32 THE BEAT VOL. 21 #4, 2002

Coming primarily out of West Africa, artistssuch as Gambia’s Rebellion D’Recaller,Dancehall Masters and Senegal’s Daara-J, PeeFroiss and V.I.B. are creating their own soundsgrowing from a fertile musical and culturalcross-pollination that blends elements of hip-hop, reggae and African rhythms such asSenegalese mbalax, for instance. Most ofthese artists have not yet spread their wingson the international scene, especially in theU.S., but all have the musical and lyrical skillsto explode globally. Chanting down Babylon,these African artists are inspired by theirJamaican predecessors while making musicthat is uniquely their own, praising Jah, Allahand historical spiritual leaders. Hip-hop beatslayered with rough-voiced ragga chanting,smooth rootsy vocals and rapping character-izes much of African dancehall. Consciouslyrics in French, English and African lan-guages such as Wolof andMandinka, as well as the incor-poration of traditional African in-struments including the kora(often called the African harp),xalam (a small, four-stringed gui-tar), balaphon (a wooden xylo-phone with calabash resonatorsbelow each slat), tama (talkingdrum)and sabar drums also con-tribute to these innovative andunique sounds.

The ongoing relationship betweenJamaican artists and the African peo-ple dates back to Bob Marley, whosetremendous influence cannot be overstated. Inrecent years Luciano, Sizzla, Buju Banton,Frankie Paul, Patra, Sister Carol, Anthony B andEverton Blender, among others, have all per-formed in West Africa, and occasional creativecollaborations have resulted. Cote d’Ivoire’sTikken Jah Fakoly, who has been turning outroots and culture reggae since the mid ’90s,spiced up his new cd Françafrique (Univer-sal/Barclay 2002) with some welcome dance-hall flavor thanks to Anthony B and the grand-daddy himself, U Roy. A new version of “On ATout Compris (Mangercratie),” a typical Tikkentune protesting political corruption, is far moredistinctive with the addition of Anthony B’s fierychanting and trademark “yagga yows!” Thesame goes for “Justice,” previously released onhis Le Caméléon cd but now enhanced withsome masterful toasting by U Roy.

GGAAMMBBIIAA

Gambia is Africa’sdancehall hot spot.Out of Gambia, Rebel-lion D’Recaller andDancehall Masters arecreating music that isless rap-influencedthan what is comingout of Senegal. InGambia, they’re basi-cally heavier on therootsy vibes. Accord-ing to New York’s DJWow who hails fromGambia, reggae has

long been popu-lar there, per-haps more thanin any otherAfrican coun-try: “Before wehad many of our own musicians inGambia, we listened to reggae. Thatwas our music.” Dancehall Masters’Brother Coms names Dennis Brownas his favorite singer and musicalinspiration, and their two cassettes,Brotherman (1999) and MasterfulCreation (2001) reflect this influ-ence. Brother Coms also speaks of

the spiritual inspiration that fuels the musiche creates with partner Daddy Sam, who isSenegalese but now lives in Gambia. “SerigneTouba is a great Islamic scholar. We feel wehave to sing about him,” he says, describingsongs like “Buga Bamba,” a paean to Islamicspiritual leaders of the Senegambia region.(Senegal and Gambia share many fundamentalcultural traits, including the predominance ofIslam, because they are essentially one landthat was divided by the French and British.)

Rebellion D’Recaller, whose voice sounds un-cannily like a young Joseph Hill of Culture, isGambia’s number-one dj. When Frankie Paulperformed in Gambia in 2000, Rebellion wasinvited onstage to duet with this old-school mas-ter. His 2001 cassettes Departing From TheseDays Vols. 1 and 2 with a guest appearance fromMarkie B of V.I.B on the track “Life Is Not A Gam-ble,” blends his throaty, fast-style chanting with

Rebellion’s flinty-voiced harmonies over a pound-ing drum ’n’ bass riddim.

SSEENNEEGGAALL

In Senegal, dancehall queen Patra met themembers of Daara-J (Daara-J’s three members,Ndongo D, the rapper, Lord Aladji Man, the rag-ga chanter, and Fadda Freddy) at a Dakar clubwhile on tour. As Daara-J’s supple-voiced soulsinger Fadda Freddy tells it, “When we sawPatra, we wanted to explore the Jamaicanmusic in an African stylee.” After playing someof their music for Patra, she suggested a col-laboration. The result is “Come On Get It,” fea-tured on Daara-J’s second release, Xalima(BMG France, 1998), a song that gave Patraan opportunity to explore her more soulfulsongstress side rather than her usual wickeddeejaying.

I spoke to Fadda Freddy while he was inParis working on the group’s new cd, to bereleased by BMG France in January 2003,and he describes Daara-J’s sound as “a hip-hop/reggae mix.” The first Senegalese groupto really explore dancehall, more commonlystill called raggamuffin in French-speakingcountries, Daara-J released their first self-

daara-j

The tree of life that is reggae music in all its forms is deeply spreading its roots back into Afri-

ca, idealized, championed and longed for in so many reggae anthems. African dancehall artists may

very well represent the most exciting (and least-recognized) movement happening in dancehall

today. Africa is so huge, culturally rich and diverse that it is difficult to generalize about the

musical happenings. Yet a recent musical sampling of the continent shows that dancehall is begin-

ning to emerge as a powerful African musical form in its own right.

BByy LLiissaa PPoolliiaakk

From the Motherland....DancFrom the Motherland....Danc

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titled cassette in 1995. The international ver-sion was produced by Mad Professor and re-leased on disc in 1997 (Sony/Globe). Posi-tive Black Soul (PBS), the first group to dropa rap album in Senegal in the early ’90s,“opened the rap door” for Senegalese artists,according to Fadda Freddy. “Exodus,” the titletrack of the group’s most recent release, onlyavailable on cassette in Senegal (thoughsome copies have made it to Harlem), is notsimply a homage to Bob Marley as the name

suggests. It delivers aserious messageabout Africans wholeave Africa to seekopportunity andwealth, and how theymust then “go backand build up the landof our ancestors.” AsFadda Freddy sees it,“Europe and Americaare not going to buildup Africa, Africanshave to do it.”

The group takes theirname from the Quranicschools in Senegalwhere “the youth go todevelop,” Fadda Freddyexplains. “In the group,we say Daara-J reallymeans the school of life.It is a way of living, amanner of thinking.” Thegroup has had such an

impact on the Senegalese youth culture that“any place you get good vibrations is calleddaara these days,” Fadda Freddy says, likeningit to the use of the word “crib” in English, as inlet’s go chill at the daara.

Other groups to watch for are Senegal’sPee Froiss and V.I.B and Gambia’s Pencha B.Pee Froiss’s 2001 cassette Li Moss Mak iship-hop-oriented. Their politically chargedlyrics often flow over hardcore rap beats, buttheir sound is very diverse, ranging fromBinghi-style kora-tinged chanting to aversion of Youssou N’Dour’sclassic “No More,” churningout lyrical deliveries in theform of a Wolof rap. The track“Afrika for Afrikan” includes thesweetest intonations of “fyahbun dem” I’ve ever heard.

V.I.B.’s 1999 cassette Surgitdes Décombres is heavily dance-hall-influenced, and they havetheir Jamaican patois down to a T.They big up Buju so successfullyon the track “Ghetto Youth” thatthey sound much like Buju himself.

Walking through the streets ofAbidjan in 1997, I heard a dance-hall chant in Baule pumping from

the speakers of a music kiosk, and so made myfirst African dancehall discovery, Coted’Ivoire’s Negro Muffin. Their 1997 cassetteAuthentic! lived up to its name (and exclama-tion point) with nary a weak track. Negro Muf-fin was not only Cote d’Ivoire’s first dancehallgroup but were truly groundbreaking artists inthe land of Alpha Blondy, but unfortunately itstwo members, Halasko Deejay and GoodyBrown have disbanded.

UUSSAA ffoorr AAFFRRIICCAAThat African dancehall is starting to infiltrate

U.S. borders can be seen in aspiring artists likeJo Black, born in Cote d’Ivoire to Gambian par-ents, raised in both countries, and now trying tomake his mark in New York. Black is originatinghis own sound he calls “Bolomba Stylee,” tosignify Bolom, the upcountry of Gambia, asopposed to the capital city of Banjul. He trans-lates Bolomba Stylee roughly as “big countrystyle” and it combines roots reggae, dancehalland traditional West African rhythms. Black’ssound demonstrates his belief that “You gottachange the music with the times.”

Another artist is South Africa’s Bongo Maffin,already popular in the U.S., having played numer-ous American venues including Reggae on theRiver 2000. While they do a mix of styles that ismore oriented toward techno-influenced dancemusic and South African kwaito, selected tracksfrom their cd Bongolution (Sony/Lightyear 2002)get the dancehall vibes flowing, especially“Gudoguru.” The group’s propensity for genre-bending often defies categorization.

The African diaspora spreads across theglobe, and people involved in the creation andemergence of African dancehall are expressingfeelings similar to Fadda Freddy’s about dance-hall’s power to reach and teach the youth. Pro-ducer Tyrant, a first-generation Cape Verdean-American currently laying down beats in aBoston studio, breaks it downlike this:

“Dancehall makes people shake. It’s such astrong musical form, people want to infuse itwith their message. The younger generation’smind is so open, they’ve seen so much, they seethrough bullshit. If you give them some stuff thattickles their minds, they’re more apt to listen tothe music.”

African dancehall, however, is still consideredvery underground. There are several likely rea-sons that dancehall has not emerged faster andmore furiously from Africa—the serious problems

of a lack of experiencedproducers (cited unanimously by musicians anddjs); the difficulties of getting funding; and thepaucity of promotion. Equally inhibiting were thepressures put on artists who wanted to experi-ment with different styles, and were thereforeperceived as losing their African roots. As Fad-da Freddy breaks it down, if Senegalese artistswanted to do reggae or rap in the past, theywere considered “uprooted” and “lost.” Howev-er, PBS’s breakthrough release and their use ofAfrican languages and beats in their rapshelped start changing that misperception.Understanding Daara-J, like so many African art-ists involved with the scene, is a way to begin tounderstand the roots and spiritual inspiration ofAfrican dancehall. Daara-J’s aim is to reach theyouth, to stress the importance of faith and Afri-can values such as respecting elders and thevalue of community, teaching them how to liveright. “Before anything, we see God,” FaddaFreddy says. “We preach our roots and culture.”

All of the artists emerging from Africa todaywill ultimately expand our conception of whatdancehall is. They are breaking out from pre-packaged music, originating their own soundsand “trying to flip things in a different way,” asTyrant puts it. As the reggae tree of life con-tinues to spread its roots deeper into theMotherland, it will produce fruits we can’t yetenvision.

Lisa Poliak is a freelance writer and editor basedin New York. Contact: lpoliak@yahoo.com

THE BEAT VOL. 21 #4, 2002 33

JO BLACK

tyrant

Tatoos on his back depict his

island homeland of Cape Verde.

cehall Inna African Stylee!cehall Inna African Stylee!

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