Afropop’s Ron Deutsch attended the complete run of this 12 months’s Nuits D’Afrique Competition in Montreal. His report on the Montreal Jazz Festival was a tour de drive! Here is his rundown on our favourite North American African music competition.
One of many highlights of our summer time for over a decade now has been immersing ourselves within the largest competition within the Western Hemisphere which celebrates all types of music of Africa and the African diaspora. Les Nuits d’Afrique celebrated its thirty eighth 12 months within the metropolis of Montreal, Quebec, from July 9 to 21. Two weeks of music with over 30 indoor and over 40 out of doors showcases of artists representing over 30 international locations.
Over the previous couple of years, it continues to be troublesome for artists from Africa to get visas to carry out in Canada. However with that stated, there was nonetheless a smorgasbord of nice music to take pleasure in, many coming from this multi-cultural metropolis itself, and plenty of artists making their Nuits d’Afrique debuts this 12 months, as effectively.
Whereas it was not possible to see each present through the competition, we’ll focus right here on these artists that had been principally new to me and/or left a long-lasting impression.
Definitely, BIM (aka Benin Worldwide Musical) was a showcase I would been anxiously wanting ahead to. They carried out at Nuits d’Afrique in 2019 and utterly blew me away. So I used to be very happy that they had been even higher the second time round. Whereas their bio notes that their sound developed out of Benin’s Voudon worship dances, I discover their influences to be too huge to nail down. They appear to slip by means of genres, at one level there’s an afro-hiphop factor occurring, then some afrobeat, then they sound like Speaking Heads, then perhaps Geoffrey Oryema, after which they’re enjoying like a rustic waltz. They’re actually probably the most thrilling reside acts round in the mean time, imho. They’ve additionally been chosen for a showcase at WOMEX later this 12 months.
Here is a video of their efficiency from 2019…
Subsequent on the record was a really satisfying efficiency from Pahua, aka Paulina Sotomayor. If the title is acquainted it is as a result of she is one half of the Mexico Metropolis duo Sotomayor along with her brother Raul. Paulina hatched Pahua, her new solo id, through the pandemic. Persevering with her exploration of mixing afro-latin and Mexican people with digital beats, it was not possible to face nonetheless throughout her live performance. There may be this ever-expanding roster of nice Latina musicians/vocalists on the market nowadays and if you’re already into that scene or simply beginning to discover, enable us to advocate including Pahua to your playlist.
Transferring all the way down to Brazil, we completely loved Alberto Salgado joined by cavaquinho wizard Márcio Marinho. Salgado is an award-winning composer, singer and producer, and has collaborated with people like Chico César and Chico Buarque. Marinho is well-known in choro circles in Brazil as each a performer and trainer.
A gaggle we have been supporters and followers of for a while now, Montreal-based Afrotronix, have now sponsored and produced this challenge from their mom nation of Chad. The Aunties are 9 girls, a collective of artists who got here collectively escaping and surviving gender-based violence. Singing of their native Sara language, beating on calabashes, and including digital beats, their efficiency is a cry for equality and emancipation, and a celebration of their resilience. It started to rain throughout their efficiency, but the viewers was so emotionally concerned of their efficiency, that nary an individual left to hunt shelter. Fairly inspiring.
This 12 months there have been two teams, each primarily based in France, who’re mixing African, Arabic and Western rhythms. First up was Marseilles-based trio Zar Electrik. “Zar” is a trance ritual originating in Egypt and Ethiopia. Mixing digital sounds and conventional instrumentation together with the gumbri, oud and kora, they completely created a transcendent stew of previous and new.
The opposite, “Electro-Maloya,” Toulouse- primarily based group Sofaz brings collectively musicians whose backgrounds are from Morocco, Burkina Faso and Reunion Island. Additionally mixing gumbri, synthesizers into their very own gumbo of gnawa meets maloya, two genres in love with 12/8 meter permutations. This was worldbeat fusion at its finest.
Montreal is a novel place on the planet the place immigrant musicians from across the globe, meet, jam collectively and uncover music from outdoors their former homelands. So what occurred when Cameroonian bassist Simply Woan fell in love with Cuban salsa? He created Bantü Salsa. In an interview in 2020, Woan famous: “There is a narrative facet, the factor that griots convey to their strategy…. what I wished to point out was the similarities between African and Latin beats…. I believe that even within the Afro-Cuban tradition, there’s that form of a storyline, and that is what number of tales and traditions are being handed on.”
As for the perfect of the remaining, what’s an African competition with out some desert blues guitar? Taureg celebrity Bombino headlined an excellent set. Whereas, Boubé, a former member of each Bombino’s and Mdou Moctar’s bands, now primarily based in Montreal, having served his apprenticeship and has developed his personal distinctive tackle the now standard style that we favored quite a bit. In truth, we favored him a lot he was certainly one of two recipients of this 12 months’s Afropop Award on the competition.
One other headliner we had been all the time comfortable to see on stage was Cameroonian chanteuse Valerie Okoumé. Additionally headlining a special evening was Soweto Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness, aka BCUC, a band that our personal Banning Eyre has described in an interview piece as “indescribable.” I concur.
Different native acts we proceed to be followers that performed at Nuits d’Afrique this 12 months, included Malian-Montreal artist Emdé, aka Baba MD, a former recipient of the Afropop award. And we by no means cease loving the growling afro-funk voice of Congolese-Montreal singer Joyce N’Sanna. Stephanie Orsorio, initially from Columbia, has obtained the “Feminine Artist of the 12 months” for the final two years on the Canadian Latin Music Awards. We liked her colourful costume and completely loved her set.
Whereas a brand new group on the scene, Much less Toches, whose members pool their Colombian, Mexican, Cuban and Argentinian heritages to supply up an enormous repertoire of Latino people music to discover, had been so good we needed to give them a second Afropop Award on the competition, as effectively.
And earlier than we log out, a tip of our hat to Rumba de Bodas, a Worldbeat band from Bologna, Italy, who sadly did not draw a giant crowd at their indoor present at Membership Balattou through the first week of the competition as a consequence of dangerous climate, however I very a lot loved their power and music.
So, till subsequent 12 months…..
