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Special report
10 years of Bisso na Bisso
New album: Africa United
27/03/2009 -
It's late afternoon at Dakar's Théâtre Sorano and the full line-up of Bisso na Bisso is finally assembled backstage, surrounded by a throng of make-up artists, technicians and cameramen. "Ready for the play-back?" shouts Passi, the group's frontman and MC as Ben-J gets a last dab of blusher and the stage manager adjusts a final spotlight. "OK, action!" Music blasts from the CD speakers and, bang on cue, the group launch into an ultra-energetic dance routine to Chaud ce soir. "Fans are in a trance for Bisso! / Right across Africa, right across France! / We're up on stage here working up a sweat!" And you'd better believe it - Chaud ce soir, the first single from Bisso na Bisso's second album has all the ingredients of a hit in the making!
After a ten-year absence from the recording front, Bisso na Bisso are back with a vengeance. And Passi's crew - aka Ben-J (from Les Neg'Marrons), Lino and Calbo (from Arsenik), rapping twins Doc and G Kill (from 2Bal), and Passi's female cousin M'Passi - are as close-knit and committed as ever. Only Mystik has left the group in the intervening years.
Collective adventure
Flash-back to 1999 when Passi brought together a bunch of his old rapping mates and members of his own family and suggested his audacious and madly ambitious idea - traditional African/contemporary urban fusion! An eight-strong collective formed as a result, all of them French with Congolese origins. The group wasted no time in coming up with a catchy name, Bisso na Bisso: "between ourselves" in Lingala (the most widely spoken language in the Congo). In February, Bisso na Bisso emerged on the scene with a debut album based on a vibrant mix of Congolese rumba, hip-hop and zouk. Racines proved to be an instant hit, selling 200,000 copies worldwide and Bisso na Bisso went on to tour Africa and win two prestigious Kora awards ('Best African Group' and 'Best Video Clip.')
"It all started out as a bit of an adventure," recalls Passi, "We didn't really know where we were going with things at all. We just turned round one day and said, 'OK, let's take our contemporary urban sound and mix it with our roots.' And the amazing thing is it worked! We got to travel a lot thanks to our first album and that's partly what motivated us to make a follow-up. 'Racines' was like the opening chapter - and now things are taking shape properly on the second!"
The benefits of experience
Delivering a second Bisso na Bisso album was no easy undertaking given the hectic schedules of all those involved. Passi admits that the group also experienced more pressure this time round. "We felt we had to live up to expectations," he says, "People were waiting to see what we'd come up with so it had to be good!" As a result, Africa United was slowly brought to fruition, the group letting some forty songs lie around in the back of a drawer and "mature" for over two years.
Meanwhile, individual members of Bisso na Bisso matured, too, branching out and working in different domains. "I think all the years we've put in working on different projects means that we were able to draw on everyone's experiences this time round," Passi says, "Ten years on, we're all much more aware of what's happening in Africa. And we're parents now, too, so we're no longer as carefree as we were in our twenties. I think we're able to stand back and take a bit of distance on things these days and deal with issues in our songs with a bit more depth... We're maybe a little less wild now, but there's still a bit of craziness going on there somewhere!"
With 18 songs touching on topical issues such as Third World debt, immigration and the need for tolerance, Africa United is a more serious album than Racines. And, musically speaking, it serves up a very modern vision of Afro-hip hop, mixing rap with Congolese rumba, zouk and even an occasional hint of reggae. Bisso na Bisso's second album also features an impressive pan-African guest list including the Beninese diva Angélique Kidjo, the Senegalese singer Ismaël Lo, Meïway (from Ivory Coast), Sizzla (from Jamaica), Cheb Akil and Cheb Youcine (from Algeria) and the veteran Cameroonian sax star Manu Dibango.
Trial run
After a ten-year absence, Bisso na Bisso felt the need to limber up a bit before hitting the live circuit once more, so the collective boarded a plane and headed out to Senegal. "We knew we wanted to shoot our new video clip somewhere in Africa," explains Ben-J, "And we were unanimous in choosing Dakar. The city's so full of colour and so dynamic with fantastic infrastructure and production facilities. We thought while we were over here we might as well try out some of the new songs live on stage!"
On stage at Dakar's Théâtre Sorano, on 19 March 2009, Bisso na Bisso certainly proved they have the energy, the complicity and the rhythms to get their message across. The only thing the collective seem to be missing these days is a little of the rage of their debut. But then this was just a warm-up performance, a prelude to what could turn out to be a full-blown tour of Africa and Europe. Watch this space!
Julie Vandal
