| Part 1 |
Part 2 |
Part 3 |
Part 4 |
Part 5 |
"Paris,
Africa" in a Week
Studio
Sessions featuring Viva la Musica & Anti Choc
By Martin
Sinnock "Muana Machete"
|
Wednesday, 9 August
Eurostar
from London Waterloo to Paris – 3 hour trip, bottle of wine and a sandwich,
and intense conversation. In no
time at all we are at the Gare de Nord. The
hotel I use when not staying with friends is 10 minutes walk from the station
and is located just around the corner from an office where I base myself when in
Paris in the “Boulevard des Stars”. After
greeting some friends in the office we immediately bump into Bozi Boziana who is
pleased to hear that I have some international journalists and broadcasters
joining us for the trip. Bozi gives
us the location for the rehearsals for the stadium concert and this allows us
just enough time to return to the hotel and contact a friend, the singer Winan
Mignon, who will be joining us. Arrive
at the rehearsal studios where three separate sessions are taking place:
Bozi Boziana & Anti-Choc, Viva la Musica Cour des Grands, Gina wa Gina
& Campo Libanko.
|
Deesse and Bozi Boziana, rehearsing at Paris'
Studio Plus (Photo by Martin Sinnock) |
| I shall be
working with Bozi on Friday night so it is his rehearsal that takes precedence.
We enter the studio just as the musicians are warming up.
Two guitarists with strong connections to Papa Wemba’s group are now
part of Bozi’s European Anti-Choc entourage.
The soloist is Alexis Azulino, a great young musician, and the guitar
accompanist is Dezay an experienced Viva Nouvelle Ecriture veteran.
Bass player is Boss Matuta and drummer is Maradonna.
Bozi and the Anti-Choc singer Michaud Mangenda run through some tunes and
then my friend Déesse Mukangi, the sensational Anti-Choc chanteuse from the
late eighties, arrives. Déesse and I greet each other and she is pleased that
Charlie and I will be travelling with the band to Belgium.
This is the first time I have seen Déesse in 18 months and her voice is
in great form as she runs through some of her old hits – “Doukoure”, “Lubuaku”,
“La Sirène” and newer material like “Bondoki” from Bozi’s Kora Award
winning “Bana St. Gabriel” cd. The
rehearsal of the song “La Sirène”, one of my all-time favourite tunes, is
possibly the best version I have ever heard Déesse perform it.
As usual when I’m with her my legs turn to jelly and my heart turns
into ice-cream.
|
Guitarist Alex Azulino rehearsing with Bozi
Boziana and Anti Choc at Studio Plus, Paris (Photo
by Martin Sinnock) |
| Charlie, Winan and
I leave the studio at the end of the session and in the lobby we greet friends
from the adjacent Viva la Musica rehearsal.
Guitarist Yves Demoukousse and I embrace like long lost brothers.
We chat for a few minutes and he tells me I should write in my next
article that the war between Papa Wemba and Demoukousse is over.
After an absence of about three years following professional
disagreements Yves has returned as Viva la Musica soloist.
We finish the evening off in a local bar.
|
Legendary guitarist, Yves Demoukousse, back in
the studio with Viva la Musica (Photo
by Martin Sinnock) |
|
Thursday,
10 August
After breakfast I give
Charlie a quick tour of some of my regular Paris suppliers of music (those that
are not closed for the annual vacation). In
the Latin Quarter we take a gourmet (but relatively inexpensive) lunch in my
favourite non-African restaurant, Bouillon Racines (which happens to be a
Belgian haute cuisine restaurant/bistrot). The food and exquisite bottle of wine excites both of us and
we return to our base in order to take tally of the day’s musical purchases.
Our rendez-vous in the rehearsal studio is for 1930 where we meet up with
our Japanese friends Araï and Takako, from Production Grand Samuraï, who have
flown in for the weekend concert. We
sit in on the Viva la Musica Cour des Grands rehearsal where Yves Demoukousse
has resumed his role as soloist; Kaps Kapangala, ex drummer for Koffi Olomide is
the ace stixman for this session. A
super vocal combination of Lidjo Kwempa, Djo-Djo Bayingue, Omba Tsimba, Djuna
Djanana and Cele le Roi rip through their version of “Beau Gosse ya Paris”. Viva are playing it hard and tight in Wemba’s absence –
they need to confirm their capabilities when he is not around and they also need
to assert their talent whilst Wemba’s Nouvelle Ecriture musicians are in
Europe.
|
Lidjo Kwempa of Viva la Musica,
Cour des Grands (Photo by Martin
Sinnock)
|
Viva la Musica Cour des Grands at Studio Plus:
Vocalist Cele le Roi in the forefront
(Photo by Martin Sinnock) |
Viva la Musica Cour des Grands: Djanana, Djo-Djo
& Kwempa (Photo by Martin Sinnock) |
| Araï and I exchange
excited glances as we realise that the band are hot tonite. Charlie is clearly in Seventh Heaven as he hears his first
live experience of hard-core Viva “sebene” – from a proximity of only
three foot in the tiny rehearsal room.
|
Viva la Musica in the studio
(Photo
by Martin Sinnock) |
|
Bozi Boziana, Deesse and Anti Choc
at Studio Plus (Photo by Martin Sinnock) |
| After an hour or so we switch to Bozi’s
rehearsal where drummer Simolo has replaced Maradonna.
Bozi rehearses his two young Paris based Ivoirienne dancers who are
temporarily replacing his regular girls who are still in Kinshasa.
This rehearsal ends at 2200 hours and we opt to stay because Modogo Gian
Franco Ferre is rehearsing material from his new cd.
Omba and Djo-Djo sing the lead for him which suits me just fine because
Omba Tsimba is currently one of my favourite new singers.
He knows I like his voice so he turns it on in another great session. Alexis and Yves swap solo roles whilst Dezay and Kaps lead
the rhythm section; and when Modogo ducks out he is replaced by the Victoria
Eleison veteran singer Washifa who joins Omba for a devastating duet.
This allows the band to effortlessly switch style from Viva to Victoria.
Another great evening, and Charlie and I walk home and pick up a couple
of beers to have as a nightcap.
|
Modogo Gian Franco Ferre and Omba of Viva La
Musica rehearse material from Modogo's new CD in Paris' Studio Plus
(Photos by Martin Sinnock) |
|
Washifa (of Victoria Eleison) and
Omba Tsimba (Viva la Musica)
(Photo by Martin Sinnock) |
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