The detailed story of African guitar playing. Ben Mandelson of Orchestra Jazira guides you country-by-country through players and styles, depicts some useful chords and maps out an inspiring discography. Photos by Jak Kilby.

The guitar is not new to Africa. The Portuguese brought it to Angola and Mozambique early on; and the spread of Muslim culture likewise brought the 'ud around the coasts and along the trade routes. The 'ud is the twin of the Renaissance lute (it's the same word; lute = al'ud) and grandpappy of the guitar as we now pick it (via Spain). So the links between Europe, guitars and Africa have been laid down and strengthened in many ways.

Let's fast-forward the history: Empires and Colonies, traditional music and instruments; African soldiers in two world wars, travelling away from home; cheap record players; 78s with jazz, Latin and country music; radios; new guitars; 78s with African music, the spread of a new sound.

ROOTS

A prime figure in this new sound was a young self-taught guitarist from Katanga province in the Belgian Congo (now Shaba in Zaire) called Mwenda Jean Bosco. He was "discovered" by the musicologist Hugh Tracey in 1949 and in four recording sessions between 1952 and 1962 he literally recorded 78 records (156 titles) which influenced guitarists and singers throughout Africa. This influence was so strong and inspirational that the modern Congolese guitar sound (coming up soon) can be traced directly back to him.

Bosco played acoustic guitar (known in Africa as box or dry guitar) with a capo at the fifth fret to give the strings a clear, bright zing, and he picked with his thumb and first finger. His top string figures counterbalance bass runs and passages in sixths filling in between the vocals, and all played with precision and bounce. It sounds similar to ragtime picking in its technique, and via record Bosco influenced the white ragtime folk guitarists in the 1960s. He chose to sing in Lingala (a new trading language of central/East Africa) and so was understood throughout a vast area.

What's he doing now? Married into an important political family in Zaire, he runs a hotel and a Mercedes and still plays guitar — electric as well as his polished acoustic style.

There we have some background, now we'll have some foreground. Every country in Africa has some special guitar techniques and guitar heroes of renown: I'll focus on some of the main styles that the intrepid reader will be able to hear in Britain — certainly on record (see discography at the end) and hopefully live (see bandography).

ZAÏRE

The Congolese bands have the blend of guitars (see p.43) off to a fine art: their guitars form an intricate web of overlaid patterns. Most Congolese (aka Zaïrois) songs are divided into two parts (called, yes, the part one and the part two) which conveniently fit on side A and side B of a single. Part one is the slower, more romantic; part two the serious dancing, more flamboyant, up-tempo section in which the guitarists take off. Somewhere in part two there will be a "drop-out" which is where the rhythmist comes to the fore, because it's just the rhythm guitar and skeletal drums for the pulse. The classic drop-outs were developed in the 1970s by bands such as Orchestre Kiam and Orchestre Lipua-Lipua (Kiam's rhythmist is murder!), but you'll find this feature on most records.

A major force in Congolese music is Franco (alias Luambo Makiadi) with his Orchestra TP OK Jazz. Starting in the late 1950s with the Orchestra African Jazz, alongside Rochereau (aka Tabu Ley) and Dr Nico, he evolved an electric guitar style which drew heavily on Bosco and on traditional thumb-piano music, where he would play riffs in sixths. The style hasn't changed much in itself, but instead remains consistent as Franco continually modernises his bands' sound. He started by playing Fender Jazzmasters or Jaguars, had a middle period of Les Pauls, and now plays the Gibson which tries to be a Fender (the newish Gibson Victory). When I saw him play last year all of his guitarists had 8x12 cabs and custom-built amps each topped with a Roland Space Echo. And the drummer was using a Simmons kit. Franco's new records are as muscular as any disco record but he's never lost his warmth and swing. Once you've learned his basic technique, a lot of other styles will fall into place.

The major recording centre for modern Congolese music is now Paris and there is a "studio Mafia" of guitarists who give records their distinctive sound. The lead guitar is very clean (modern Fender-type out-of-phase sound DI into the desk with slight chorus and flanging to distinguish the various layers). Names to watch out for? Dyblo, Ringo Star (no, no, not that one... the famous one who plays with Kando Bongo Man), Master Mwana Congo, Bopol, Pablo Lubadika Porthos, Syran Mbenza, Souzy Kasseya, and Jerry Malekani (with Manu Dibango). These men all play the various guitar and bass parts (often overdubbing every part themselves) and their presence on a record guarantees its sparkle.

ZIMBABWE

In recent years, a whole new style of guitar music has developed in Zimbabwe through the efforts of Thomas Mapfumo and his band The Blacks Unlimited. Although they originally started playing cover versions of American music and "progressive" rock (Grand Funk Railroad, Jethro Tull...), during the independence struggle they evolved a new music — Chimurenga or "liberation" music — drawing on the mbira (thumb-piano) tradition but using electric guitars and full band. Mapfumo's guitarists (notably Pickitt, the rhythm guitarist) play double notes in fourths while deadening the strings at the bridge with the flesh of the palm — rather like country players do, or like the picked guitar in reggae that outlines the bass playing in a higher octave. Other Zimbabwean bands play brighter, up-tempo music similar to South African Mbaqlanqa music.

SOUTH AFRICA

Mbaqlanqa music features guitarists who play machine-gun licks of paired notes like Chuck Berry sped up to an incredible pace. Usually there is just one guitarist who uses a very hard, bright sound with few or no FX and who whizzes up and down the fretboard like greased lightning. It there is a rhythm guitar the player will put in chopped chords marking the beats. The bassist is similarly speedy, often playing counter-melodies high up in the instrument's register; for greater facility and cut the bassist often uses a plectrum.

JUJU/FUJI

From Nigeria comes JuJu music, based in Yoruba tradition, but with practitioners such as Sunne Adé, Segun Adewale, Dele Abiodun and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey the sound is aggressively modern. The guitars play picked patterns; for example, the rhythm and tenor players will rhythmically outline the chord of A minor while the lead guitar runs up and down the pentatonic scale of A minor (A C D E G A) rather like the way a blues player would use a lead break. At a certain point in the intensity the lead player will change to repetitive riffs with paired notes in thirds in the key of A major (ie pairs A&C, C&E) and so bring in the next part of the song. These bands all feature steel guitars to deadly effect. So if you know any hardened country players, this could be the music to open up Africa for them. Of course it could upset them severely, but try it on them anyway.

There is also a form of this music called Fuji (and it is big in Japan, honest). Although it features no guitars (it being all percussion and voice), it contains some of the funkiest "bass" playing around in the lower end of the percussion section. Bassists wishing to check out "rhythm bass" should look no further.

HIGHLIFE

The west coast of Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, mainly) is home to the many different forms of Highlife. "Highlife" itself is the name of a dance originating in the bourgeois nightclubs or in the streets, depending on whose history you follow. Its subdivisions are many and its guitarists numerous: I've picked my favourites in the discography at the end.

MALI/SENEGAL/GUINÉE/GAMBIA

Further up the coast in the countries of Senegal, Mali, Guinee and the Gambia, the guitarists use all the modern resources of FX to reproduce traditional music in a startling contemporary style. Their handling of sustain, delays, fuzztone (fuzz lives!) and chorus enables them to mirror the timbre and modes of the balafon (xylophone) and cora (21-stringed harp). The current stars of this music are the singer Youssou N'Dour from Senegal, who plays Mbalax music, and Les Ambassadeurs from Mali with the great guitarist Kante Manfila.

The classic sound of this music was realised in the 1970s by Sekou Diabete-Bembeya, guitarist with Bembeya-Jazz National of Guinee. On first hearing this music you might find it harsh or discordant because they use harmonies and sounds that aren't regarded as "nice" in our western view of music, but further listening should be rewarding. For a feel of the modes used in this music, here's an example: Guitar one plays a G major chord (G B D G) note-by-note and regularly on the beat. Guitar two plays an A7 scale (A B C# D E F# G A) quickly and irregularly up and down the scale, starting at different points.

KENYA

My own favourite guitar playing comes from East Africa. It's the music of the Luo people of West Kenya, and they play their version of the East African Benga music. Its sparks and velocity make you want to check the record deck. And, yes, it is playing at the right speed. The vocalists sing in close harmony and the guitarists answer over the hard but minimal drums and the bass players who have more than their fair share of digits. There's a dropout to rhythm guitar in the middle and dynamic re-entries on the groove. All this and more on each 45! Fantastic. Recommended boss of this style is D O Misiani and the D O 7 Shirati Jazz.

ONWARD...

Of course you don't really need any special guitar or FX to play "African" (apart, perhaps, from the beloved Copicat). There is a preference for the Fender sound, but anything will do. For many of the players, owning an instrument is an impossibility. There isn't the outrageous selection that we have available to us in Britain, and if there is gear available it's often ridiculously expensive. I regularly send guitar and bass strings to musicians in Kenya who couldn't normally afford them, even if there was anywhere to buy them.

This means that any guitar is treasured, and many guitars are still around that were last seen in Europe 20 years ago. It's truly the Graveyard of Lost Guitars: all those Hofners with rows of push-in switches, Egmonds, Burns, Ekos, Fenton-Weills, plenty of false mother-of-pearl inlay and whammy-bars. Beat group fugitives. And they all sound marvellous in the heat.

BASIC THREE-NOTE C. Use the first three chords here as a sequence, or move this one up and down as needed. You could let the G ring.

BASIC TOP-STRING F. Again, could be used transposed in any position. Just play the top four strings.

BASIC "INSIDE" G. The last of this simple sequence — just play the inside four strings, hence the terminology.

ALL-PURPOSE CHORD I. As this stands, it's a G9. Play the D-string (G) and it suggests a C. Play the B- and E-string (F and A) and it suggests an F. G and B (D and F) suggest G7.

ALL-PURPOSE CHORD II. As it stands, Dm9. Play the B- and E-string (C and E) and it suggests a C. Play the G- and B-string (F and C) and it suggests F. The D- and G-string (D and F) suggest G7.