| RD: 2021-05-28 | | PAT KALLA & LE SUPER MOJO | | Hymne A La Vie | | Fileunder: Afrobeat / Afro Funk |  | “Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo propel us into a whirlwind métisse of African
groove and Caribbean funk, Afro-disco, Afrobeat, Makossa ... (Their music)
dances with the musicality of political poetry, all expressed through a
storyteller´s Creole." (Fip)
Hymne à la Vie Pat Kalla´s second full-length LP out on Heavenly Sweetness
is not only as the title has it, a hymn to life, it´s also a fine showcase of his
band, the "Lyon-based groovers," le Super Mojo and a select group of guests
from West Africa (DjeuhDoah, Doctor Lass). Parisian singer Lieutenant
Nicholson joins DjeuhDoah to perform a touching duet on the closer and
West Indies singer/songwriter - and fellow Heavenly Sweetness artist - David
Walters shines on the LP in a lilting pop-funk number drenched in a luxurious
groove.
Add to this the delicate, sophisticated production pallette of the DJ/producer
Guts - another Heavenly Sweetness labelmate - and you have a release of
subtle, satisfying power.
Throughout his multi-decade musical career, the singer/songwriter and MC
born Patrice Kalla N´Galle (his Cameroonian father named him after the
assassinated Congolese political leader, Patrice Lumumba) has created
music that responds to his African heritage in strikingly creative and
innovative ways.
When asked to introduce himself during a radio program, Kalla said that he
was a storyteller, a singer of "Black-music" and the MC with Voilaaa Sound
System, an Afro disco project led by the producer Patchworks. Their track «
On te l’avait dit » was a massive success in France and elsewhere and
remains Pat Kalla´s calling card, among many, to this day.
Pat Kalla´s music is a unique mix of African groove and « Chanson française
» with a naïve poetry you can find in African tales. He is also a vessel to
convey the musical culture of his ancestors: the Cameroonian musician, Manu
Dibango´s « Soul makossa » is a strong influence for the artist. In 1996, Kalla
was taught how to play West African percussion instruments - the dun dun,
djembé in traditional, polyrhythmic styles - using this knowledge to his
recordings with his frist group, Boulfalé.
"The body can speak of so many things," Kalla recently shared in an
interview. This includes the history of an entire continent. "Africa has suffered
so much over the generations," he added. And yet, music allows for
transformation. "We´re able to keep something of that melancholy, that
sadness, while adding a little touch of lightness, which comes through the
body and dance; dance makes everything in the world better, it´s a kind of
medicine." 3
Indeed, there is a lightness to much of Hymne à la Vie - both in terms of
instrumentation, the light picking guitar and punctured drums - that resembles
movement of a dance; moreover, this music is made for the stage, and a
dancing crowd before it.
Dance also operates on the album as a lyrical theme - in, for example, the
lilting 80s pop-funk of "La Vie C´est Jolie" featuring David Walters - and as a
motif in terms of how Pat Kalla and his team of seven respond to the various
musical influences. A crass mish-mash of geographical source material this is
not. Take, for instance, the playful love song "Cumbia de Paris" whose title
alludes to a form of music born in 17th century Colombia, originally inspired
by Guinean dance. On "Cumbia de Paris" Kalla gently repeats his entreaties,
while the production lets a certain dub influence to seep into the mix.
Or see, for example, one of the album´s definite highlights, "Le Métèque" - a
derogatory term for an immigrant - which reworks the Georges Moustaki
classic from 1969 that was later reprised by rappers JoeyStarr and Rocé in
2006. This song has a particular resonance in French musical culture, as a
statement of anti-racist defiance, where the singer takes on the slur,
embracing it as a form of self-definition.
Here, the Pat Kalla/le Super Mojo interpretation of the song is joyful, rather
than furious or menacing, opening with a groovy bassline and popping
percussive interplay that brings to mind Sly & Robbie´s 70s Jamaica - a nod
perhaps to Gainsbourg´s 1979 reworking of La Marseillaise, or Grace Jones
hits from just after. | | Track list | | Track | Artist | Title | | | | 1 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo, DjeuhDjoah | Mon Ami | | 2 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | Fierte De Papa | | 3 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | Calin Bresil | | 4 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | Cumbia De Paris | | 5 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | Ma Tata | | 6 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo, Lass | Qui T´as Fait Ca | | 7 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | Le Meteque | | 8 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo, David Walters | La Vie C´est Jolie | | 9 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | Sabrina | | 10 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | Hymne A La Vie | | 11 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | Brigand | | 12 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | President | | 13 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo | Canette | | 14 | Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo, Djeuhdjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson | Il Fait Beau Sous La Pluie |
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