A Little Treat for Me

Self,
Well I'm sure it's common knowledge at this point that I love a WIDE range of music. And that I love to experience live performances. Well this past Saturday I had a treat that falls in to both of those categories. I was able to attend a concert. The concert was for one of my favorite world music artists: Zap Mama!

I have been listening and following this group for years! Actually Schehimazade and I have both been fans for a long time. So when I sent him a text saying that I was at a free concert for Zap Mama here in LA. I got a prompt and simple "Fuck you" in response. LOL Gotta love family, right! I know not to take it personal, he's just jealous of me...with reason. Aside from it being a FREE concert. This is my third time seeing them, while he still hasn't seen them live once. Yet.

When I first heard the group Zap Mama it was a quintet group of females of African decent in Europe. The music they made was a capella in a variety of languages with complex and sophisticated, traditional African vocal patterns that took advantage of their 5-part harmony. This first clip is one of my favorite tracks and represents their style at the time.



Well this is one of my absolute favorites, also from those early years from the groups' third cd. It represents some of the changes the group went through, the majority of that change consisted of the introduction of instruments other than the human voice as well as performing in English more. But you can also still hear how they maintained that traditional vocal element and to me it's incorporation makes this song a lot more haunting....which is why I love it so much. (I've heard Etta James perform it and wasn't moved quite as much.) And this was one song that was performed Saturday! YIPPY!



It was also about this same time when the group also began to explore other areas of music which led to collaborations with other artists, such as Talib Kweli, Common, Bahamdia, the Roots and Erykah Badu who is featured in this next track which I think is actually the official video for this song. This song may be responsible to gaining the group most of its US notoriety, which was why it was one song used to close out the show on Saturday. And although the traditional African vocal harmony is still present, it is around this time that Zap Mama became a primarily solo act rather than a quintet. (I haven't figure out if the change happened due to "bad blood" or its member just growing apart, or their record label wanting to make them more marketable.)



Not to over satuarate you , but I had to include this clip because of the pics of Common's sexy ass! YUM!



ANd this one I include because it looks like the video shoot was fun as hell. And yes I'm pretty sure that is really her dancing a because she'll do a lot of the same things on stage!



Is it me or does it seem like she got some of her fashion tips for this video from Strange'(stran- JAY) in the movie, Boomerang?

I hope you enjoyed this little journey with me. As I said it was a treat for me to attend the concert last minute and I hope having shared it was a treat for you.

If you like what you've heard and want to find the CD's here is a list of them starting with the oldest.

Adventures in Afropea - "Take Me Coco"
Sabsylma
Seven - "Damn Your Eyes"
Rafiki
Ancestry in Progress - "Bandy Bandy" & "Yelling Away"
Supermoon - "Toma Taboo"
Recreation* (this is the newest and I haven't heard it yet but will get it soon.)

Sincerely,
Pharaoh