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"Musiques métisses" festival
World Sounds in Angoulême
Angoulême
22/05/2002 -
Imagine an idyllic countryside setting and a tentful of happening world sounds – and you’ll get some idea of the ambience at the « Musiques Métisses » Festival on Sunday afternoon. Canoeists slalomed down the choppy white water of the Charente, accompanied by snappy Mandingo rhythms issuing from the « Filaos » tent where Guinean group Bembeya Jazz were going down a storm. Meanwhile, Sergent Garcia found a comfortable spot lying in the shade of an overhanging lime tree and chatted away on his mobile phone to a musician friend in Havana. Clifton Chenier Jr appeared equally happy and relaxed in the bucolic setting, dipping bottles into the river to swoosh up sparkling fresh eau de Charente.
« Musiques Métisses » holds a special place in the series of French music festivals that kick off in mid-April and run through until the end of September. Launched 27 years ago by Christian Mousset, « Musiques Métisses » is not only the granddad of French music festivals, it also boasts the most extensive world line-up, featuring 30 artists from Africa, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the Americas. But the beauty of « Musiques Métisses » is that music fans only have to pay their way into a dozen of the 44 concerts programmed during the festival – the rest are free ! What’s more, with burgeoning attendance figures over the years, « Musiques Métisses » has introduced the notion of cultural cross-over to the heart of the French countryside, putting Angoulême on the map as an essential stopping-point for world musicians seeking to launch an international career.
« Musiques Métisses » has become much more than a symbol of cultural cross-over too . Going beyond his role as concert organiser, Christian Mousset has transformed his festival into a veritable ‘global village’ where fans can wander from music tent to music tent sampling culinary delicacies from around the world as they enjoy the sounds of Nbombolo, Juju and Cajun rhythms.
One of the highlights of this year’s festival was undoubtedly Wendo Kolosoy. The king of Congolese rumba took his time getting to Angoulême to join « Papa Mousset », however ! Wendo and his group had been all set to climb aboard an Air France flight to Paris earlier this week, but visas authorising them to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo failed to come through in time and Wendo and his band found themselves grounded in Kinshasa. The visa hiccup meant Wendo missed the opening night of « Musiques Métisses » - where he had been due to headline with King Sunny Adé (a world star whose European appearances are few and far between!) The 77-year-old rumba king insisted on travelling nevertheless and finally arrived at the isle of Bourgines Sunday lunchtime – after a mammoth 18-hour trip ! Taking to the stage with his group, Victoria Bakolo Miziki , Wendo went on to bring the house down at « Musiques Métisses », getting the crowd grooving to a languorous rumba style.
Christian Mousset has a veritable flair for tracking down musicians who enjoyed their heyday in Africa in the 60s and getting them back into the studio to record a new album four decades later. Indeed, the « Musiques Métisses » founder recently set up his own label, « Marabi », on which he releases the work of veteran world music stars. « It’s a shame that the groups who laid the foundations of the contemporary African music scene are so little known today, » says Mousset, « It’s up to us to introduce them to a wider public. Believe me, these guys are amazing. They’ve been going for years but they’ve managed to keep a verve and freshness in their sound that many young musicians working today should be envious of! »
Three of the first releases on the « Marabi » label are Wendo Kolosoy, Bembeya Jazz (who got together in 1961 and went on to become Sekou Touré’s official backing band in Guinea) and Malian music star Kar Kar (Bamako’s own version of Elvis in the 60s). Following in the footsteps of other ‘world’ festivals in France that have launched their own labels (e.g. the Africolor Festival and its Cobalt label and the Nuits atypiques de Langon Festival with the Daqui label), « Musiques Métisses » can now programme acts at its annual festival and then whisk artists off to the recording studio.
But rest assured, you don’t need to be a 77-year-old rumba king to bring the house down at Angoulême! Several younger groups also made a major impact at this year’s festival and one of the showstoppers in this category were Tinariwen. These Tuareg tribesmen moved listeners with a mix of haunting melodies and languorous rhythms, transporting the audience to the desert dunes of the Adrar. The group, who got together in 1982, became a symbol of the Tuareg rebellion in Mali and were forced to seek exile in Algeria and Mauritania after fleeing Moussa Traoré’s army. But the signing of a peace pact in 1992 allowed them to return home to their native village of Kidal. Years of exile infused the Tuaregs’ music with a deep spirit of revolt and brought the group into contact with different musical cultures, leading them to discover the electric guitar (in jail in Libya) and the protest songs of Bob Marley, Bob Dylan and Moroccan group Nass El Ghiwane. And when French group Lo’jo organised the « Festival du désert » in the Kidal region last January Tinariwen played a central role.
Apart from programming vibrant new acts such as Tinariwen, this year’s « Musiques Métisses » also had its share of headlining stars. On Monday night Souad Massi, Ismael Lô and Amadou & Mariam took to the stage, bringing the central big top alive with their energetic sets. All three acts have been snapped up by the world’s leading major Universal Music (a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal), but they launched their careers performing at Angoulême back in the days when their records came out on small independent labels. So it seemed appropriate that Souad, Ismael and Amadou & Mariam should return and pay their respects to « Musiques Métisses », the launchpad for their (and so many other groups’) international careers!
Pierre René-Worms.
22/05/2007 -
01/06/2005 -
