Central Africa Music

  When Baka Beyond started out they were a combination of two Celtic-oriented British musician/singers and the Baka people, a pygmy forest people of the deep forest of Cameroon. As the band has evolved over the years, musicians and singers were added and the Baka people stayed in their forest but appeared on stage and on recordings through the magic of electronic recording.

 Su Hart, the female half of the original duo, learned the Baka style of singing and worked with other UK women to perfect the Baka style. The first big change in the group was the addition of Paddy LeMercier from Britany (the Celtic region of France) on violin and whistle. 

 The next big change was the addition of a West African drummer.

 On EAST TO WEST we are blessed with drummers from Senegal and Ghana as well as percussionists from Sierra Leone and Cameroon. Wow - African drummers combined with mandolin, fiddle, guitar, whistle, ethereal voices, ullian pipes (Irish knee pipes similar to bagpipes) with occasional kora and balafon - with EAST TO WEST Baka Beyond really pushed out the limits in a very heady, wonderful stew indeed.

 Baka Beyond is not only a great band to listen to and see live, but these are great people dedicated to making the world a better place not only for their precious Baka people but for all of us preservationists, environmentalists, and musical pioneers.

 Baka Beyond is a phenomenon: for this live recording LIVE AND PEDAL POWERED, they actually provided the electricity by pedaling bicycles which generated electricity and provided the go for their mobile sound system. So many bands talk about saving the world, but very few really do anything about it.

 Baka Beyond is the great exception, though there is plenty of percussion on this 'live' recording, it's the female vocals by Su Hart and Kate Budd which dominate. How delightful!

 Baka Beyond's personnel keeps changing with different musical instruments coming and going. Except for Su Hart, singers also are constantly coming and going: the result is an ever-changing sound. The same song will sound very different every few years.

 I used to think LIVE AND PEDAL POWERED was Baka Beyond's weakest cd: now listening again, after a few years have past, I'm hearing delightful sounds I hadn't picked up on before - now I love this cd.

 Baka Beyond has several cds out now: it would be impossible to pick just one to recommend, but if you have to pick just one, LIVE AND PEDAL POWERED is a good choice.

  Looking at the cd cover of this latest hit artist from Cameroon, one expects JAM_NA to be a totally slick dance-oriented cd - it it's not until cut seven of the total eleven that fully modern sounds derived from outside of Africa present themselves.  The first six cuts use many indigenous acoustic instruments woven with electric band instruments: the sound is obviously African - even the use of the organ sounds African. What these first six tunes don't sound like are the usual dance music we are used to hearing from Cameroon: Devally is reaching for sounds from all over Africa and mixes them with indigenous Cameroonian music that was in danger of going extinct.

 I can't believe I've discovered two Cameroonian artists doing this in the same year; yet they're very different from each other (see review of Kristo Numpuby's two cds).

 Cut No. 2, 'Mi Yofete', features some neat ulating vocal chorus (a sound similar to yodeling): this sound's common in North Africa among Arab and Berber groups and in South Africa and marks the first time I've heard it on any recording from a country between the extremes of North and South.

 This is typical of the innovation Devally and his collaborators use throughout JAM_NA: sounds from all over Africa and the African Diaspora are displayed.  Like nearly all popular  music recordings today, JAM-NA includes a touch of rap, but it's light and the beat is closer to post-1970s dance music than hip hop.

 Reggae shows up on cut 10, 'Farida Ma Nana', while cut 11 has a strong disco influence; but the vocal reminds me of some of the South African Johnny Clegg efforts.

 It's easy to hear how Devally could be a big star in his native Cameroon: he fuses local tradition with many modern 'hip' sounds from all over the continent and provides a little something for everybody.

One of the most amazing things about reviewing music from around the world is the discovery of artists and styles you never knew existed. Occasionally I'll get together with people in a similar lien of work and we'll all amaze each other telling about our latest discoveries. If the group is large enough there will be at least one person or more who already knows about the latest discovery; but later on that evening they'll be the one learning about something totally new.

 My big 'how come I never knew about this guy before?' discovery this week is the amazing Kristo Numpuby, who was born in Paris but chose to return to Cameroon, the original home of his parents (but Kristo gets to study Cameroonian culture, especially music, while also returning to Paris occasionally to make money and study non-African culture as well, so he has the best of both worlds).

 The result: a singer-songwriter-artist who plays African drums and other percussion instruments yet can and does switch to jazz guitar whenever it strikes him - or he'll mix various elements together.

 Kristo Numpuby is unlike any Cameroonian musician I've ever heard, most of whom play the popular Cameroonian dance music known as Makossa.

 Kristo Numpuby prefers the rootsier Assiko music, which is usually played with acoustic guitar, a bottle, a spoon and a fork. But Kirsto can and does play electric guitar also on his 2001 release AN SOL ME, employing an occasional flute and vocal chorus (a mix of male and female voices).

 His 1997 release ASSIKO XITY really shows off a great deal of the Assiko sound, as well as Kristo's pick-style bass guitar playing, which combines with another bass player on 'Nanoh'. This tune is an instrumental - another thing that sets Kristo Numpoby apart. He's not afraid to record tunes without a vocal or to employ a vocal chorus on an instrumental, or sing a scat chorus along with his guitar or drums: no lyrics; just vocal sounds.

 If Kriso Numpuby was an American, he'd probably be called a jazz musician - but how many jazz musicians would play instruments associated with folk music?

 Kristo Numpuby's first recordings were custom written for commercial film, so Kristo can sound as slick as anyone out there - but he chooses to explore the music of his people with forays into other musical forms.

 Kristo Numpuby's career is going great guns in Cameroon and Europe. I expect he could fit in nearly anywhere in the world: his future looks bright indeed, and we look forward to his next cd, to be released shortly.

  Mastaki Bafa sounds like no other Congolese musician we've ever heard before: his music is so rootsy and mostly acoustic it's hard to believe it was recorded in Kinshasa, home to the Congolese rhumba (or soukous as it's known in Europe and the USA).

 Although Congolese dance music, with its bristling and flowing guitar work, is part of Mastaki Bafa's music, it has little of the Cuban influence so prevalent in other recordings from the region. Though Mastaki plays mostly acoustic guitar while singing, he also plays flute, accordion and many different percussion instruments as well.

 Mastaki has brought native instruments from many different ethnic regions of the Congo into his band, yet by blending all these diverse ethnic sounds with the soukous sound so dominate in Kinshasa at the time of his arrival he was able to get work for himself and eventually his band which, unlike most Congolese bands, does not include a horn section.

 For the sake of WAWA, Mastaki relies on guest musicians for the accordion, flute and extra percussion, though the band has three full-time percussionists and two full-time guitarists including Bafa himself (who is the lead vocalist), enjoying great help on harmonies and counter vocals by a group of at least three other singers, both male and female.

 Another difference between Mastaki's music and msot Congolese groups is the lyrics: where most soukous groups concentrate on sexy love songs and personal relationships, Mastaki Bafa writes about the universal desire for peace and an end to war and its atrocities, which he experienced first-hand throughout his childhood.  Many of his songs contain life lessons and bits of philosophy.

 As of the time of this recording Mastaki and his band Global Acoustic Vision have not toured Europe yet, let alone America - but if they ever do tour the USA, we'll be there with bells on.

 Mastaki Bafa has one of the best sounds to come out of Africa, and I believe he'll forever be adding new influences to this sound - especially the sounds of other ethnic groups he comes into contact with.

 If I had the money, I'd go to Kinshasa to se him and his group: I'm that big of a fan now, thanks to WAWA.

 With BELISSIMO, Mbilia Bel moves further out from her reputation as a Congolese rhumba singer. Here Bel proves she really is an international singing star: influences from throughout Africa, Europe and beyond can be heard, yet the Congolese roots are still strong throughout the ten-song BELISSIMO.

 'World diva' is an appropriate term for Mbilia now; but unlike most divas, she's not afraid to share the spotlight. Check out Cut 4, 'Broit a L'amour', where she shares lead vocal with Kandia Kouyate: West Africa meets the Congo - can international pop get better than this?

 Though it's not stated in the liner notes, the vocals seem to be primarily in Lingala and French: tiny bits of English sneak in here and there; more English would probably promote sales of this great recording - but would it still sound as good?

 Speaking of vocals - the accompanying vocalists are superb, both male and female singers: sometimes they are so good the listener is reminded of the quality, if not the sound, of a South African vocal chorus.

 BELISSIMO was recorded in Paris and is as slick as any international pop recording, but not as shallow as most of the stuff that gets on the radio or MTV in the USA.

 The arrangements are clever and the playing of the musicians is excellent: long time player Rigo Starr may be gone, but will not be missed - the four different replacements sound great.

 What's not to like? BELISSIMO is Mbila Bel's most mature and best recording yet: can she possibly get better than this?

  Henri Dikongue may have been born and raised in Africa, but his music now incorporates many Western influences (post-1960s folk rock/pop). People not familiar with Henri's music will be reminded of Ismael Lo - not a bad singer/songwriter to be compared to, come to think of it.

 Henri sings his own compositions (in French) and plays acoustic guitar with occasional percussion. The music on BISO NAWA is primarily mellow (though the subject matter is not always so), the arrangements are sparse: a mellow organ and sax or flute, or an electric guitar. If no organ, perhaps a bass. Background vocals are usually Henri himself overdubbed or, if a female vocal is called for, Cathy Renoir fills in.

 Though many listeners will compare Henri Dikongue to Ismael Lo, his music is nowhere as dramatic, yet the subject matter sure can be.  Most English speakers will only notice this when reading the liner notes (suddenly I wish I spoke French): the meaning of the lyrics do carry a real punch; perhaps that's why the overall sound is rather mellow - to offset the heaviness of the lyrics.

 Today we are all used to quite the opposite: big, overly dramatic arrangements, bombastic screaming vocals, thundering drums, screaming electric guitars being tortured - all for music with little or no deep meaning or message.

 Henri Dikongue just might be the antidote to such much of all the over-dramatization in the music business today: he's a quality act.