r/AskAnAfrican • u/RobertoC_73 Non-African - Caribbean • Jul 18 '25

Language What’s the language of this song?

Please help me solve this “mystery.” I’ve been told other songs from this group are in Wolof, but this one sounds quite different. All I’ve found is that this particular singer is from Guinea. Yet this sounds different from Mory Kanté’s Yéké Yéké, so I don’t think the language here is Mandinka either. It kind of sounds to me like something in the family of Arabic, but I may be completely wrong.

Here’s the song in question. Thanks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaPHLuWcOww

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

5

u/kreshColbane Guinea 🇬🇳 Jul 18 '25

It is Maninka or as english speakers say Mandinka, Sekouba Bambino is a popular singer from Guinea and he's of Maninka origin and he's from Siguiri which is in the heart of Manding land. Also where in the hell did you get Arabic from?🤣🤣🤣

2

u/RobertoC_73 Non-African - Caribbean Jul 18 '25

So interesting. Thank you so much. As for guessing something like Arabic, lol, I don’t know. Probably the lack of a “p” sound, and the abundance of the very hard “h” sound (that sounds similar to how German pronounces “ch”).

3

u/kreshColbane Guinea 🇬🇳 Jul 18 '25 edited Jul 18 '25

it's nice that you still listen to Africando, unfortunately african salsa is decreasing in popularity with the younger generations