East Africa resonated with song and dance recently as Saintrick and Les Tchielly band treated revellers to a fusion of traditional Congolese rhythms (among them ndombolo and rhumba) and Senegalese mbalax. Les Tchielly, led by Saintrick (real names are Serge Mayitoukou) consists of seven members all of whom are Congo Brazzaville citizens exiled in Senegal.

Their Nairobi performance was sponsored by the French Cultural and Cooperation Centre which has over the years brought music greats like Manu Dibango, Ismael Lo, Salif Keita, Wasis Diop, Rokia Traore, Zap Mama, and Sally Nyola to Nairobi in the framework of cultural cooperation and promotion of artistes. Kenya's Lydia Achieng Abura, recently nominated for the best artist from East Africa Award 2002 at the continental KORA All Africa Music Awards, made the opening performance.

As expected, Saintrick--who spent his childhood in both Brazzaville and Dakar--treated the audience to a magical evening with his hybrid musical genre called, in Wolof, Yeketi (lift up). Using the Congolese Ngoma and the Senegalese tama percussions, fusing a 1960s Congolese guitar style with the rhythmic marimba of Senegalese mbalax, with lyrics in Wolof and Congolese languages (Lari and Lingala), Yeketi is a celebration of humanity.

A talented singer and dancer, Saintrick combines music, lyrics, and choreography eclectically to create a memorable performance. He sings about sincerity, tolerance, peace, human rights and children's rights. Performing in Wolof, Lingala, French, and English, Les Tchielly transports their audiences on a rhythmic voyage across Africa. The group came to Nairobi from Durban before proceeding to Zanzibar where they performed at Ngome Kongwe on September 11 and 12. They were also expected to perform in Mozambique, and Tanzania mainland before returning to Senegal.

While the tour was organised by the Zanzibar International Film Festival out of its efforts to promote African music, the travel costs of the group were covered by MASA and the Ford Foundation. Luc said at a Press conference that the European Union, Maison Francaise of nairobi, and Afrique Fete had also sponsored their tour. Saintrick was born in Brazzaville in 1968.

His musical journey began in the 1980s in Dakar where he lived for a decade until the age of 15. His first love was the harmonica from which he graduated to the flute and the accordion and finally the guitar.

He returned to Congo in 1983 and participated in workshops with the likes of Louis Winsberg, Marc Ducret and Sylvain Kassap. He played for several Brazzaville based groups (Jah Children, Africa Brass.

Tambours de Brazza) before forming his own group Les Tchielly with his brother Luc (drummer) in 1988. With the Tchielly , Saintrick has opened performances for Baaba Maal, Youssou Ndour and Ismaël Lo. Uprooted from Congo by the civil strife of 1997 that engulfed Brazzaville, the group returned to Dakar through Cameroon and Côte d Ivoire. As what people become is shaped by their background, Saintrick uses his music to advocate peace, respect for human rights, and condemn the conflicts that are destroying Africa.

His first album-- Maltraité (Mistreated)-- was released in 1998. Following this, MASA 99 (African Performing Arts Market in Abidjan, Côte d Ivoire) selected him for the Marché des Arts du Spectacle Africain receiving acclaim from the public and critics alike. Saintrick works with Mamadou Kanté of Africa Fête, a Dakar-based organization promoting African music and musicians which has in the past steered the successful careers of Manu Dibango, Salif Keita, and Angélique Kidjo, among others.

With Africa Fête, Les Tchielly has toured Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland and England since 2000 enjoying growing interest in their musical style. In February 2001, Saintrick et les Tchielly were among eight refugee African musicians who participated in the video clip Refugee Voices produced by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, under the artistic direction of Youssou Ndour, and also produced the album Building Bridges. Yeketi, Yeketi , his lattest project, brings together two cultures. It employs a variety of percussions (the Sabar, the Djembé, the Ngoma, the Tama), then marrying the result to the play of the guitar and the sounds of marimba, Saintrick achieves an elevated musical richness that stems from the cultures of the Mbangui living in the deep interior of Central Africa and the West African oral story-telling/griot traditions.

Saintrick and the Tchielly not only use music and words to convey the strength of their conviction but these accomplished dancers also use the compelling movements of the body to create an uplifting and captivating spectacle. Saintrick has continued to please audiences throughout Africa and Europe since his 1999 MASA discovery.

He says the secret to their staying together is taking one another as a family (the band has four blood brothers) and living together as a large extended family. Saying money is usually the problem that breaks up bands, Saintrick said they share any returns equally besides working as a family. Yusuf Mohamoud, the music and performing arts Director of ZIFF, says ZIFF encourages fusion.

Mohamoud, who DJ's music around Zanzibari villages almost every weekend with the aim of promoting African sounds in Zanzibar, had hinted to us that ZIFF was embarking on a networking effort to share music expertise with artistes from other parts of the continent. During the 5th ZIFF event last July, music workshops and seminars were held to educate African musicians on their art in a technologically advanced global village.

They were introduced to the art of using the internet in promoting themselves and their work. The organisers also gave them samples of what international music is looking for. It was also here that we met a Mr Davis of Zimbabwe who was looking for East African artists to invite to their Harare-based Festival in the Park (Zimbabwe).

MASA's, Manda Tchebwa, the artistic director at MASA, was also here. He said he was looking for artists from Eastern and Southern Africa to invite to MASA in Ivory Coast. Director Mahmoud said ZIFF is strengthening these collaborations and that visiting artists to East Africa would have to be touring the entire region to benefit many more people.

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