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Album review
Daara J
Rap's "Boomrang" Effect
Paris
28/02/2003 -
Singing in a mixture of French and Wolof, Daara J affirm their musical roots while collaborating with an impressive number of guest stars (Rokia Traoré, China, Sergent Garcia and a full Zulu choir). RFI Musique investigates:
RFI Musique: Boomrang is your third album to date. There seem to have been a lot of changes in your life since you brought out your first cassette in '94…
Daara J : Yes, things have changed enormously We started out making a name for ourselves locally, playing in the southern triangle of the Medina, in Colobane and Centenaire the three neighbourhoods we come from in Dakar. And after that things took off at lightning speed. This artistic director from the record company Déclic came to see us in concert and after that we were whisked off to a recording studio in Paris. That was when we played our very first Paris gig at the MCM Café.
It was amazing, when we came home there were crowds of young kids waiting for us at the airport, like we'd come home with the World Cup or something! It was seeing all those fans who'd turned out to welcome us that made us realise what a huge responsibility we have. We realised that from now on we'd have to invest ourselves in things even more – we owe the fans that!
RFI Musique: Does Boomrang feature new recordings of any of your old songs?
D.J. : Actually, there's only one new version of an old song and that's Exodus. When it came to recording the album we had about 30 songs ready so we had plenty of new material to choose from. Quite a big part of the album was recorded in Dakar and every now and then we'd throw in traditional rhythms, on the tama, for instance. The Boubacar Traoré samples were also recorded at home, but the final mix of the album happened in Paris.
RFI Musique: There's another noteworthy guest star on your new album and that's Rokia Traoré…
D.J. : The first time we met Rokia was when we were working at Studio Davout in Paris. We ended up chatting outside the studio one day and soon realised that we had a whole stack of things in common. That's where the urge to do something together came from really. We love Rokia – she's someone who's incredibly sensitive and open-minded.
RFI Musique: There are quite a few guest stars on your new album, in fact. Are these artists your record company suggested you work with or did you actually know them yourselves ?
D.J. : Well, we already had connections with quite a few of them. Take China, for instance, every time she did a show in Paris we'd go along if we happened to be in town at the same time. She'd always invite us along and things usually ended up with a mad jam session. As for Disiz La Peste, we do happen to come from the same country so we knew him long before Paris. We met Bruno Garcia here too. We'd already put the finishing touches to Esperanza, the track we recorded with him. And then one day Bruno came along and listened to it and offered to re-orchestrate it for us. The next thing we knew he was turning up at the studio with his band of musicians and working on it!
RFI Musique: Did you listen to a lot of Latino music in Senegal ?
D.J. : Yeah, we grew up on Latino sounds! You shouldn't forget that the great tenor stars on the Senegalese music scene – singers like Youssou N’Dour and groups like Baobab – actually started out playing Latino music. Our parents were into a lot of Latin stuff like Orquesta Aragon and Pacheco. And I think somewhere deep down those rhythms continue to beat inside us! Hip-hop is open to all other kinds of sounds, too, like reggae, ragga, soul and Latino music.
RFI Musique: You seem to know an awful lot of singers and musicians in Paris these days. Does that mean you're spending less time in Senegal ?
D.J. : No, it's just that every time we're abroad on tour we go to as many concerts as possible. We like to see what other people are doing. It's always a great bit of new experience for us!
RFI Musique: You've always attached a lot of importance to the meaning of your songs. What's your take on the state of the world today ?
D.J. : Well, there are obviously a lot of things which are completely screwed up right now. We try and talk about a lot of global issues in our songs. Bopp Sa Bopp, for instance, is basically a call for more solidarity. But we don't just have a negative take on things. We've also witnessed a lot of heart-warming gestures such as at the last World Cup when the French football team left a lot of their equipment behind for the Senegalese players. That was a really amazing gesture, a wonderful example of brotherhood and it was a nice way of going against the current cult of superiority cultivated in such a sly, underhand way by the U.S. In our opinion, no-one's got the right to set themselves up as the world's policeman. Each nation should be the master of its own fate !
RFI Musique: Does the French Cultural Centre still organise rap contests in Dakar ?
D.J. : The big thing right now is the "Hip-Hop Awards." A lot of Senegalese groups get invited to play at that and a fair number of them walk off with awards at the end of the night. It's really important to have an event like that because it turns the spotlight on what's going on on the Senegalese rap scene. Senegalese rap groups really have something to say, you know, and it's something that deserves to be heard on an international level. I think the simple fact of making musicians compete against one another automatically stimulates creativity. Everyone involved in the contest ups their level and tries to give their personal best. Another great thing about the "Hip-Hop Awards" is that they're not organised by the Ministry of Culture. It's a totally independent thing organised by a bunch of young Senegalese people. I think it's a great initiative on their part !
RFI Musique: Youssou N’Dour recently brought out a hip-hop compilation (Da Hop) on his label, Jololi. Have you ever worked with him ?
D.J. : We have actually. We guested on a track with him a while ago – a track that was never released internationally. It just came out locally on cassette. It's called Solidarité. We were involved in the Da Hop compilation too. It would be great to see a whole stack of other projects like this going on right now, because there are literally hundreds of rap groups on the Senegalese music scene and a lot of them have real talent.
RFI: Have Positive Black Soul been a role model for you ?
D.J. : Yes, of course ! They were the first group to bring out a cassette of rap music, the first group to prove that it could be done, that rap had a credible future ahead of it! Nobody had ever stuck their necks out before Positive Black Soul. They really gave hope to a whole generation of young kids and, most importantly, they proved that a bunch of guys from poor, obscure backgrounds could make it big on the music scene! Positive Black Soul were a role model for a lot of people.
Patrick Labesse
Translation : Julie Street
