Super Eagles

Emerging during the 1960s, the Super Eagles quickly rose to become Gambia’s leading and most celebrated exponents of Western-style pop. Their self-made Sergeant Pepper suits openly signaled a debt to the Beatles, leaving scant trace of African elements within the group’s sound. By the early 1970s the ensemble had embraced a new musical outlook, incorporating local instruments and languages more extensively while adopting the name Ifang Bondi, the Mandinka phrase for “Be Yourself.” Saraba, the final and best-loved album issued before the rechristening, carried liner notes that called it “authentic music from the Gambia.”