HOMMAGE A FRANCO LUAMBO - On rentre KO on sort OK (2 vinyls)

Description

THE AFRICAN MUSIC EVENT. “A figure of the Congolese scene, Ray Lema resurrects and transfigures the repertoire of this African legend.” Ray Lema never stops wanting to pass on to the new generations all the heritage that shaped the identity of his country. Not to turn it into museum pieces, like folklore preserved in formaldehyde, but quite simply to keep nourishing creativity, now and always. His own needs no proving, in light of a fifty-year career that has seen him reconcile, like few others, cultures that many oppose: the learned and the popular, the written and the improvised, the symphonic and so-called world music, rhythms and harmonies, melody and so on... He hears only one thing in all this: music. What François Luambo Makiadi speaks of at every moment, whose genius is measured by the nicknames given to him: “The Great Master,” the “Venerable Yorgho,” “the Sorcerer of the guitar” --- the one who carried Congolese rumba onto every dance floor on the continent, and far beyond. “ENERGY AND ELEGANCE” --- JAZZ MAGAZINE---. “RAY LEMA, THE SONG OF THE PIANO” --- LE MONDE ---. “PIANIST-HUMANIST, A SINGULAR AND UNIQUE MUSICAL ADVENTURE THAT TAKES US AWAY TOWARD LUSH LANDSCAPES.” --- FIP ---. “THE JOY OF RAY LÉMA.” --- JAZZ NEWS ---. “Our music works like a GPS. That is the whole problem of this continent, which has been brainwashed regarding our origins. These young people dream of going somewhere but they no longer know where they came from. That is why we must listen to Franco, whose music is more relevant than ever.” Yet it would be limiting Franco’s message to see him only as a top-class mood-setter: his music carried the voice of the common people just as it spoke of the great moments of an Africa finally liberated. Everyone, the beautiful woman from Kinshasa as well as the jealous saboteur, found themselves in this verve that weaved through troubles as his guitar dribbled between the words. Franco said out loud what everyone was thinking. “After all these years, Franco’s music has not aged a day.” Ray Lema is more convinced than ever of this, he who as a child used to do the ngembo, that is, the bat clinging to a tree, to listen to the all-powerful creator of OK Jazz. In the native of Sona-Bata, Ray Lema hears as much the immense tradition he studied from the 1970s on as musical director of the national ballet as the intense innovations that have set the tone for Congolese music ever since, notably the sebene, that hallmark that makes the guitar the axis of his music, a rhythmic wheel. To grasp the full weight of this journey, he chose tracks from the early days, starting with Nani apedalaki te and the classic among classics Mario, and from the winter of his career, titles of major stature that had to be cut down to size. A challenge for any arranger when you know that a Franco track could run for hours. He added his own touch, which does not fail to spice up this new sauce: the brass section whose motifs written by him draw new lines, new perspectives for Franco’s music. Some will see in it a jazz touch to rumba. Yet that would be to limit the scope of this rereading, which succeeds in “modernizing” Franco’s irresistible groove. Let us say that he did not settle for a straight copy in order to salute, at its true height, the talent of rumba. --- Jacques Denis ---.