African music to rock Brazil
2009-11-19 09:26
Salvador - African music is taking centre stage here at the first Brazilian version of the Musiques Metisses festival, celebrating the work of Francophone African artists.
"I sing for the majority of people who have no voice," said musician Tiken Jah Fakoly from Cote D'Ivoire, who like many artists at the festival seeks to express the feelings, desires and stories of a continent with his music.
"In Africa, the singers are the only ones who can speak for the people, because politicians do not fight for the people," he said.
"My music is free. I sing in order to open minds, because we must wake up," added Fakoly, whose preferred musical style is reggae.
"In Africa, you have no rights, just a history of slavery and colonialism. But the African people must change things, they cannot wait for something to miraculously happen" he said.
Year of France
The Musiques Metisses festival taking place here is the first Brazilian version of the festival that Christian Mousset created in 1976 and takes place annually in Angouleme, France. The Brazilian version being hosted in Salvador is part of the celebration of Brazil's Year of France.
Congolese musician Emile Biayenda, who heads the Drums of Brazza group, said that music helped to heal the wounds of a war that forced him to leave his country in 1997 and immigrate to France. His group plays exclusively on enormous ngoma drums, a commonly-used African musical instrument.
"Through music, I can convey what I experienced to my children and the world," said Biayenda, who learned to play the drums at 10 years old and founded the Drums of Brazza group 12 years ago, initially as a project to help poor children.
The group's name pays tribute to his hometown, Brazzaville, the capital of Congo Brazzaville.
During Congo's civil war, between 1993 and 1999, he recorded a traditional song called Zangoula that was sung by refugees who walked for days trying to cross the border.
"Zangoula says that if we fall the earth is a hand that gives us the strength to continue... It gave hope to many people," he said.
Enormous effort
Senegalese rapper Didier Awadi, one of the biggest stars at the festival, said he gets his inspiration from daily life, because "there are so many problems that there is always something that inspires me to compose".
"The situation in Senegal is not as bad as in many other countries, but we have to make an enormous effort to achieve something," he said.
The festival is being hosted at Salvador's Museum of Rhythm, which was founded by Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown, the singer, percussionist, and composer who started the Timbalada music group in the 1990s.
The museum is a multimedia experience, with a permanent exhibition that traces the evolution of black music in the world using audio-visual materials, photography and songs to illustrate its influence on genres ranging from rock to hip hop, and techno to pop.
- SAPA