Made in Belgium: Zap Mama

Belgium has had some African kolonies , Zaire or Congo being one of them. Marie Daulne's Belgian father got killed in the riots of the independence fights after which her Bantu mother fled to nearby pygmy villages. After a couple of months they were airlifted and evacuated to Brussels where Marie grew up. She studied Arab, Asian and African polyphony and returned to Congo as a young adult to train herself in pygmy vocal techniques.

In 1990 she founded with 5 other young girls "Zap Mama" and their first CD was so refreshing, exotic that it became the best selling world music CD in 1993 in the western world. Zap Mama bridges music & cultural influences from Europe and Africa with a strong focus on the voice as a musical instrument. Marie Daulne travels with her ever changing band all over the world and can hardly be called a Belgian anymore as she's a true global citizen.

I find it very refreshing to hear bands like Zap Mama that are so different to much of the commercial music we get to listen to every day. It's so sunny & happy, don't you think?



Sweet Melodie




Brrrlak



Iko Iko (soundtrack Mission Impossible II)



Bandy Bandy

Comments

Jen said…
I love Zap Mama and had no idea about the history - fascinating!
Blog said…
SO cool. Love this -- thanks Goofball!
Snooker said…
Wow... I'm just sitting here at work jamming to "Bandy Bandy". Love it!
Brian Miller said…
very cool. did not know their history either but knew of them. great songs.

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