DJ TBC
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After his acclaimed debut EP « Cotonou » on Alma Negra’s record label, James Stewart comes back with his new EP Atlantic River Drive for Mawimbi Records, featuring two collaborations with Ghanaian kologo musician Ayuune Sule as well as two remixes from Simbad aka SMBD.James Stewart met Ghanaian kologo musician Ayuune Sule, after booking several shows of kologo music star King Ayisoba in Lyon. Stewart was quick to witness the bluesy tone of Ayuune’s voice and his kindness as a musician, despite his impressive stature. Quite logically, Stewart invited Sule to record vocals on two of his ongoing demos at Bruno Patchworks’ recording studio (Voilaaa, Mr. President, Da Break), with the idea of making a rather unheard crossover between traditional kologo music and contemporary styles that would both appeal to Ghanaian crowds and a Western audience. Stewart then had a number of his arrangement ideas re-recorded by a talented cast of musicians, resulting in a brilliant mix of acoustic and electronic textures, sounding both vintage and modern.Nodding to Eddie Palmieri’s landmark record “Harlem River Drive”, “Atlantic River Drive” is a stomping dancefloor track, drawing from the 6/8 feel of kologo music and the energy of contemporary club music. The track can be read as a tribute to the musical cross-pollinations between the African continent and its many diasporas, which Stewart has dedicated a long part of his life to, but also as a more intimate story about his life and family. All words were written by Stewart and then translated by Sule in his native Fra fra language from Northern Ghana.“Where Are We Going?” is a two-part journey that reminds us that we should care about each other, about our communities while we don’t know what the future is made of. An important and much welcome message to navigate through these troubled, uncertain times. Referencing congolese N’dombolo tracks, the track has two parts and rich arrangements, with its first part going deep with syncopated clarinet hooks and playful percussion parts, and its second part moving to a four-on-the-floor pattern and an entrancing baritone saxophone solo. The EP also features Worldwide FM and Brownswood maestro Simbad, who delivers two dancefloor-ready reworks of the track “Where Are We Going?” under his SMBD moniker, turning it into a spiritual, dubby journey, as well as an emotional house music track

In the early eighties, Edmond Mondésir, professor of philosophy and Léon Bertide, trade unionist, founded the Bèlènou group. They were actors of the great agricultural strike of 1974, which resulted in the death of two workers (Ilmany and Marie-Louise) and left many wounded. Activists of the patriotic movement Asé Pléré An Nou Lité (Stop crying, Fight), they were part of the identity and the cultural affirmation [la revendication identitaire et culturelle] of the time. Like the Guadeloupean musician Gérard Lockel and his work on the Gwo Ka, they put the Bèlè, in its traditional form, back in the spotlight during Swaré Bèlè (Bèlè nights). Minimalist and spiritual, a true rural ancestral art from Martinique, the Bèlè combines dance and music from responsorial monodies, which is a choir that responds to the lead singer (Respondè / La vwa dèyè), on codified drum rhythms and ti-bwa (2 sticks that hit the back of the drum or a piece of bamboo). It comes in a series of collective choreographies, working up into the trance. The texts are simple, short and tell the story of everyday life and struggle. While preserving the emotion and the drum’s central place, the fundamental contribution of Bèlènou is to keep the traditional form of Bèlè while adding a modern instrumentation: bass, guitar, saxophone, drums... Emosyon Tambou-a (Emotion of the Drum) was released in 1990. This third opus of the band expands the musical spectrum in harmonies, arrangements and influences to create a contemporary music anchored in the Bèlè matrix, while keeping the beat, the energy and ancestral roots of music. Bèlènou adapts some classic rhythms: Bélya, Gran Bèlè, Bèlè Pitjé or Ting-Bang rewritten here for an orchestra. With the appearance of long couplets and a complex harmonization of the choruses, Bèlènou's music brings a form of modernity, it opens notably to jazz territory as well as to other forms of music and grooves. Also, Bèlènou leaves the musicians with space for improvisation: not only on the saxophone or the guitar, but also with the drums (cleverly adaptating traditional rhythms to the drums). The texts sung in Creole are of a social nature, appealing to the solidarity and selfdenial of the people (“Bélya pou péyi-a”, “Tout pèp-la sanblé”), to the struggle for political emancipation towards a new democracy (“Wi ny ké rivé”, “Ni dé jou”, “Démokrasi”); land protection (Sové tè-a); finally, to the vitality of the Bèlè culture ... (“Emosyon Tambou-a”, “Dansé Ting-Bang”)... Culture participates, according to the expression of Aimé Césaire, as "Miraculous Weapons". Bèlènou sings a project of a new and united society.

After three decades as one of Trinidad & Tobago’s leading musicians, Andre Tanker is still among the country’s best-kept secrets. But he’s always made his music for the world. Since the 1970s, Tanker has been composing and performing what he would sum up as “Caribbean world music”. It draws on the traditions not only of the modern Caribbean Calypso and Reggae, but on the Jazz, Blues and Soul of North-America, the drums and chants of Africa, the tabla and sitar of India. Nowadays that rich mixture is part of what’s called “world music”, and the rest of the world is finally catching up with Tanker.The drums that were most important in Tanker’s musical education were African drums, the drums of Shango or Orisha, the New World fusion of Yoruba religion with Catholicism in which particular saints are identified with Orisha deities or powers. It was at the Little Carib theatre that the young Tanker first heard the late Orisha priest and master drummer Andrew Beddoe. He didn’t know it then, but the beat of Beddoe’s drums was to reverberate through his own career.It was while Tanker was discovering the African roots of Trinidad’s culture that he discovered himself. Long before it became politically correct to accept Africa as the place where life began, Andre Tanker realized that his life and his music came from there. But Andre could look into a mirror and see the world, and knew that his life, and his music, had also come to, and out of, Trinidad and Tobago, New York City, London, and Rio de Janeiro. Andre Tanker insists that he doesn’t only cater for Trinidadian tastes: “If you’re a universal person, your music must have universal appeal.” it’s precisely because of its deep roots in local culture that Tanker’s work is world music: “I like to say the deeper I go into Trinidad, the closer I get to the center of the earth. I don’t care where you are, if you look up you’re going to see the same moon.”Andre Tanker wrote and composed “Back Home” and “Get Ahead” in the 70’s, sings lead vocals and plays lead and rhythm guitar, while percussions are played by The Mansa Musa Drummers. “Back Home” is the anthem of the returning migrant (I went away, I leave and I come back home...), while “Get Ahead” is a rhythmic and unique mix of world, rock and blues, a vintage classic blending. This is proud music made by the most humble man. Andre Tanker has an amazing legacy that his great family will cherish and continue to carry on.

Born from a French mother and a father with a Burkina bé/Senegalese dual nationality, Jennifer Zonou aKa Hawa has been rocked in music from an early age. As a DJ addicted to all kind of grooves, her father passed on his genuine love and great vinyls collection of Rap, Soul, Funk, Jazz, Afrobeat, or Reggae music. While her mother, keen on American Folk and Pop, gave her awareness and sensibility for the beautiful melodies and songwriting of artists such as Rickie Lee Jones.Yet it was not until 2000 that Jennifer began her singing career. A native of Macon (near Lyon, France), it was after she met with IPM, a Hip-Hop group from Lyon, that she gained confidence in her skills and decided to start within the best schools possible: Gospel. Thus she joined the choir called “Héritage Soul” (Soul Legacy), where she connected with Raphael Chambouvet, keyboard in the choir and in many projects of the Lyon’s music scene such as CHK, or later Mr Day. At that time, her voice could be spoted on many Hip-Hop projects from Lyon, including Dialect Music, Casus Belli and therefore IPM, but it’s only when she entered a new choir, "Precious Voices," that Jen took another turn in her carreer. She then rised in a Nu-Soul duo act called Ebony Source, whose album will certainly never be released, but which will allow her to tour seriously and to open for top French artists such as Diam's or Wallen, but also for international names such as Lizz McComb. Jennifer then begins to work solo with her old mate Raph, who has since continued to play in bands such as Mr Day and who quickly liaised her with Favorite Recordings label (Dynamics Onra, The Funk League Solomko Andre, ...) and his founder Pascal Rioux. A new Hawa was born, raising the challenge of writing in English with surprising ease. Very soon the first demos come alive, including "Sweet Lucky Day", wich will later be found as the B-side of her first single "DANCE ", released in 2009. In the meantime, she also meets with Bruno "Patchworks" Howart (Metropolitan Jazz Affair, Uptown Funk Empire, Mr Day, Mr President, ...) at a concert in Lyon in 2008. International reknown within the indy Soul/Funk music scene, Patchworks is immediately attracted and offers to produce her some songs. Coming next is a first acclaimed 7inch mentioned above and several appearances alongside Mr Day and Mr President, then naturally followed by the common desire to sail further. The result is called ‘My Little Green Box’, first album by Hawa due for release on June 6th 2011 on Favorite Recordings. Mainly produced by Patchworks, MLGB is naturally imbued with the Soul/Funk touch which made his success and fame. But the album is also deeply led by Jennifer’s eclectic influences, and each of its 11 songs is the result of a true joint effort between her, Bruno, and Raph on some tracks like "Full of Love." Above all, this mysterious “green box" contains 11 great groovy nuggets and reveals a fully uninhibited Hawa. She impresses first thanks to a natural musicality gained through her years of Gospel, but also makes her own imprint with an approach to writing and rhythm very inspired by her long passion for Rap. In the wake of the Queen Sharon Jones and all her Soul daughters such as Nicolle Willis or Giselle Smith, Hawa could well find her place in the circle of the international top Soul Sista, thanks to this first attempt without a fault. Now we hope you’ll feel the same!!

When faced with the decision to take a different direction at the risk of getting lost in a synthetic sound or to further explore the same musical path, Vaudou Game didn’t need to consult the oracle for very long when putting together their new album. Since their first acclaimed album, Apiafo and its irresistible single "Pas Contente", these Lyon natives never turned down the heat on over 130 stages across Europe, Africa, America and Asia. Peter Solo has displayed his amulets, charisma and yellow pants around the globe.When time came for them to harness their Afro-Funk sound for the second time, they turned their attention once again to their analog strengths. Vintage material, instruments produced in the 70's and cassette tapes were the "grigris" (or lucky charms) which proved most effective to ward off digital corruption of their music and return them to a tight-knit group with a solid groove.This unbeatable trance rhythm, inherited from James Brown and Fela, icons of Funk and Afrobeat, becomes trident when joined by Mawu, the creative voodoo divinity hidden in each of the group's notes. This inspiration transcends their spirit of communion, plunges them deeply into Mother Earth and results in the telepathic trance which is directly connected to Togo Peter's native Togo.Each song then becomes a celebration where the listener becomes the group's voodoo doll, embraced by the rhythm, submitting itself to the mercilessly metronomic cutting of guitars, struck by the copper-colored flashes of lightning forged by the African voodoo deity Hevioso, pierced by the psychedelic visions generated by the organs and a six-string guitar, cheerful songs, and hypnotic incantations. KIDAYU means "sharing" in Kabye, the language spoken in northern Togo. Sharing, is the philosophy of Vaudou Game – both in their recorded music and on stage.

Finally the debut full length LP from Aeon Seven is upon us!After a production career going back to the year 2000, this French maestro has been a creative force in all areas of production, DJing and animation.First gaining some serious attention from the funk/breaks community worldwide with his exceptional Funky Furious EP (2005), he has gone on to produce a clutch of incredible mix tapes that beautifully reveal his deft touch on the turntables and in the studio, he's written a couple of singles for 45 Live Records and produced some slick DJ tools with the Thundercuts series on both 7" and 12".Throughout all this time Aeon Seven has been honing his craft both musically and visually. His love of the instrumental, and obvious love of soundtracks, psyche and jazz come through in all of his productions. From the downbeat and wonderfully eerie and atmospheric themes of "The Hidden Hand", the cosmic harp led soundscape of the opening track "Outer Space Illusion" to the uptempo and funky blaxploitation vibes of "Mankind Hunt", Aeon Seven's grasp of songwriting is mature and expertly executed.