Album review

Les Tambours de Brazza

"Brazza"

Paris 

19/03/2008 - 

Emile Biayenda formed Les Tambours de Brazza (literally the Drummers of Brazza) - the group take their name from Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo - back in 1991. Seventeen years on, the group are back in the music news with "Brazza„, a greatest hits compilation plus bonus DVD featuring three hours’ worth of footage of Biayenda and his troupe. The perfect opportunity to re(discover) the work of a contemporary Congolese ensemble who have made their name blending tradition with modernity!

Over the years, Emile Biayenda’s drumming troupe have not only put Congolese music on the map but, perhaps more importantly, Les Tambours de Brazza have proved that their homeland has a lot more to offer than rumba, soukouss and ndombolo. Biayenda may have served his musical apprenticeship as a young drummer playing with local dance orchestras - "to earn my daily crust" - but he soon went on to branch out into other musical spheres. And his discovery of jazz and traditional Pygmy rhythms led to him experimenting with an increasingly innovative musical approach.

The Tambours owe their formation to a carnival organised in the Congolese capital in 1991. At the closing ceremony, over a hundred percussionists from different groups and ballet troupes were placed at Biayenda’s disposal to perform a rousing finale to the festivities. Biayenda enjoyed the collective experience so much that he selected a number of percussionists to form his own big-drum troupe, Les Tambours de Brazza. When civil war broke out in their homeland, Les Tambours were forced into exile in Benin and later relocated to France. There, they considerably extended their repertoire, opening themselves up to other musical sounds.

The group’s greatest hits compilation, "Brazza„, retraces Les Tambours’s collective history to date via fourteen vibrant tracks taken from three of their four albums. Contrary to what listeners might expect, these tracks are not exclusively drum-led. The Brazzaville ‘tambours’ certainly shape the atmosphere and set the tone, but bass, keyboards, and particularly the backing choir’s vocals, also play a significant role. As Biayenda puts it, "The challenge was to find a place for the drums without resorting to a straightforward ‘traditional percussion’ discourse."

Outstanding tracks on the album include Zangoula, Mameyo and Taramé (My father), all live extracts from concerts which amply demonstrate why Les Tambours de Brazza’s international standing has largely been built on their live shows. These breathtaking, rhythm-fuelled performances are captured on the accompanying DVD featuring two hours’ worth of footage of concerts filmed in Namibia, Belgium and France. And there’s a special bonus for apprentice drummers, too. Biayenda has the bright idea of presenting all the group’s instruments in front of the camera one by one. And then he and a handful of fellow musicians launch into a ‘how to play these like a master drummer’ sequence. Now that’s what we call sharing your passion for music and tradition!

Les Tambours de Brazza Brazza (CD+DVD) (Marabi/Harmonia Mundi) 2008
Upcoming concerts: 2 April at Le Trianon (Paris), 3 April at L’Auditorium (Lyon)

Bertrand  Lavaine

Translation : Julie  Street