument called a kusunde, similar to the Jola akonting but with the short drone string (A#/B) at the bottom rather than the top. The top string is of middle length (open F#, stopped G#) while the middle string, the longest (open C#, stopped D#) is stopped by the top string and sounds the same.
Extent folk traditions include ceremonial music used in funerals, initiations and other rituals, as well as Balanta brosca and kussundé, Mandinga djambadon and the kundere sound of the Bijagos islands.
The calabash is a primary musical instrument of Guinea-Bissau, and is used in extremely swift and rhythmically complex dance music.
Popular music[edit]
Gumbe, the first popular song tradition to arise in the country after independence, had begun in 1973 with the recording of Ernesto Dabó's "M'Ba Bolama" in Lisbon. Dabó's record producer, Zé Carlos, had formed the popular Cobiana Djazz in 1972. The next popular band was Super Mama Djombo with their 1980 debut Cambança, followed by Africa Livre, Chifre Preto and Kapa Negra.
In the 1980s genres like kussundé began to become popular, led by Kaba Mané, whose Chefo Mae Mae used electric guitar and Balanta lyrics.
Angolan pop music, called kizomba, supports a number of artists singing in both English and Portuguese.