As the last two weeks of programming here at Afropop have demonstrated, all boleros have an interwoven history with Africa. Still, by the early 20th century when Maurice Ravel was composing his famous “Boléro,” that link was pretty well obscured. Leave it to Angelique Kidjo to team up with Philippe Cohen Solal and redraw that line in bold black ink.
Hear “Afro Bolero” right here:
Ravel's insistent snare drum part got lodged in Solal's head, and it sounds like, from there, the collaboration took off.
“When Mo Laudi, a Paris-based South African DJ, joined me in the studio, he delivered a great rap full of positive energy and geopolitical rhymes, from Patrice Lumumba to Biko and from Congo to São Paolo,” Solal said in a press release. “Then Queen Angelique Kidjo, like a divine diva, fervently sang her hymn 'Lonlon' in the Mina language, where the Afro literally meets the bolero.”
Rounding out the lineup on this track, we have Congolese guitarist Flamme Kapaya, the Parisian DJ-beatmaker Lazy Flow, and Cameroonian bass player Hilaire Penda, who passed away before the track was released Friday.
But even then the collaboration wouldn't be stopped. Like Ravel's “Boléro,” it kept marching and evolving and it turned into a five-song EP featuring some of our favorite producers and styles.
“The remixes take us straight to London with Poté, to Berlin with Daniel Haaksman and to Johannesburg with the super-group Batuk formed by the godfather of the African electro, Spoek Mathambo, the kwaito maestro Aero Manyelo, and the Mozambican singer Manteiga.”
Afro Bolero is available for streaming now with physical formats scheduled to be available this fall.
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