Club Coco
Coco Maria
In her compilation Club Coco, Coco Maria brings together various artists from Africa, Europe, America and Asia. For the first time, the DJ sings on the track “Me Veo Volar.” She explains her approach: “I was looking for current bands with organic music, which are very clearly influenced by vintage, old sounds, but in new projects. And there are plenty of them!” Before adding: “When you open the record, there is a map of the world to see where all these bands come from: Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, France, Reunion, the Netherlands, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ghana…”
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Noir Brésil
Yndi
On her first album, released under her real name, the singer transports us to a world filled with Afro-Brazilian rhythms, tropical electronic music and acoustic guitar. She explains: “My work evokes slavery, loss of faith and the famous saudade.” This term refers to a specific kind of nostalgia. Yndi also reclaims the bossa nova style, which she defines as follows: “Bossa nova is linked to an imaginary and an era, the 60s and 70s. Its strength lies in the duality between joyful and bewitching melodies that illustrate deeply sad lyrics. It speaks of broken hearts, loneliness and the condition of the working classes. But like opium, bossa nova anaesthetizes all pain.”
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Arab Liquor
Sabrina Bellaouel
The singer unveils her new EP, particularly sensual and deeply multicultural, as she says: “It is obvious that the context in which I find myself directly influences my way of producing and it is true that the fact of having recently divided my time between Paris, Rotterdam, London and the Maghreb has given a certain color to my new compositions.” She adds: “The sensuality is something I find beautiful and I have models of women around me who are sensual and have never been vulgar. And for me it is really that, to be a woman. At least that’s what I recognize myself in. I think that comes through in the music.”
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Dibiye
Francis Bebey
The Cameroonian pioneer might have left us 20 years ago, but now the PeeWee! label is reviving one of his masterpieces. In 1997, in Paris, the artist recorded the album Dibiye, today considered one of his best. It is a record that marked its time, influenced a generation of world musicians, rocked the lovers of African music, connected with samplers of all stripes and gave a “specialized” feel to the golden days of radio. “Francis recognized himself in this record. He was proud and happy. He seemed to think that it was an important piece, one that was, until then, missing in, his work, of all his work,” underlines Vincent Mahey, the sound engineer who accompanied Francis throughout the recording.
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