Syllart

Syllart Records, formerly Syllart Productions, is an independent African and Afro-Latin music label based in Paris and founded in 1978 by Senegalese producer Ibrahima Sylla (1956-2013). It holds a broad catalogue of popular African music productions and editions from the 1960s to the present, and played a determining role in launching and popularizing genres such as soukous, mbalax and zouk mandingue. Binetou Sylla leads the label, continuing to work for the success of new popular African music while connecting African diasporas with the continent and valorizing popular musical heritage.

The Syllart adventure began on the initiative of a young Senegalese producer, Ibrahima Sylla, passionate about Cuban music, who settled in Paris in 1974. In 1978, Ibrahima Sylla opened a small record shop, Kubaney Music, on rue de Rocroy in Paris, a meeting place for the young African diaspora that quickly became the laboratory for his future productions. In Dakar in 1978, he set up his first label under the name "Jambaar" (warriors in Wolof), which became Syllart Records in 1981, then Syllart Productions. He produced Orchestra Baobab, in which Thione Seck played, and Étoile de Dakar, where Youssou N'Dour was already shining. In 1986, the label obtained its first major international success with the album Soro by Salif Keita, a prototype of an afro pop genre in gestation. From the 1980s to the 2000s, productions and discoveries followed one another, among them Ismael Lo, Baba Maal, Oumou Sangaré, Alpha Blondy, Sékouba Bambino, Pépé Kallé, Africando and Mbilia Bel.

Independent label of African and Afro-Latin music

1. 1Syllart Records - Label indépendant de musiques africaines depuis 1978syllart.com
2. 2ABOUT SYLLART - Syllartsyllart.com
3. 3Syllartwikidata.org