Zap Mama, in communion with the world

The renaissance album

Paris 

04/05/2010 - 

With her new album ReCreation, Marie Daulne, lead singer of Zap Mama, continues her exploration of soul, funk and hip hop. Along the way she has collaborated with an array of musicians and friends such as the actor Vincent Cassel, with whom she sings a duet. Eclectic, bubbling with ideas, open to the world, ReCreation is chock full of musical energy.

RFI Musique: ReCreation, the title of your new album, has two meanings:  "re-creation", as in creating again, or recreation as in leisure time. Are these two different notions important to your album?
Marie Daulne: The term has those two meanings in both French and English. The idea is to take a break in order to create once again. I wanted the freedom to do things in my own time. I went on holiday to Rio, and I was inspired to write something more joyful. I was far away from the routines I was accustomed to in Belgium and New York. I was on my own and I was discovering this country with all the ecstatic enthusiasm of a tourist. I let my curiosity guide me and open up new avenues and emotions, and I searched for inspiration deep within myself. And I demonstrated my independence from the world of material things. To use our human capacities, we don’t need a fortune. All I need is my computer, my voice, and a continual flux of emotions – walks along the beach with my child, a splendid house to stay in and the joy of life in song. Recreation comes after Supermoon (2007), which had a sad atmosphere reflecting the death of a friend I had in common with Vincent Cassel. I wanted an album with a spring feel, to signal renaissance.  

Your album is full of joy. What’s your secret?
I was born with this gift of perpetual good humour, which has always intrigued my friends and family. I play sport and meditate, I think that outlook on life has something to do with it. But also it’s to do with my attachment to the world, to nature and beauty. I can spend hours staring up into the sky or the branches of a tree: I haven’t lost my naiveté. I’m happy to spend my time in my children’s world. And also to teach them that when things aren’t going well that they shouldn’t retreat into themselves, but open themselves up to others. This feeling of communion with the world is a constant source of inspiration.

Why did you go off to Rio? How did the city inspire you?
Vincent Cassel and I often seem to call each other from improbable locations. He was in Rio, and he suggested I join him there. As soon as I got there, I adored the ambience: the music, dancing, the exotic fruits, the ocean… I was with my six-year-old son, and I wanted to give him the most beautiful trip of his childhood. I’d brought with me my prettiest dresses and each day I’d ask him to choose what I should wear so that he could be proud of his Mummy.

You’ve collaborated with a lot of people: Vincent Cassel, Bilal, G. Love, Meshell Ndegeocello, two former Zap Mama members...
With this album, I wanted each track to feature two people whose combined energies would create a third. Singing with Sylvie and Sabine, two former Zap Mama members, was a way of rediscovering the magic of that time. And then other people got in touch by phone or through MySpace. Just like everything in my life, things simply happened, I wasn’t especially looking, I let things come to me, destiny speaks to me, sends me signs. That way there are no constraints or frustrations, and I keep my stability.

How do you write your songs?
Just like with painting, another of my passions, I start a song with just a line or simple idea. Then I start to sketch it out and add colour, and sometimes I end up where I started. The words recount moments of daily life that have made me happy. Little words without pretension, which create a canvas on which people can add their own images.

You’ve always been an activist and a militant. Does the struggle continue through your music?
I can’t ignore my African roots and mixed blood, and I can’t ignore what happens in Africa. Since my teenage years I’ve used art to carry on the struggle. I shot the video for Hello to Mama in a poor village in Mali, and I’ve worked with an NGO. Each time someone downloads the album, some of the money gets sent to Africa. But my struggle is about more than just Africa. Art remains my first love, and I am an absolute slave to it.

Zap Mama ReCreation (Heads Up/Universal) 2010

On tour across Europe

Anne-Laure  Lemancel

Translation : Hugo  Wilcken