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French world-music band Lo’Jo’s seventh studio album is a sea voyage across time and space. Cosmophono opens with a brief invocation from singer Nadia Nid el Mourid, then a loping drumbeat and simplest of phrases on piano hoist the rhythmic mast of “Petit Courage”, so that lead singer and keyboardist Denis Péan can sail from the bordellos of Marseille to tropical bars.
Lo’Jo fuses language and sound into a savvy synthesis of cultural influences from Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Caribbean. Péan’s throaty voice recalls the rougher French chansonniers of the ’50s and ’60s. His lyrics, however, suggest the earlier influence of the legendary poet Arthur Rimbaud. Péan weaves rich, at times surrealistic images and the band creates soundscapes full of colour, emotion, light and shadows. The songs, all credited to Péan and Lo’Jo, draw on cabaret, circus, rock, and folk traditions. Listening to Lo’Jo is like being in Rimbaud’s drunken boat, riding the ocean swell after one more slug of absinthe.
Tony Montague
01. Petit courage
02. Je prends la nuit
03. Sur des carnets nus
04. Pays natal
05. Café de la Marine
06. Dresseur de hasards
07. Slam
08. Sur l'Océan
09. La nuit de temps
10. Yalaki
11. Rue de la Solitude
12. La liberté
Denis Péan: vocals, Indian harmonium, piano, sampler, little bells, basin, baskets.
Richard Bourreau: violin, imzad, kora, kamel n’goni.
Nadia Nid El Mourid: vocals, bamboo, bells.
Yamina Nid El Mourid: vocals, kamel n’goni, soprano saxophone, bells, triangle.
Kham Meslien: bass guitar, double bass, sanza.
Franck Vailllant: hand drums and cymbals.
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Since the Eighties, five men and two women from the northern French town of Angers have gelled together into a music community with an invented name, Lo’Jo. This group brings together sounds culled during their endless globe-trotting performances. Reggae, Arabic dance, French folk music and Paris trance all fuse to bring a deeply political message of multi-cultural tolerance and curiosity best enjoyed live.
"I've loved the sound of Lo'Jo from the first time I laid ears on them. They're funky and danceable, though ominous clouds always lurk on their horizon. Their music blends the circus and the city, North Africa and Europe, village and nightclub. This generous 26-song best-of compilation includes cuts from last year's Bazar Savant all the way back to 1993's Fils de Zamal. Even if you can't tell what they're singing, you can appreciate Denis Péan's dark growl, the unique vocal harmonies of sisters Yamina and Nadia Nid El Mourid, and the tight sound of Lo'Jo collective of musicians. Among the tracks are some of our favorites -- including "Senor Calice" and "Sin Acabar" -- along with some songs new to us, such as the reggae-tinged "Woman Intuition," which appeared on the 1994 Lo'Jo EP G7 of Destruction and Artisans of Peace. If you don't know Lo'Jo, this compilation will remedy that in short order. If you do, it's still a worthwhile addition to your collection. Get it direct from France if you have to, but by all means support this wonderful collective of musicians and the conscious global music they're creating!"
01. Bernardo
02. Brian Gun
03. Mandeed Soul
04. A L'Ar Des Audacieux
05. Le Piano
06. Dobosz
07. Moon P
08. Senor Calice
09. Un Grand Voyage
10. Une Petite Chanson
11. C'Est La Vie
12. Sin Acabar
13. Magdalena
14. Fils De Zamal
15. Mojo
16. Woman Intuition
17. Au Cabaret Sauvage
18. Be North
19. Siempre
20. La Danseuse
21. Mandeed
22. Rwandamnation
23. Si Jamais Si
24. Dans La Poussi Du Temps
25. YKi
26. Bra Me
Renaud Pion - Clarinet (Bass), Flute (Bass), Saxophone, Turkish Clarinet
Peter Deimel - Keyboards
Pascal Monjanel - Keyboards
Jacquie Turner - Keyboards
Charles Vander Elst - Keyboards
Mephisto - Sax (Tenor)
Dierdre Dubois - Chant
Mehdi Haddab - Oud
René Lacaille - Accordion
Denis Péan - Flute, Clavier, Sampling, Chant, Percussion
Richard Zenou - Contrabass
Richard Bourreau - Kora, Imzad, Clavier, Sanza, Violone
Nicolas Gallard - Percussion, Guimbri, Clavier, Drums
Pascal Garnon - Keyboards
Jean Paul Romann - Keyboards, Mastering
Peter Kendall - Keyboards
Sami Ben Said - Accordion
Eric Aubry - Basse
David Husser - Keyboards
Rafik Ahmed - Sarangui
Benoît Avihoue - Percussion, Rap, Brass, Arranger
Yuki Okazaki - Clarinet, Voices
Iain Burgess - Keyboards
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
“Lo’Jo, led by a smoky-voiced chanteur named Denis Pean, sounds like an itinerant cabaret band that has wandered a long way from the boulevards, hearing griot tunes and tangos and Tom Waits but not forgetting its accordion”
"Guided by a man compared to a barefoot and be-hatted Serge Gainsbourg, and with a history colored by circus artists, actors, pyrotechnicians, street performers, painters, acrobats, festivals, and cabarets, Lo’Jo, the band of French global troubadours, releases their first live CD, Ce Soir Lá, on October 12, 2004 on World Village.
Read the reviews of French band Lo’Jo and you’ll hear descriptions of a veritable where’s-where of world music: Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, North African, West African, English, Gypsy, Caribbean, and of course French. These diverse origins are united seamlessly by the gravelly voice of lead singer Denis Péan, the genetically synchronized tones of singing sisters Nadia and Yamina, and the legacy of the band’s quirky origins of street performance. Operating communally from a house in Angers, France, Lo’Jo’s success has largely resulted from constant worldwide touring and a do-it-yourself mentality that is paying off twenty years after the band’s founding.
Ce Soir Lá was recorded on tour in France and features both well-loved favorites and as-yet unreleased material. The CD harnesses the dynamic stage presence of the group that has captivated audiences across the globe. The live compilation showcases the husky lyrics of founder Denis Péan mingled with instrumentation that ranges from the violin and piano to the bassoon, harmonium, Turkish clarinet, imzad (a one-stringed fiddle from the Sahara) and kamel n’goni (a West African lute similar to the kora). Selections hearken back to many of Lo’Jo’s previously released albums, including Fils de Amal (1993), Sin Acabar (1996), Mojo Radio (1998), Boheme de Cristal (2000), and Au Cabaret Sauvage (2002), the latter three released in the USA by World Village.
A highlight of the CD is a memorable performance with Benin’s Gangbé Brass Band on the cut “Senor Calice.” The journey also reflects some new material like the album’s opening track “Invitation” and the deeper “Cada Hombre” (“Every Man”), in which Niviera Tejera’s lyrics speak of “a window that opens never again.”
In homage to Lo’Jo’s origins in street theater, Ce Soir Lá includes an enhanced CD-ROM track, “Tangito ‘In Pictures,’” which offers film footage of the acrobatic rope duo Les Sélene swinging and twirling in mesmerizing arcs high above the concert stage. “Music makes you dance, and it’s music that makes us climb,” pronounce these lyrics by Berber sisters Nadia and Yamina Nid el Mourid, and Les Sélene’s dance on air takes us to those heights."
01 Invitation
02 Bra Me [Burned the Fuse]
03 Mon Amour [My Love]
04 Cinq Cauris Ocre [Five Ochre Cowrie Sells]
05 Piano [The Piano]
06 Magdalena ParlMagdalena Spoken]
07 l'Ar des Audacieux [In the Arena of the Bold]
08 Cada Hombre [Every Man]
09 Fils de Zamal [Son of Zamal]
10 Petit Homme [Small Man]
11 SeCalice
12 Chaque Humain [Each Human Being]
13 Tiene la Bandera [Take the Flag]
14 Dobosz
15 Sin Acabar [Without Stopping]
16 Bougnoule [Wog]
17 Tangito
18 Tangito In Pictures (Video)
Link
