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Album review
Zap Mama
Ancestry in Progress
Paris
02/07/2004 -
Marie Daulne is a woman who enjoys a challenge. And in the new millennium she set herself a major one, flying out to the States for three years and attempting to shake off her old image and her old Brussels routine. Taking her partner and 5-year old daughter with her, Marie lived in New York and Philadelphia, touching base with Afro-American communities in both cities. During her three years in the States, the Super Mama managed to find time to work on a new album and have a second child.
Immersing herself in American culture, which she admits she had been drawn to for a long time, Marie threw her former musical habits into question. And, after a collaboration with American group The Roots on her last album, she found herself going into the band's studio to record the follow-up. "I wanted to spend my three years in the States recording a real soul album," says the solo Zap star, "and, hopefully, that meant finding my own soul in the process! I was pretty busy on the live circuit, too, playing with The Roots, Erika Baduh and a whole bunch of Afro-American artists who were happy to work with an Afro-European like myself for a change. We spent entire nights in the studio trying to come up with a genuine soul essence. It can take a whole night before you hit the right spot, you know. Some nights we even burnt incense in the studio to try and help us find inspiration!"
Happy and confident as a solo artist, Marie has now left her all-girl band days behind. Fellow band members have moved on to enjoy successful solo careers (like Sally Nyolo) or adopt a more relaxed lifestyle than the punishing 200-days-on-the-road schedule they experienced in their time together. The Zap Mamas have all become mothers in real life now, like Marie herself. "I'm a proper Mama now," she laughs, "I've got two kids and everything's going really well. The last three years we've spent in the States have been a brilliant experience for my daughter. It opened her up to another universe when she was just 5 years old. But now she's turned 8, I felt it was time for her to be in her own environment again. Basically, I came back to Belgium so that she could go to a state school. The problem in the States is that there is a state education system, but it's really not up to scratch and I feel too much indoctrination goes on in the classroom over there." The cool soul sound on Marie's album gets mixed in with its fair share of family associations, too, the cries and squeals of children echoing on certain tracks. "We had a lot of fun on a song like Zap Bébés," Marie admits, "I wanted to do a track where we could play around with kids' voices and create a very maternal sound. After all, maternity's been a big thing for me. It's given me a whole new life!"
Marie has her eyes firmly fixed on the future these days and one of the things she's aiming for with the new Zap Mama project is to act as a springboard for new talent, helping young up-and-coming artists gain a foothold on the music scene. (This is more or less what Cameroonian sax star Manu Dibango did a couple of decades back, taking young musicians into his Soul Makossa Gang who then went on to launch successful careers as solo artists or "sidemen" in the States). The latest protégé to have flown the Zap Mama nest is Ivorian bass-player Manou Gallo who released an acclaimed debut album in the winter of 2003. "Zap Mama stopped existing as a group a good ten years ago now," says Marie "and everything pretty much revolves around me now. What I'd really like is for Zap Mama to be a sort of school. It would be great if in a few years' time I could turn round and do a festival with all the artists who've 'graduated' from Zap Mama."
Marie is not the only Afro-European chanteuse on the American circuit, of course, and it was not long before she touched base with sisters Hélène and Celia from Les Nubians. (The Franco-Cameroonian double act have made a major name for themselves on the black music scene in the U.S., despite disappointing sales of their latest album in France). "I hooked up with Les Nubians last summer," explains Marie, "and we did a tour of the States together. American audiences were amazed to see this caravan of Afro-European chanteuses travelling round together, working in the same frame of mind. After all, we're very different from our friend Erika Baduh who's got much more of a slam thing going on. Her music's a lot more violent than ours. It was great to travel round the States, just the three of us. It was like a real meeting of minds. We had Les Nubians who come from Bordeaux via Cameroon and me, with my Belgian experience who left my native Congo when I was just 6 months' old. It was like Tintin goes to America!"
Marie's new album, Ancestry in Progress, is released on Lokua Bop, the label owned by ex Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. "I've known David for a long time," Marie says, "but this is the first album he's produced for me. The album's actually been ready for two years now, but what with the economic downturn in the record industry, we preferred to hold it back and bring it out at a better time. It's out now in the States and in Europe and I have to say I'm pretty contented with life. This is my new baby!"
When she's not behind the mike herself, Marie works as a singing teacher and one of the most original tracks on Ancestry in Progress features Ms. Daulne sharing her vocal secrets. "What Did You Say? is a track I wanted to do as a sort of singing lesson, " she explains, "The track's recorded in a way that allows listeners to sing along and try and follow all the crazy onomatopoeia I do. It's like a challenge I'm issuing to fans. It's like follow me if you can, guys!" A tough order, indeed!
Zap Mama Ancestry in Progress (Lokua Bop/V2) 2004
Pierre René-Worms
Translation : Julie Street
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