Rating:
Genre:
World
Release Date: 09/14/2004
On its first full-length in four years,
Marie Daulne's
Zap Mama project returns to
Luaka Bop from a brief encounter with
Narada and resumes its quest to wind African melody and vocal harmony around
hip- hop, jazzy breaks,
soul and
Afro Cuban rhythms first explored on
7 and continued with mixed success on
A Ma Zone. Produced by
Daulne and
Anthony Tidd, the music production was supervised by
the Roots'
Richard Nichols. As such, this exotic blend is earthy, steamy, full of souled-out slips and shimmers in
"Bandy Bandy" with special guest
Erykah Baud, and the laid-back
funk of
"Show Me the Way," with guests
Air Thompson Bahamadia and
Lady Alma. This is far more an urban recording, where
urban pop and nu-
soul are informed by
worldbeat esthetics rather than the other way around. Take
"Miss Q'N" with its late-night groove and stacked harmonies (all performed by
Daulne) coming from out of the ether and weaving a tapestry of soft seductive
lullaby around the lyric.
"Yak," with its male chorus intoning the pronunciation ("
Yah Yoa") is an intro against the whispering hi hat loop, before a huge chorus of alto and contralto voices re-frame it and
Daulne's solo voice. As the hypnotic effect becomes the M.O.,
M.C. Intense begins rapping from his urban reality perch and throws the whole thing into overdrive. And so it goes, drifting, cutting, edging, and willowing toward some otherworldly collage that is all held together in the sheer vocal magic of
Daulne's vision.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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