African Guitar Summit is a group of nine

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

musicians, all of African origin, who perform traditional songs from their native countries.

History

The African Guitar Summit was organized in Toronto as part of a performance project for CBC Radio's ''On Stage'' program. Musicians were, from Guinea, guitarist

Alpha Yaya Diallo Alpha Yaya Diallo is a Guinean-born Canadian guitarist, singer and songwriter. He incorporates Guinea's rich musical tradition into his original compositions. Diallo has won two Juno Awards, shared a third, and was nominated another three times. ...

David Dacks
"Alpha Yaya Diallo"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', June 27, 2010. and on balafon Naby Camara. From Ghana, guitarist Pa Joe, singer Theo Yaw Boakye, and drummer Kofi Ackah took part. Additional musicians were Adam Solomon from Kenya, Mighty Popo from Burundi/Rwanda, and from Madagascar guitarist and harmony singer Donné Robert and

Madagascar Slim Randriamananjara Radofa Besata Jean Longin (born October 31, 1956 in Antananarivo, Madagascar) is a Canadian-Malagasy folk and blues guitarist, who records and performs under the stage name Madagascar Slim. He is a member of the folk music band T ...

. The producer of African Guitar Summit was Todd Fraracci. The nine musicians rehearsed and arranged for three days, sharing stories and experiences. On the fourth day the group debuted in a concert at CBC's Glenn Gould Studio. The following three days were spent in CBC Studio 211 recording their self-titled CD. Everything was recorded live off the floor, in one or two takes. ''African Guitar Summit'' was released on

CBC Records CBC Records was a Canadian record label owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributed CBC programming, including live concert performances, in album and digital format(s)."CBC Records is the corporation's biggest h ...

in November 2004, and went on to win the

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

for World Music Album of the Year. The group performed an arrangement of ''Mwembo'' at the Juno Awards Gala in Winnipeg, April 2, 2005 and, in the same year, at the

Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 200 ...

concert in Barrie, near Toronto. Their second album, ''African Guitar Summit II'' was released in 2006 and nominated as World Music Album of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2007 The Juno Awards of 2007 were hosted in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on the weekend ending 1 April 2007. These ceremonies honoured music industry achievements in Canada during most of 2006. The event was well known for a possible tape delay by t ...

. In 2016 and 2017, under the management of the Herschel Freeman Agency, the group toured the US.

Discography

* African Guitar Summit (Vol 1 CD) (November 2, 2004) * African Guitar Summit (Vol 2 CD) (September 26, 2006)

References

External links

African Guitar Summit
on Myspace {{DEFAULTSORT:African Guitar Summit Black Canadian musical groups Musical groups established in 2004 Musical groups from Toronto Canadian world music groups Music of the African diaspora 2004 establishments in Ontario