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// Lutherie Urbaine
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Nhanssalá !
This album is totally crazy. No, really. That’s exactly what “Nhanssalá” means in one of Mozambique’s numerous local dialects. Its meaning faithfully translates the wild, often unbridled energy of one of the surprise albums of the year. A gripping and dynamic exchange between French and Mozambican musicians who perform on the strangest instruments one is likely to see in a studio or on a stage: cooking pans, water containers, squawking plastic trumpets and xylophones made out of recuperated metal strips or tubes. Fronting the incongruous set straight out of our urban junk yards is the gripping and grating voice of Sandro Valadas. “Out of the metal kiln is born the softness of vocal sensations,” claims the DVD film that accompanies the 11-track album. This is a marriage of sharp-edged steel and booming percussions, with the sand-paper vocals of Valadas and some sweet Zulu-like vocals behind.
In the course of a rehearsal the musical director Braka harangues his musicians: “In order to get some concerts we’ve got to create a demo CD that is explosive.” Yet, he achieves much more than that, producing a slickly-produced album that literally fizzes. At times, we hear the buzzing echo of a Konono N°1 (“Joven inocente”), then there is a plunge into rock and free jazz (“Tino nbonga”), or contemporary percussive drives that defy any categorisation (“Thende tika pereke” or “La feira popular” which ends in a Valadas’ devilish laugh). But however you call it, the urban harmony created between metal waste materials from construction sites, water vats, and Mozambican voices makes for wonderful listening – and watching.
For the DVD faithfully reconstitutes the creative voyage of the five French musicians and the 11 Mozambican counterparts since 2003. That was when Jean-Louis Mechali and his fellow-travellers first met 21 artists from Maputo at the Franco-Mozambican Cultural Centre run by music-lover and miracle-maker François Belorgey. The workshops and rehearsals culminated in the opening concert for the 2004 Africolor festival in the Paris. 15 months later, the Metal & Satin label created by Lutherie Urbaine has brought out a CD/DVD which can just be criticised for its plain cover and lack of sleeve notes. Unfortunately, for the moment it is only available via internet (www.lutherieurbaine.com), by mail (59 avenue du Gl de Gaulle, Bagnolet, France) or after the band’s concerts (they have just completed a tour of southern Africa).
In 2002, Mechali began his first “crazy” project in the DRC capital Kinshasa. It was called “Liboma minghi”, Lingala for - guess what? - “totally insane”. This time round he has gone one step further by bringing out an album that encapsulates the creative and delightful madness stalking Lutherie Urbaine. “The most interesting part” says Sandro Valadas in the accompanying film, “is using material available to us…because instruments are rare and expensive in Mozambique.” “Nhanssalá” reveals a collaboration between two distinct cultures that have indeed created another musical vocabulary. Undoubtedly, Mechali has every reason to believe he can build similar bridges with other cultures.
March 2006
Daniel Brown
// ALSO
- In Lagos, April 2004
- Zong
- Balanço
- Diébédo Francis Kéré, Building the future
- Dub Colossus
- RIP Bob Marley 1945-1981
- World Audio Foundation, Sacred sounds
- womex 2009, November 1st
- New Awards for World Music
// ALL LUTHERIE URBAINE'S REVIEWS
Nhanssalá !
22/03/2006
// DISCOGRAPHY
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Liboma Minghi (Album)// LINKS
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