Zap Mama

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zap Mama is a Belgian musical group headed by Marie Daulne. They have been featured in the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack and also the Wired CD. They sing in French and English with deep African roots.

[edit] History

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since November 2006.

The essence of Zap Mama goes back to Marie Daulne's birth. It was a very difficult time in Zaire, a time of revolution. The Simba rebels sought to kill interracial couples. Her mother was a Bantu. Her father was Belgian. Threatened, her mother took her into the jungle to stay with the Pygmies for eight months. They were safe because the rebels were scared of the strong magic of the forest peoples. Eventually they were taken to Belgium where Marie grew up. It is this dual cultural heritage which lies at the root of the music and mission of Zap Mama.

By l989 she had spent several years singing in jazz cafes and bars in Brussels when she decided to create a group to musically merge the cultures of her life, both which she cherishes. Marie remembered Sylvie Nawasando from singing on the train to school and later at the university. Their brothers had played music together. Sabine is a mixture of peoples like Marie, Zairean and Belgian. With three, Marie held an audition and discovered Marie Alfonso. Finally they found Sally Nyolo and performed their first concert in 1989.All the women contributed in different ways, spiritual, emotional, information, stories. Marie does most of the researching for the songs.

In the first release, the group focused on the European and Zairean connections, striving to combine the vocalizations of the Pygmies with vocal styles from the European choral traditions. It was, in a sense, autobiographical, with Marie researching where she came from and the songs of her mother's people. The first recording on Crammed Disc,was an unbelievable international hit, not on the commercial charts certainly, but by the eager response of those who listen to world music. The ability to tour and learn of other cultures increased Marie's desire to widen her horizons and incorporate even more of the world into her music. Sabsylma was the result of her growing understanding of other cultures. It's full of Indian, Moroccan and Australian influences. Not only are musical influences expanded but the purpose of healing is enhanced such as uncovering the problem of child abuse in the song "India." It was an effort to bring to light a universal problem for that is how the healing begins.

In 1996 Marie once again heard the siren song to create, so she took another African trip. She departed for Mali where she lived with the Touaregs and learned more of her outward world as well as inward. From a man in Mali, she learned that human beings have seven senses, rather than just the five of western description. The sixth sense is emotions and the seventh sense, which not everybody has, is the power to heal others. It is the power to heal with music, calm with color, to soothe the sick with harmony. She returned home to Brussels fired with the knowledge of her capacity to heal with music. Upon her return from Mali, Marie got a call from a good friend, Michael Franti of the hip-hop soul group Spearhead. Michael believes that America needs the connection to the African spirit which Marie embodies.

The result is Seven, Zap Mama's third album. The title refers to the seven senses of a human being. Marie says, "I made music on on Seven the same way as on the other albums. I only used acoustic instruments... I'm looking for instruments that have vocal sounds, forgotten instruments like the guimbri... The first and second albums were about the voice, what came before. This album is about introducing those sounds into modern, Western life. As her horizons continue to expand no one can suspect what the creative outpouring of this remarkable musician will be. We do know it will be extraordinary! Source: http://www.singers.com/Zapmama.html