A superlative child of French-style cultural mixing, SUPERGOMBO’s afrofunk also probably descends from Tout Puissant Orchestre Poly-Rythmo and the Headhunters. Nourished by Senegalese Mbalax, Congolese soukous, US funk and global jazz, the sound played here is therefore inevitably from elsewhere. And yet, with them, we will not speak of “world music.” From the world, SUPERGOMBO keeps above all the rhythm, frenzied and uncontrolled. Even if this 7-piece band knows that sometimes you have to slow down, wander, take your time. SUPERGOMBO thus calmly does its super-market from Bamako to Ouaga, with an obligatory detour via La Guillotière, a district of Lyon known for its diversity. Taking everyone on a journey and making the crowds dance is the double objective Supergombo has set itself. As the starting point of the journey, Etienne Kermarc chose the sounds of West Africa, those his father brought back from his years spent in Africa and that the bassist was keen to confront with his own jazz culture. His traveling companions - Aurélien Joly and Nacim Brahimi on horns, Romain Nassini and Riad Klai for the harmonies, Réunion native David Doris and Burkinabé Wendlavim Zabsonré behind the drums and other percussion - each bring their own contribution to the writing or arrangement of the ideas and sounds. For the production, the label Z Production entrusted the task to Vincent Taurelle, Etienne Meunier and Benoît Bel. In the hands of these accomplices of Tony Allen and Daft Punk, the invitation to dance finally turns into an imperative injunction. From bikutsi rhythms (Faraphonium) to Mandingue scales (Nâ Kuima), between blazing grooves and iridescent colors, Supergombo orchestrates an African suite that unabashedly looks west and east, toward the Caribbean and the Far East! And as if to push the journey a little further, the band takes great pleasure in slipping here and there a few nods to cinema: Blaxploitation films, Bruce Lee cinema, blockbuster soundtracks in the style of Lalo Schiffrin... And of course, messy Tarantino-like melting pots as on the emblematic “Marquis Warren,” where the arid imagery of the western cheekily rubs shoulders with the sugary codes of coupé-décalé. Without a doubt, this music knows how to surprise. But above all, how to settle in, to take root. In the mind, to better reach the whole body. So it is no surprise that Supergombo flourishes in relentless repetition and sometimes comes close to electronic trances. But at no point does this music forget its roots. Nor the intoxication of storytellers.