Wednesday, August 29
Urban Afro-European Grammy Award Winning Pop
Zap Mama
LAXSON AUDITORIUM | 7:30 p.m.$25 Premium | $20 Adult | $18 Senior | $15 Student/Child
"The multicultural flavor of Zap Mama's music melds African percussion, American soul and European urbanity." — Time Magazine
Zap Mama performances combine five beautiful voices, colorful costumes, interesting choreography, and impromptu theatricality in an eclectic mixture of styles somewhere between soul, gospel, and Afro-Cuban rhythms. The audience enjoys a wondrous world journey, pausing to visit a Congolese souk, and then a few moments later, soaring on a flying carpet above the Taj Mahal — all performed with a substantial dose of "joie de vivre" and a disarming sense of humor.
A recent review described Zap Mama as "urban afro-european (afropean) Music from Brussels." When you first hear that, it sounds something of a contradiction, but since Zap Mama's lead singer Marie Daulne gathered a number of slightly eccentric friends around her in 1990, nobody finds it strange any more. And there are reasons for that.
During the 1990's, Zap Mama has toured Europe, Africa and the United States, and everywhere they have gone, the audience has fallen for the wonderfully disarming, melodious sounds and visual feast that is Zap Mama.
Both Sting and Peter Gabriel were deeply impressed when Zap Mama brought out a first, untitled CD in 1991. After that first CD, Talking Head David Byrne signed Zap Mama, and the record was released in a slightly modified version (with the hit single "Brrrlak") on Luaka Bop. During the following two years, the CD was released in more than twenty countries, and from Australia to Canada, there was talk of a revelation. The consequences were soon felt.
The BBC filmed a documentary about the group, and the United States willingly succumbed. When Billboard published the list of best-selling World CDs at the end of 1993, Zap Mama was right there at the top. That brilliant success was consolidated with consummate ease a year later with Sabsylma, a refreshing disc that sounds even more universal, more symbiotic, and immediately received a Grammy nomination. By now, Zap Mama's Marie Daulne was emerging as the genuine figurehead within the group.
In the 1990's Daulne moved to New York, a decision fostered by professional opportunities, such as her work on the soundtrack to the hit Tom Cruise film Mission Impossible II, and a personal desire to, in her words, "feel the atmosphere of people from around the world." Zap Mama continues to tour and entertain audiences around the world with their creative ethnocentric mix of vocals and visions.
If you enjoy this band, you might enjoy:
Pink Martini
Perla Batalla
Musafir
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Tiempo Libre
Angelique Kidjo
Youssou N'Dour