It is time to move on, to take a wrong turn up a dusty path and see what happens. Time to move outside the comfort zone, time to take risks.
Been having a revival of tracks I used to DJ 2-3 years ago, when I - and a whole bunch of other DJs worldwide including Martin Solveig and Stephane Pompougnac - were rocking the clubs with AfroArab-influenced house. A few years later and I find myself digging back into Bruno Bolla, Roy Ayers, Frederic Galliano; going beyond the Afro percussion cliches, the deep husky voiceovers, the 4-to-the-floor-that-sounds-somehow-African.
No, this is my apotheosis of Central African rhythms down on the coastline from Abidjan to Brazzaville, that have contributed so much to the world of music. Getting down with solo-chorus-solo patterns, doing the zouk, getting flashbacks of Fela/Femi Kuti and what they stand for, mixing in ambientscapes with repetitive vocal samples.
Kind of like if you managed to get into one of those black clubs in North Paris where I grew up part of my life, where the sound, culture, people, relations are strongly centroAfrican. Every time I return to Paris since I've been here in Tokyo, I see this mixed community affirming itself, taking over more businesses, hawking more clients down on the streetside, playing boomboxes on the curb selling random bits and bobs... to the consternation of the white French residents who somehow equate "black" with "dangerous". To these people, and those that may not enjoy this mix, catch another airwave, go iPod to another sound, no hard feelings: but I'm digging into this one. One question remains: can you take this vibe?
- DJ Mandali
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