Joe Jazz at Marseille Jazz of the Five Continents – RFI Musique

Every week, in The Epic of Black Music on RFI, Joe Farmer highlights the diversity of sound colors born of the African diaspora in the world. From July 18 to 27, 2018, the Marseille Jazz of the Five Continents combined the different jazz accents. A highlight for this major summer meeting since the Phocaean city has always been a crossroads of cultures where dialogue and exchange feed the artistic vigor of creators in the south of France. For nearly 20 years, the excitement of the swing, be it African, Caribbean, American, European or Oceanian, accompanies this festival to listen to the musical convolutions of the planet.

Jazz is undoubtedly the emanation of an ancestral African identity as the tonality of the instrumentalists of today seems to marry the rhythmic matrix of this vast continent in perpetual movement. Marseille was also often the theater of this progressive re-appropriation of the original groove.

Let us take some recent examples … On July 25, the illustrious Youssou N'Dour, supported by the Super Star of Dakar, demonstrated (if it was still necessary) that the simple fervor of his repertoire could open the mind and infuse a singular pace into our existence. The strength of the mbalax certainly provoked some feverish swaying in the gardens of the Palais Longchamp in Marseille, but this tempo has also given shine to a secular heritage that has irradiated all five continents.

Somi, the July 25, 2018 in the first part of Youssou N'Dour.
  © Joe Farmer

In the first part, the singer Somi, for example, proposed another reading of the African source of jazz. Of Ugandan-Rwandan origin, this young American plays with the echo of his Métis tessitura. We hear Nina Simone, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson or Miriam Makeba in her vocal ornaments. His group of Japanese, American and Senegalese musicians brilliantly reflects the universalism that the young lady tries to print in her play and her expressiveness. The presence at his side of the Dakar guitarist Hervé Samb has strengthened the rooting of African performance. Jazz became "Sabar" and redraw the afro-virtuoso vibrato of this stunning new black voice.

The day before, July 24, a more popular musicality invaded the hearts of 4,000 Marseillais fans of soul music . The first event of the evening was the return of the famous African-American trombonist Fred Wesley. Former partner of James Brown, his perfect mastery of funk harmonies revitalized tastefully the pulsations of "Mr. Dynamite".

Visibly delighted to revive, in its own way, the flame of yesteryear, "Funky Fred", as the affectionately call its warmest admirers, offered the luxury of inviting another essential figure of black America. The singer Martha High, an eminent chorister with the "Godfather of Soul" for nearly a quarter of a century, made a remarkable appearance during these festive public reunions.

Of course, this meeting of valiant septuagenarians could have turned into a a pompous celebration of aging veterans, but once again, the African soul of black American music brought this moment of grace to the summit of funk art, notably during the final medley that revived the hymns of the late patriarch, James Brown! This day was definitely an epic because, from 14h, the festival-goers were invited to the projection of the film Mr. Dynamite, the Rise of James Brown produced by Mick Jagger and in the presence of the very available Fred Wesley. Acclamations at the Alcazar, the cinema room of the public library of Marseille …

The representation of African pluralism in musical creation can take different forms. The presence of Kool & the Gang, a historic American disco-funk band at the 19th edition of the Marseille Jazz of the Five Continents, reminded us insidiously that the professionalization of the record industry at the turn of the 1980s seriously changed the texture of the productions. From then on, the temptation to respond to the sirens of commercialism and notoriety became great and sometimes penalized the ingenuity of the composers. We could have been worried about seeing only the emerging part of the pop catalog of Kool & the Gang when the 12 musicians of this fifty-year-old band stormed the festival's tree stage. A burst of glitter and eternal jingles was to be the menu of this swirling performance when, suddenly, the older ones had memories and remembered that their music was based on an imposing and authentic rhythmic sequence: the funk of the 70s. 19659005] The title Jungle Boogie suddenly regained its former power for the pleasure of the fans of the first hour. However, it was necessary to satisfy everyone and the night in Marseilles finally cleared on some famous melodies, Ladies Night Get down on it and Celebration .

Know that, the next day, the Super Étoile de Dakar would bring the saving African touch to this avalanche of coppery notes, bringing us impatiently and excitedly to the tradition. All the artists programmed at Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents necessarily had an eye, and more precisely, an ear turned towards Africa.

As Youssou N'Dour liked to say during his singing tour, the African continent is historically great, rich, animated by brave men whose commitment shows the way. The song New Africa will remain a moment of rare emotion when the faces of Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah and Cheikh Anta Diop illustrated on the big screen the words of "You" the militant! The beating heart of the five continents is certainly the African continent.