Excerpts About Kassav Band And Excerpts About Zouk In Africa From The 1990 book "African Rock: The Pop Music Of A Continent

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision: Feb. 12, 2020

This is Part II of a pancocojams series that provides excerpts about Afro-Zouk music from the 1990 book African Rock: The Pop Music Of A Continent by Chris Stapleton and Chris May (Dutton, New York).

Part II provides excerpts from Africa Rock which provides additional information about Kassav (band) as well as information about Zouk in Africa (up to 1987).

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/07/excerpts-about-zouk-music-from-1990.html for Part I of this series. Part I provides excerpts from Africa Rock which provide information about the roots of Zouk music.

Note that these excerpts are given without the accent marks in the spelling of certain words.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Chris Stapleton and Chris May and all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the early developers of Zouk and Afro-Zouk music.

****
EXCERPTS FROM "AFRICAN ROCK: THE POP MUSIC OF A CONTINENT"
[page 246]

[...]

"KASSAV AND THE MANUFACTURING OF ZOUK

The term zouk is a Creole word, initially a slang term for an action-packed party. The word came into common use when the 'grand balls', live music concerts, died out and were replaced by dance parties, zouks, featuring a sound system, rather like Trinidad fetes. We learn from this to be wary lest we try to pin down zouk too precisely. It is more a mood, an ambience: its magic is ultimately indescribable but can be witnessed on the Parisian or Fort-de-France dance floors. The term first came to refer to a specific non-cadence style when the Kassav mission was well under way. Zouks became events where the people danced to Kassav; thus Kassav's music came to be known as zouk. The Kassav machine was born when ex Vikings arranger Pierre Eduard Decimus met Jacob Desvarieux in Paris around 1977 and Decimus asked Desvarieux if he'd like to help him with a project to make Antillean music which, for the first time, would have the technical standards of American disco. The aim was to make Antillean dance music which could be dance to in Paris discos as well as Antillean zouks. Once the zoukball got rooling in Paris, the busy studios of Henri Debsso in Guadeloupe followed suit and switched from cadence, biguine and mazurka record production to souk.

Desvarieux was Guadeloupian by birth and had spent many years in Senegal. But he was a rock guitarist and heavy-metal producer by trade. This, however, didn't prove disadvantageous. P. E. Decimus' brief- to make a new, mature disco music out of Antillean and African elements-needed an outside perspective. Desvarieux provided that.

[...]

[page 247]

Kassav's massive hit worldwide came in 1983. "Zouk la Se Sel Medikamen Nou Ni' was the first Antillean record to sell in excess if 100,000 copies. It was a massive hit all over Africa as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. (Recent reports from Senegal indicate that Kassav are the most listened-to non-Senegalese band there.) Also the record raised their profile in France enormously, where t hey are now on a par with Toure Kunda. In late 1986 they sold out five successive nights at Paris' Zenith.

The song's title translates as 'Zouk is the only medicine we have'. The record has stimulated immense political debate across the islands, for it has gone some ways towards reconciling the historic antipathy between them, an antipathy caused by French favouritism for Martinique and the development on Martinique of a neo-Franco anti-Afrian Creole bourgeoisie.

The Kassav song, like the use of ka drums, was a symbol of an Antillean identity separate from the French, a unity across the islands and the building of a national consciousness....

[page 248]

[...]

The song, which appeared on the first Decimus/Desvarieux LP Yelele, is one of the most dramatically excellent they have ever written and arranged. A fast acoustic-guitar intro leads into a racy vocal from Patrick Saint Eloi echoed at the close of each line by a languorous refrain. Jean-Claude Naimro's hunting synthesizer chords flesh out the vista, relatively empty by Kassav standards, and the biguine-style bass of George Decimus jumps wildly. The song rises to a climactic finish with swooping, repeated strings melody which owes much to the seminal 'chamber' cadence of Lamavoi.

From 1983 Kassav built on their success. Each new LP is a fresh configuration which includes at least one song which further expands zouk's ambience as well as spotlighting traditional as well as avant-garde instruments. Over the last few years, however, they have shifted the emphasis of their sound. Ka drums have all gone-drum-and bass-machine arrangements increasingly do the business.

[...]

Arguably, Kassav have attained the most developed pastiche in the world of displaced music retentions. And in
the same way that

[page 249]

makossa and soukous are watching and absorbing zouk methods, Kassav too are scrutinizing recent African developments. The African-music swap show has never been healthier, busier or more imaginative, a bitter irony for the half of the continent which is on the verge of starvation.

In an interview with the magazine African and Reggae Beats in summer 1986, Jacob Desvarieux expands on this swap-shop idea

When you listen to our music it is a mixture of African and European musics. There was Spanish here [on Guadeloupe], then English, then French... it's a mixture of all that. In the music of Kassav sometimes the piano player playes in a Cuban style, the bass plays funk and the guitar highlife. So you see you have a llot of things. It's like when you see people on the street to say exactly where they are from...

[...]

[page 250]

...Zouk's mission, to build a radical new music out of Antillean, Caribbean and European elements has come round full circle here. The mission certainly has only just begun".

****
ZOUK AND AFRICA
[page 251]

..."By 1987, the marriage of African and Antillean music has reached unforeseen levels of fruitfulness as musicians from Francophone west and central Africa, most notable Zaire and Cameroon, embraced the new zouk sound, and Antillean artist looked to Africa fir further inspiration.

The new sound. as notable as much for its high technology, bristling percussion and foot-time 'tropical' feel, through the spotlight on a number of musicians who has adapted, with more or less ease, to the new imperatives....But the music made its biggest impact on artists from the Cameroon: people like Sm Fan Thomas, Moni Bile, Alexandre Douala, Georges Dickson, Toto Guillaume and Akadji Toure. For them souk offered more than rich percussion and new technology: the fusions went beyond outside trappings to create a sound that drew equaly on the African and the Antillean heritage.

One of the key figures in the great coming together of African and Antillean artists is Jean-Claude Naimro, a member of Kassav, who has played keyboards and produced arrangements from many of the African artists based in Paris. One of his early influences was a Zairean band, Rico

[page 252]

Jazz, who settled in Martinique in 1967. 'It was the first time I had heard African music,', he said early in 1987. 'Yet it seemed familiar to me. It wasn't so different to our own music; and this made it easier, later on, to play keyboards with African musicians....Naimro first worked with African artist in 1980, spending two years with Nanu Dibango's back-up band and joining Miriam Makeba on tour before becoming massively in demand as a sessions player.

Kassav's founder, Jacob Desvarieux, shared Naimro's early experience of Africa, living in Senegal as a child. These influencess, augmented by frequent and ecstatically received tours of west and central Africa, have had a shaping effect on the Kassav sound. 'At the start', says Naimro, 'we'd just put in African rhythms to break the zouk a bit. We did it later on the Goree album. But they weren't particular rhythms. We didn't say, 'Let's take something from Zaire or Cameroon." We just composed a song and said, "Let's put it in an African Way.' It wasn't something that was prepared in advance.

A 1981 album, To Guy, with Cameroonian guitarist and singer Toto Guillaume, and a range of albums, including the 1980 Roots Relations, in which Naimro joined together with Cameroonians Jules Kamga, Vicky Edimo and Claude Vamur from Gabon, signaled the starte of Naimro's sessions adventures with top African artists. The most notable, for him, have been Guillaume, and Aladji Toure, a fellow-Cameroonian bass player and producer. Out of these collusions have developed a strong new sound in which Cameroon bass and vocal styles are as prominent as the Antillean rhythm flavours and hi-tech zouk arrangements. 'For us, the bass is the motor of the song,' says Naimro. 'When you have a bass line is typically African- when we use such patterns, they come from Cameroon. It's easy to pick up ideas from there. The music is commercial, and you have many many Cameroonians working in Paris.

A strong percussion sound provides a further link between the Kassav sound and Cameroonian makossa. As Naimro explains, the heart of zouk is the ti-bois, a bamboo slit-drum, which is laid sideways and beaten with sticks. Live, Kassav still play the drum. In the studio, the ti-bois sound is re-created on a drum machine. Similar log drums are played in many parts of Africa, traditionally to tap out short messages and warnings. In

[page 253]

Cameroon, the log drum features prominently in the work of Sam Fan Thomas and other new-look makossa artists."...

****
This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.
s

Excerpts About The Roots Of Zouk Music From The 1990 Book "African Rock: The Pop Music Of A Continent", Part I

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a pancocojams series that provides excerpts about Afro-Zouk music from the 1990 book African Rock: The Pop Music Of A Continent by Chris Stapleton and Chris May (Dutton, New York).

Part I provides excerpts from Africa Rock which provide information about the roots of Zouk music.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/07/excerpts-about-kassav-band-and-excerpts.html for Part II of this series. Part II provides excerpts from Africa Rock which provides additional information about Kassav (band) as well as information about Zouk in Africa (up to 1987).

Note that these excerpts are given without the accent marks in the spelling of certain words.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Chris Stapleton and Chris May and all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the early developers of Zouk and Afro-Zouk music.

****
EXCERPTS FROM AFRICAN ROCK: THE POP MUSIC OF A CONTINENT
[page 240]
..."In Paris of recent years a musical revolution has been under way. The pop music of Gudelupe and Martinique-casence-has been transformed through the state-of-the art recording technology into a new and highly eclectic style:zouk. Le zouk has in turn heavily influenced the new way of Cameroonian and Cote d'Ivoire makossa artistsl even Zairean zoukous has not escaped. It has also made inroads closer ti its home in the salsa of Puerto Rico and the compas in Venezuela.

Though the cosmopolitan, Paris-based Kassav stand heas and shoulders in importance above anyone else in bringing about this revolution, the roots of zouk lie deep in t he hills of Guadeloupe and Martinique and in the festivals and carnivals on other islands. Zouk, arguably, would still have come about even if its progenitors, Pierre Eduard, George Decimus and Jacob Desvarieux hadn't met in Paris, formed Kassav and set the 'zoukship' on course.

Nine years after Kassav's inception in 1978, they are zouk's flagship, exporting the style's multi=faceted rhythms across the globe. But there is a new-wave, post- Kassav zouk-variants on the original theme-even more in demand in the style's three homes: the discos of Paris and the zouks in Basse-Terre and Fort-de France, the capitals of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

[...]

[page 241]

[...]

What... has made zouk the way it is?"

John Armstrong points to the importance of Haitian band Tabou Combo, most notably their horn arranger Adolpho. During the sixties and early seventies Antilleans listened to very little of their own music; instead they danced to the full brassy swing of Haitian bands like Tabou.

It was the particular way the horns would break up passages, take the lead and pick up melodies, Armstrong explains, which was utilized in the cadence of, say, the Vikings or George Plonquitte. This style of horn arrangement is an integral part of zouk. though in the hands of Kassav it has been stylized and abbreviated. This Haitian pop was coined 'cadence-lyso', though it came before Antillean cadence and hadn't

[page 242]

depended significantly on calypso for inspiration and patterning. In fact, the calpsonian from Montserrat, Arrow. who was credited himself with the making of the modern calypso-soca-sound, has acknowledged the roles Haitian cadence-lypso and Martiniquan biguine played in the building of soca.

Also, Armstrong points out, the highly developed, idiosyncratic guitar styles of Haitian band, Coupe Cloue have been translated into cadence and zouk. However, soukous guitaring, largely because of a visdit to the Antilles by the Zairean band Orchestre Rico Jazz in the early seventies and the subsequent mixing of ex-colonized Franco-Africans in Paris, is ever-present, bubbling beneath the surface on much cadence and souk. Additionally, the lead singer of the Haitian guitar band, Coupe Cloue himself; has strongly influenced Sartana by way of his propensity to rap. Similar to the 'slack' calysonian, Coupe and Sartana's lyrics are often lewd or melodramatically romantic.

Jumbo Vanrenen is quick to emphasize the Latin stresses in zouk. The chant style of vocal delivery and characteristic tempo breaks have their parallels in Dominican Republic merengue, Puerto Rican salsa and the compas on the mainland. But Vanrenen hears, before all these specific elements, a Latin American/Caribbean swing in zouk, a fusing together of a variety of rhythms from that broad belt of Amerindian, west African and European-descended peoples. Zouk's core, its hidden blue note, he feels sure is Yoruban drum and vocal accenting. This age-old heartbeat is made anew in zouk's chant vocals, call-and- response refrains and gwo ka drum patterns.


Another perspective is offered by Dave Hucker. Hecites the 1987 soca hits, like Stalin's 'Burn Dem' as the most significant inroad zouk has yet made into the cross-Caribbean companion genre, soca. The crisp, staccato Linn drum programming, the rhythmic anchor of stat-of-the -art zouk, has a more palpable presence in this year's crop of soca than ever before. it provides a radical departure from soca's customary lush, percussive devices.

[...]

Rene Williams, an Ivorian and an authority on eighties Franco-

[page 243]

African/Antillean music, points to zouk's more specific antecedents. 'The Dominican band Exile One strongly influenced the Antillean music, the early cadence, in the mid-seventies, through the strongest single influence was the Haitian cadence-lypso, which dominated the airwaves and dance floors at the time.

Exile One fused all sorts of style inventively, if rather clumsily. They picked up on funk, mixed it with island rhythms in a way that set a precedent Kassav later exploited. The conditions were there for a new indigenous music to develop. The process Exile One started was continued by the Guadeloupian band the Vikings.

The Vikings included Exile One singer Gordon Henderson and the multi-instrumentalist and Kassav founder Pieere Eduard Decimus. A succession of ground-breaking records in the mid-seventies put cadence on course. And, with their original balance of funk, Haitian and reinterpreted colonial styles such as biguine (adapted from the slow French beguine) and quadrilles, plus a dash of Neo-African, Rico Jazz input, the zouk potpourri was in its early mixing stages.

Rene Williams is also quick to emphasize the importance of Paris in the growth of zouk. It was where Kassav, after a meeting between the ex-Viking P.E. Decimus and Guadeloupian rock guitarist Jacob Desvarieux, was born.

[...]


More and more bridges between styles are being built in the music mecca Paris....San Fan Thomas's "African Typic Collection" was a massive hit in the Antilles in 1985, as it was, of course, all over Africa. Clearly since then zouk musicians have experimented more with makossa ideas-most noticeably the forceful bass lines and rhythm guitar picking.

THE ROOTS OF ZOUK

It is clear, then, that zouk is a Caribbean melange filtered through Parisian culture. But its roots lie deep beneath this hi-tech mirage: they are from the same source, west African polyrhythms and harmony, as are salsa, calypso, reggae and blues. But in zouk's case the African retentions are twice removed- first to the Caribbean, then to Paris. And zouk's basket of Caribbean influences show a fascinating marriage of colonially imported styles, like European beguines,

[page 244]

quadrille and mazurkas and African drum-ensemble practices.

Of the African styles which survived the diaspora and lived on in Guadeloupe and Martinique to resurface in zouk, one, the Saint Jean rhythm, a fast samba-ish carnival beat from Guadeloupe, has its origins in Bantu religious ceremonies. Guadeloupe, due to the historic neglect of the French, has been able to hold on to African percussive skills and religion-focused music more easily than Martinique, which has been historically, more favored by the French, as the Parisian bourgeoisie's Caribbean playground. The Saint Jean rhythm was popularized by Kassav when using the pseudonym Soukou Ko Ou on their monster 1984 disc "Vacances". The exhilarating, circular dance beat is ingeniously modernized by P. E. Decimus and the band; it even includes Shadows-sounding guitar.

More important African retention in zouk are, however, the tambour drum triumvirate-the two gwo ka and the one ti bwa drums. Here is the African strand in Antillean Creole life standing proudest and loudest: ka drums are the most African of all things Antillean.

Tambour music, called waka waka, has been recorded only since the mid-seventies, when the cadence of the Vikings triggered the unearthing of indigenous styles previously heard only at carnivals and festival time, when across Guadeloupe's hills, from village to village, the messages and anecdotes-a direct line from early days- of the ka drums would ring out. Since the mid-seventies, however, record stores stock tambour music and the records are played on some of the islands' fifteen radio stations.

[...]

Gwo ka was brought in by P.E. Decimus to the Vikings and from then on was the rhythmic centre of cadence and its cosmopolitan child zouk. Top zouk singers Sartana and Pier Rosier never perform or record without the requisite ka section and the hottest new wave zouk of '87, for example Sevais Liso and Ramon Pyrme's Zouk Time, display a new, more minimal use of ka within an uncluttered synthesizer-sculpted framework. But it was P.E. Decimus who first took the ka unit to Paris and Kassav who first set such a pure African retention alongside elements which could not be further removed from African tribal origins.

The first Kassav LP Love and La Dance (a play on words which also goes some way towards indicating the origins of the term cadence) was a veiled

[page 245)

tribute to the Antillean people's African history. This LP made Decimus and Desvarieux, who had met in Paris, musicians and arrangers for African musicians to hunt out once there. It also set into motion an Antillean pride: a recognition of their African roots, which had almost been squashed by European domination. To emphasize the significance of ka, Kassav even dedicated the title tract to the uncontested master, and one-time sole practitioner of gwo ka, the late Velo.

There is much more in zouk, however, besides African drumming patterns. Inter-island communication enabled the merengue and compas beats, as well as the aforementioned Haitian rhythms, to b soaked up by Antilleans. Also the way the Martiniquans adapted the slow, decorative and rather stodgy beguine into a vibrant mid-tempo dance, was highly significant first for cadence, then for zouk. For it was the jumpy, tight tensions of beguine's bass lines which gave the pop styles their peculiar rhythmic anchor. Strait-laced European dances, such as the quadrille and the bolero, can be detected in zouk (Kassav's song 'Bolero', like the aforementioned "Vacances', uses traditional moods and structures as a springboard for a fresh, radical, rereading)."...

-end of excerpt-

****
PANCOCCOJAMS EDITOR'S UPDATE Feb. 12, 2020

Hat tip to commenter Esi we uibo for sending in a correction for the quoted book's use of the term "Haitian cadence-lypso" in the sentence "Arrow, who was credited himself with the making of the modern calypso-soca-sound, has acknowledged the roles Haitian cadence-lypso and Martiniquan biguine played in the building of soca" and elsewhere in this book.r

I can't change that information in that excerpt since this is a quote from a book. But I can add this this information confirming that correction:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadence-lypso:
"Cadence-lypso is a fusion of cadence rampa from Haiti and calypso from Trinidad & Tobago that has also spread to other English speaking countries of the Caribbean. Originated in the 1970s by the Dominican band Exile One on the island of Guadeloupe, it spread and became popular in the dance clubs around the Creole world and Africa as well as the French Antilles.[1][2][3]

Gordon Henderson is the leader and founder of Exile One, and the one who coined the term cadence-lypso.[2][4]".

Thanks again, Esi we uibo!

****
This concludes Part I of this two part series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

YouTube Examples Of Gabonese Singer/Composer Oliver N'Goma's Song "Bane" (with English lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is part of an ongoing series on Afro-Zouk music.

This post presents an English translation of the Afro-Zouk song "Bane" that was composed and originally performed by Gabonese (Central Africa) artist Oliver N'Goma (also given as Oliver Ngoma; Oliver N'goma).

This posts also showcases sound files and videos of "Bane".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/07/gabonese-singer-oliver-ngoma-adia-part.html for Part I of a two part pancocojams series about Oliver N'Goma's song "Adia". That post provides information about Oliver N'Goma, showcase a sound file of "Adia", and provides three versions of that song's lyrics (in its original language from Gabon+ French; in English, and in French).

****
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Oliver N'Goma for his musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

****
ARTICLE EXCERPT ABOUT OLIVER N'GOMA'S SONG "BANE"
From https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://www.musicinafrica.net/fr/magazine/3-bijoux-afro-zouk-qui-ont-fait-danser-lafrique&prev=search [translated from French to English]
"3 Afro-Zouk jewels that made Africa dance
By Jean de Dieu BO ...
28 Jul 2017 - 13:48
Musical genre where the languorous rhythms of the Caribbean zouk mix with African styles to give a very catchy, Afro-Zouk music was dancing all over Africa in the 90s. Music in Africa presents here three tubes of this kind very popular on the continent.

"Bane"
"Bane" is a title of Oliver N'goman singer and guitarist Gabon born in Mayumba in 1959, gone 7 years ago. This talented artist has left a rich legacy to African music. Its title "Bane" which has traveled Africa has even been successful in France and many other lands.

Released in 1990 under the artistic direction of Manu Lima, "Bane" does not take right away. But its constant broadcast on the radio Africa No. 1 and RFI will participate in the popularization. It therefore becomes common to play in discotheques in France, as in Africa. This is a real hit of 1990, which we do not get tired of following in 2017."....

****
ENGLISH LYRICS FOR "BANE"
(Oliver N'Goma)

Here I lie in a lost and lonely part of town
Held in time
In a world of tears I slowly drown
Goin' home
I just can't make it all alone
I really should be holding you
Holding you, loving you loving you
Tragedy
When the feeling's gone and you can't go on
It's tragedy
When the morning cries and you don't know why
It's hard to bear
With no-one to love you you're goin' nowhere

Tragedy
When you lose control and you got no soul
It's tragedy
When the morning cries and you don't know why
It's hard to bear
With no-one beside you you're goin' nowhere
Night and day there's a burning down inside of me
Burning love
With a yearning that won't let me be
Down I go and I just can't take it all alone
I really should be holding you
Holding you, Loving you loving you
Tragedy
When the feeling's gone and you can't go on
It's tragedy
When the morning cries and you don't know why
It's hard to bear
With no-one to love you you're goin' nowhere
Tragedy
When you lose control and you got no soul
It's tragedy
When the morning cries and you don't know why
It's hard to bear
With no-one beside you you're goin' nowhere
Tragedy
When the feeling's gone and you can't go on
It's tragedy
When the morning cries and you don't know why
It's hard to bear
With no-one to love you you're goin' nowhere
Tragedy
When you lose control and you got no soul
It's tragedy
When the morning cries and you don't know why
It's hard to bear
With no-one beside you you're goin' nowhere

Lyrics posted by Fenomeno 22, 2018 in the discussion thread for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2msRi40IEG0 (Example #1 embedded below)
-snip-
According to Delcia Mwind, a commenter writing in that same discussion thread in 2017, the language that Oliver N'Goma used in this song is "Ilumbu (a language of southern Gabon)"

Arsene Tchiama, another commenter quoted in http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/07/gabonese-singer-oliver-ngoma-adia-part.html, posted the same information:
..."He sang in Lumbu. a language of southern Gabon. more precisely one of the 2 languages spoken in Mayumba. Mayumba who was his hometown."

In the same discussion thread another commenter, Marie Manomba wrote "it's gabonese and it's my dialect which is ypunu...if you reacts to the answer, i translate for you. best wishes!!!"
-snip-
I don't know if "ypunu" is a dialect of or another name for "Lumbu". I didn't see any translation from this commenter in that discussion thread as of the date of this blog post.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Oliver N'Goma - BANE



TheVideoSelection, Published on Jun 3, 2013

Oliver N'Goma, ou Noli pour les intimes, est né à Mayumba, dans le sud-ouest du Gabon, le 23 mars 1959. Il est décédé d'une insuffisance rénale dans la nuit du 6 au 7 juin 2010 à l'Hôpital d'instruction des armées Omar Bongo Ondimba de Libreville.

En 1990, Olivier sort l'album BANE provoquant d'abord un petit succès d'estime.
Mais grâce notamment à la radio Africa N°1, à Gilles Obringer sur R.F.I, puis aux discothèques en France, comme en Afrique, BANE, la chanson, devient un tube colossal, cette année là, dans toute l'Afrique, en France, jusqu'aux Antilles.
BANE, l'album, devient l'une des plus grosses ventes de l'histoire de la musique africaine ! Un deuxième titre, ICOLE, extrait de l'album, connaîtra aussi un énorme succès.
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
Oliver N'Goma, or Noli for intimates, was born in Mayumba, southwest of Gabon, on March 23, 1959. He died of kidney failure in the night of June 6 to 7, 2010 at the Hospital of Omar Bongo Ondimba's armies of Libreville.

In 1990, Olivier released the album BANE causing first a small success of esteem.
But thanks to Radio Africa No. 1, Gilles Obringer on RFI, then to discotheques in France, as in Africa, BANE, the song, becomes a colossal hit, that year, all over Africa, in France, to the West Indies.
BANE, the album, becomes one of the biggest sales in the history of African music! A second title, ICOLE, from the album, will also be a huge
success.

****
Example #2: Africa Dance - Hommage a Olive Ngoma - Bane.mpg



Reggae Olisa, Published on Nov 20, 2011

****
Example #3:Oliver N'GOMA - Bane concert de la francophonie en 1991



Tonton Nightwolf, Published on Nov 11, 2017
Lors du concert de la Francophonie qui avait réuni plusieurs artistes à Paris en 1991. Le boss avait improvisé une petite partie de BANE (les enfants) en francais. Meme si c'etait la francophonie nos langues avant tout. De plus qu'il allait falloir réécrire la chanson.
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
During the concert of La Francophonie which brought together several artists in Paris in 1991. The boss had improvised a small part of BANE (children) in French. Even if it was the Francophonie our languages first and foremost. Moreover, it was going to be necessary to rewrite the song.
-snip-
The English translation of this comment isn't clear to me. Is Uncle Nightwolf, the video uploader, indicating that "Bane" means children? If so, that meaning doesn't appear to fit the English translation for that song which is given above. Also, what does the sentence "it was going to be necessary to rewrite the song" mean?

****
Example #4: Lebel vs Oumar - Bane (Les battles | The Voice Afrique francophone 2016)



The Voice Afrique, Published on Dec 10, 2016

| The Voice Afrique francophone 2016
-snip-
Here's an English translation of the beginning sentence for https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voice_Afrique_francophone: "The Francophone Africa Voice is the French-speaking African version of the tele-hook show The Voice."

According to the comments [that I translated from French to English using Google translate], Lebel won this particular battle, however lots of commenters wrote that both of the singers performed very well, and a number of singers preferred Oumar over Lebel. Here's one of these comments:
Junior Claude Bola, 2017
"vraiment c'était parfait les gars!C'est chaque jour que j'écoute ce battle et à chaque fois je suis emporté au nirvana. En effet,les deux ont été au top de leurs prestations et n'ont pas demérité.Cependant,je trouve qu'il aurait été techniquement acceptable que Oumar l'emporte compte tenu de sa touche naturelle et africaine contre celle de Lebel qui frise une touche trop européenne et par conséquent pas originale. Quand il chante,on voit déjà des références telles que Singula,Matt Pokora ect. Lebel a donc fait du "déjà entendu".Par contre,comme je l'ai dit plus haut,Oumar a été assez originale et a su donné du charme traditionnel à la chanson quand bien même la part apportée par Lebel n'a pas été mauvaise du tout. voilà! Oumar aurait dû l'emporter selon moi.
Toutefois,bravo auc deux jeunes gens!C'était super cool."
-snip-
it was perfect guys! It's every day that I listen to this battle and every time I'm carried away to nirvana. Indeed, the two were at the top of their performances and have no death.However, I think it would have been technically acceptable that Oumar prevails given its natural and African touch against that of Lebel which borders on a touch too European and therefore not original. When he sings, we already see references such as Singula, Matt Pokora ect. Lebel has therefore made the "already heard" .By cons, as I said above, Oumar was quite original and gave traditional charm to the song even though the share brought by Lebel was not bad at all. here! Oumar should have won in my opinion.
However, congratulations to two young people! It was so cool.

-snip-
I'm not sure which singer in the video is Lebel and which is Oumar. Please share this information, if you know it. Thanks!

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Gabonese Afro-Zouk Singer Oliver N'Goma - "Adia" (Part I - information & lyrics in its original languages, in English, & in French)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series that showcases the song "Adia" performed by Gabonese (Central Africa) Afro-Zouk singer and composer Oliver N'Goma (also given as Oliver Ngoma; Oliver N'goma).

Part I of this series presents information about Gabon and information about Oliver N'Goma. Part I of this series also showcase a sound file of the song as well as three versions of this song's lyrics (in its original language from Gabon+ French; in English, and in French).

UPDATE: July 11, 2018- Part I also includes an excerpt about Afro-Zouk music.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-global-reach-of-gabonese-afro-zouk.html for Part II of this series. Part I showcases a sound file of Oliver N'Goma performing "Adia". Part I also presents selected comments from that sound file's discussion thread, with a particular focus on comments from a number of African nations as well as comments from some other nations worldwide.

****
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Oliver N'Goma for his musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the producer of this video and thanks to the publisher of this song file on YouTube.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT OLIVER N'GOMA
Excerpt #1
From https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_N%2527Goma&prev=search [translated from French to English]
"Oliver N'goma , says Noli , born on March 23 , 1959 at Mayumba and died on June 7 , 2010 , is a Gabonese singer and guitarist of Afro - zouk

Biography
Oliver Ngoma was born in Mayumba, southwest Gabon, on March 23, 1959. His father, a harmonium player, introduced him to music at the age of eight.

In 1971 , his family left Mayumba for Libreville . Oliver studied accounting at the Technical High School in Libreville, where he became a guitarist for Capo Sound, the high school orchestra. Accounting studies do not excite him, Oliver prefers to devote himself to his two passions that are cinema and music. Thus, he will begin by collecting musical instruments, and tinkering a small home studio . In parallel, he is engaged as a cameraman by the second Gabonese television channel (RTG 2).

In 1988 , during an internship in Paris , he met Manu Lima , a director / producer of the African scene in Paris, ex-leader of Cabo Verde Show . Manu takes care of the artistic direction of Oliver's first album, BANE .

In 1990 , the album BANE where is included Bané , goes out without provoking a first outcry. But its constant broadcast on Africa No. 1 and RFI radios, is resumed in force in discotheques in France, as in Africa. Bané became a hit in 1990 throughout Africa and France. From the album BANE will be extracted tracks like Icole and Lusa , which will also know the success.

In 1995 , he released the album ADIA again in collaboration with Manu Lima. The album will be as successful as the first one.

In 2001 , he released his third album SEVA made without Manu Lima, which will have a mixed success.

In 2006 , he released his fourth album SAGA . On this occasion, he returns to the producer Manu Lima.

He died June 7, 2010 of a renal failure in the hospital of Libreville, Gabon 1 ."...

****
Excerpt #2
From a comment this embedded video's discussion thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ8LUQgbKz0 ; posted by Augusto pinheiro, júnior, 2017
"This is Olivier N'Goma. A product of Capeverdean Music and Gabonese Music.

Oliver’s accountancy lessons did not interest him much. He preferred to concentrate on his two great passions: films and music. Beginning to collect musical instruments, he put together a little home studio and entertained secret hopes of becoming a professional musician. However, when an opportunity arose, it was in the shape of his other love, the camera. He went to work for Gabon’s second TV channel as a cameraman, travelling to Paris for training in 1988. During the long winter he spent in the French capital, Oliver worked on his home demos.

Then he met Manu Lima, from Cabo Verde, in the north atlantic ocean, one of the best producers on the African show scene in Paris. Former leader of Cabo Verde Show, Manu had relaunched the careers of many great African artists, from Monique Séka to Pépé Kallé. He was interested by the tunes that Oliver brought him and agreed to work on his first record as artistic director. When the album - which included the song BANE - was finally released, it met with only modest critical acclaim at first.
BANE is one of the greatest hits of modern African music.
On the track, Manu Lima achieved a perfect balance between Africa’s rich melodic heritage and a Zouk-style beat that proved irresistible on the dance floor.

Oliver refused to get carried away by this massive success, realising he would have to live up to his new status. As he calmly got back to work, he knew that his second album would come under close scrutiny on its release.
He continued his partnership with Manu Lima, with the same capeverdean ancestors of Cesária Évora, from Mindelo and the two started recording sessions together in the late summer of 1995. The album, ADIA, appeared in mid-December of the same year. Combining sophistication with a proliferation of beats, ADIA proved that Oliver was no one-hit wonder. In 2001, he made SÉVA without Manu Lima, but then got back together with the French-Cape Verdean producer whose skill had been so crucial in shaping his first 2 albums. The result, SAGA, was released in May 2006.

Manu’s trademark skills successfully pervade SAGA, which is primarily a dance record of African-style zouk. Apart from title track SAGA, the record includes several other excellent songs, such as NOLI, a kind of rumba-zouk with featured vocalists and Congolese guitars."
-snip-
"Noli" is Oliver Ngoma's nickname. It was created by combining the "N" in his last name "Ngoma" with the letters "oli" from his name "Oliver".

****
INFORMATION ABOUT AFRO-ZOUK
UPDATE: July 12, 2018: Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/07/excerpts-about-zouk-music-from-1990.html for Part I of a pancocojams post entitled Excerpts About The Roots Of Zouk Music From The 1990 Book "African Rock: The Pop Music Of A Continent", Part I. The link for Part II is found in that post. Part II provides additional information about Kassav (band) as well as information about Zouk in Africa (up to 1987).

****
There's very little information online that describes "Afro-Zouk", a genre (or sub-genre) of music which is much less often called "African Zouk".

Here's the complete Wikipedia article about Afro-Zouk which is translated to English from French. A small portion of this article served as the source for the English language translated Wikipedia article on this music genre:
From https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-zouk&prev=search
"The Afro-zouk
Styles | Origin: 1980
Zouk is a West Indian musical movement initiated in the late 1970s by the Kassav 'group, under the leadership of Pierre-Édouard Decimus and Jacob Desvarieux. It is immediately adopted in Guyana, in the Indian Ocean and in Africa where it is merged with national styles to give afro-zouk.

The text above is under a free license (CC-BY-SA)

Until the early 1980s, the zouk concrete or "chiré", an ephemeral style dancing alone, was fashionable. Very rhythmic and sung in Creole, zouk concrete is a fusion of gwo ka, biguine, calypso, cadence, compass and African rhythms. With the appearance of the band Kassav ', this musical genre disappears in the 1980s.

Having lived for a long time in Senegal where he frequented the capverdian milieu amateur of coladeira (popular musical genre in the archipelago), Jacob Desvarieux had the idea, with the members of the group, of creating a fusion between West Indian music (cadence, biguine, "Mas a sinjan" (mask of Saint-Jean), rhythm of the carnival), the Haitian compass and African sounds (coladeira, Cameroonian makossa brought by Mbida Douglas, one of the musicians of the group), with whirling guitar riffs Congolese soukouss and rock, salsa brass lines and funk keyboard notes.

The release in 1980 of Kassav's first album, "Love and Ka Dance", thus marks the birth of this new musical genre that immediately seduces the Afro-Caribbean community. But it is their title "Zouk The medikaman nou ni se se" which will largely contribute to the sustainability of the zouk. This new musical Caribbean is then adopted in Guyana.

Several derivatives will be derived from zouk: zouk love (very throbbing, slow genre), R & B-zouk, soul-zouk, rap-zouk, reggae-zouk, ragga-zouk.

In addition to the initiating group Kassav 'and its members who release solo albums (Jocelyne Béroard, the brothers Pierre-Édouard Georges Decimus, Jacob Desvarieux, Jean-Claude Naimrod, Patrick Saint-Eloi), several other formations and artists will report on the international scene in the 1980s / 1990s: Zouk Machine, Dédé Saint-Prix, the late Edith Lefel, Experience 7, Francky Vincent, Joëlle Ursull, Ralph Tamar, Ronald Rubinel, Tanya St-Val, Souskay ...

In Africa and the Indian Ocean it is merged with national styles, giving Kizomba, afro zouk, sega zouk, maloya zouk, comorian zouk, makossa / zouk, zouglou / zook, soukouss / zouk (soukou- zouk), coladeira / zouk (cola-zouk) ...

Among the following: Mpongo Love, Gadji Celi, Awa Maiga, Monique Seka, Oliver NGoma, Mathey, Africa Maestro, Galvao, Vivick, Yvon Paris, Stacy, Roger, Philippe Monteiro, Mobass, Elaisa, Roger Gobea, Pierrette Adams, Kaysha, Patience Dabany, Chantal Taïba, Kino, Jorge Neto, Chamsia Sagaf, Naima, Jerry, Don Kikas and many others ...

by Nago Seck July 14, 2008 - © Afrisson"
-snip-
Based on comments about Oliver N'goma's music, it occurs to me that one feature of Afro-Zouk vocal music might be singing in traditional African languages and/or African Creole languages. Afro-Zouk singers might also combine these languages with French.

Also note this excerpt from a comment this embedded video's discussion thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ8LUQgbKz0 ; posted by Augusto pinheiro, júnior, 2017. This excerpt refers to Gabonese singer/composer Oliver N'goma's first album having "a Zouk-style beat":
"Then he [Gabonese singer Oliver N'goma] met Manu Lima, from Cabo Verde, in the north atlantic ocean, one of the best producers on the African show scene in Paris. Former leader of Cabo Verde Show, Manu had relaunched the careers of many great African artists, from Monique Séka to Pépé Kallé. He was interested by the tunes that Oliver brought him and agreed to work on his first record as artistic director. When the album - which included the song BANE - was finally released, it met with only modest critical acclaim at first.

BANE is one of the greatest hits of modern African music.

On the track, Manu Lima achieved a perfect balance between Africa’s rich melodic heritage and a Zouk-style beat that proved irresistible on the dance floor."...

****
SHOWCASE EXAMPLE: Oliver Ngoma...ADIA



jennithony, Published on Apr 19, 2008

this is a nice african song,from Gabon, I love this song

****
LYRICS FOR OLIVER NGOMA'S SONG "ADIA"
Each of these transcriptions are from the discussion thread for the sound file that is embedded in this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ8LUQgbKz0

Lyrics #1:
[posted by LOVESTAR HIGH, 2015]

Chérie
Vumissio wa murim'agu
Ni skia mune
Oh...Adia
murim'ami n'agu u li
Oh ...n'agu buandi
Ah
Nge ni va tsole

Ndzile ine
Ndzile i gulu
a ngeyu
mognu'ami

Bébé
tu es à moi
Je suis à toi
pour la vie

Florence
Ngambo bi biva u si
Murime ndzungu
Oh chéri
Ngambo yetu kue tu li
mo murim'agu
Ah....
Murime ufitse
Suze otima
we ma abaraga
mognu'ami
a ngeyu

nge buandi
U li mo
Murim'ami
Bébé

Ndzile ine
Ndzile i gulu
a ngeyu
mognu'ami

Bébé
tu es à moi
Je suis à toi
pour la vie
Ah... Yo yo yo
Bi uva lile Adia
Duniru duami
Ni va lile Bébé

Duniru a duagu
guagu veke Adia

Chérie Ah...Eh..
Ngulu wandi bébé

Florence...
u ya be lile mama

Chérie...
Uya du gabile

Florence
uya regembe wandi

Adia
Ngukuobu
Bébé
Ngeyu a minu
Bébé
Ka lembu
Biyogu
Biva bandissi
Bébé... Biyogu Musson-
gu... bébé ...
-snip-
Here's a comment exchange about the language that Oliver N'goma used for the song "Adia":
Jean Marie Bafouta, 2017
"Arsene Tchiama
Hello I would like to know Oliver Ngoma sang in what language of Gabon?

**
REPLY
Arsene Tchiama, 2017
"Jean marie Bafouta
bjr. Il chantait en Lumbu. une langue du Sud du Gabon. plus précisément une des 2 langues parlées à Mayumba. Mayumba qui était sa ville natale."
-snip-
bjr. He sang in Lumbu. a language of southern Gabon. more precisely one of the 2 languages spoken in Mayumba. Mayumba who was his hometown. "

In the same discussion thread another commenter, Marie Manomba wrote "it's gabonese and it's my dialect which is ypunu...if you reacts to the answer, i translate for you. best wishes!!!"
-snip-
I don't know if "ypunu" is a dialect of or another name for "Lumbu". I didn't see any translation from this commenter in that discussion thread as of the date of this blog post.

Also, note that Delcia Mwind, a commenter in the discussion thread for Oliver N'Goma's song "Bane" also indicated that "Lumbu" was the language that N'Goma used for that song.
-snip-
Oliver N'Goma also included the French words "Chérie" and "Bébé" in the song "Adia".

****
Lyric #2 [English translation]

[posted by Arsene Tchiama, 2017]

Adia ( my love )

Calm your heart
I am not anymore in it
Oh... my love.
My heart is yours.
Oh... only to you

Ah...
It's you that i love
That road is a old road
It is you my life baby
You are mine
I am yours for life

Florence
Say me what you are doing
Pain in the heart
Oh darling
Say me how many are we
In your heart

Ah...

What a pain in the heart

Suzy Otima
It's to you i think
My life is you
Only you is in my heart
Baby
That road
It's a old road
It is you my life
Baby
You are mine
I am yours for life

Ah...yo yo yo
What are you crying

This body is yours
Only yours

Florence
Don't cry mama

Darling
Don't tremble
My love listen me
Baby
You are mine
Baby
Let the lamentations
Those make you lose weight
Baby... lamentations are source of diseases...Baby.
-snip-
For clarification purposes, according to several commenters, the word "Adia" means "my love". One commenter interpreted that word as "darling".

****
Lyric #3: in French, posted by Arsene Tchiama, 2017]

chérie
Calme ton coeur
Je ne suis plus dedans
Oh...Amour
C'est avec toi que mon coeur est
Oh...avec toi seulement

Ah...

C'est toi que j'aime

Cette route là
C'est une vieille route
C'est toi mon amour
Bébé
Tu es à moi
Je suis à toi
Pour la vie

Florence
Dis moi ce qui te fait mal au coeur
Oh chéri
Dis moi combien sommes nous
Dans ton coeur

Ah...

j'ai le coeur noir

Suzy Otima
ne suis pas ca
Ma vie
C'est toi
Toi seule
Est dans mon coeur
Bébé

Cette voie
Est une vieille route
C'est toi
Ma vie

Bébé
Tu es à moi
Je suis à toi
Pour la vie
Ah...yo yo yo
Que pleures tu Amour
C'est mon corps que je pleure Bébé

Ce corps est tien
A toi uniquement

Chérie ah...eh...
Écoutes moi bébé

Florence. ...
Ne pleures plus maman

Chérie. ...
Ne le partage pas

Florence. ...
Ne paniques pas

Amour
Écoutes
Bébé
Toi c'est moi
Bébé
Donc arrêtes ces lamentations
Qui te font maigrir
Bébé. ..les lamentations sont source de maladies
Bébé ...

****
This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.