Vincent Bucher, Rao Ravao, and Karim Toure

Through the efforts of the French Cultural Centre, musicians from Senegal, Madagascar, India and France have entertained music lovers in Nairobi this year. The first to perform on May 29, 2004 was Senegalese guitarist, harmonica player and singer Ismael Lo who served music lovers in Nairobi and Kampala a unique brand of Mbalax with his smooth multi-textured voice and low-key folksy style. Ismael Lo, was performing in Kenya for the second time. Five months later, on October 23, French musician Thierry ‘Titi’ Robin and Gypsy dancer Gulabi Sapera from northern India were on stage enchanting music lovers with musical flavours, melodies and rhythms that seemed to know no boundaries. Then came Malagasy-born guitarist Tao Ravao, French-bred harmonica player Vincent Bucher, and Senegalese/French percussionist Karim Toure, with a serving of music that critics describe as combining the intellectualism of European music, the vibrancy of African styles and the spirituality of Oriental music

Although Lo grew up loving the rhythmic sabar drumming of the Wolof people as well as the serene texture of the harp-like kora and the balafon, he said he was no traditional musician. This is discernible in his strong, complex, percussion-laden Mbalax that tackles issues like poverty, famine, relationships, and racism. Son of a Senegalese father and a Nigerian mother, Lo enjoyed music from an early age and got his start playing a homemade single-string guitar. At first he only played for joy of it and never considered performing. He concentrated on decorating and painting at a trade school. However an invitation to perform in a club owned by an older brother was to change all this after he became an instant hit. In 1979, singer/songwriter Omar Pene invited Lo to play in his popular group, Super Diamono de Dakar, a band that played Mbalax-blues, a mixture of Cuban and Senegalese rhythms.

Ismael Lo

Lo quickly established himself as a key singer, backup singer and rhythm guitarist. Within a year he was ready to launch a solo career but he felt he could break up the band and so stayed on till 1984 when he left for Spain to do some painting. He began recording as a solo artist upon his return. His first albums included Xalat, Xiff, Naff and Gor Sayina. It is said that upon growing up, Lo’s instincts drew him to Western instruments, the guitar and the harmonica, the fact that he had built his first guitar from a cooking oil can and learned to play harmonica and guitar together by nailing his harmonica to the wall, notwithstanding

1979, Lo first performed his intimate soulful songs on national television, winning widespread praise. He played for five years in super Diamono, a top mbalax band, before launching a solo career. Lo made a string of successful records with West Africa’s premier producer, Ibrahima Sylla, and went on to bring his homespun anthems and ballads to an international audience. Lo sometimes gets overshadowed internationally by the fanfare surrounding Youssou N’Dour and Baaba Maal, and Toure Kunda, the group that introduced Senegalese pop to Europe in the early 1980s.

But back home Lo, N’Dour and Maal along with veteran singer Thione Seck and Omar Pene still make up the top tier of the pop echelon

Tony Manga

A self-taught musician born at the end of the 1950s in western France, Robin built his musical universe by borrowing from various musical sources, the two main sources of influence being the Gypsy and Eastern cultures. He has recorded several albums: Luth at Tabla (with Hameed Khan), An Henchou Treuz and An Tri Breur (with Erick Marchand), Gitans, Le Regard Nu, Pay Michto, Kali Gadji, and Un ciel cuivre. In 2002, after having worked together for 10 years, Robin and Sapera recorded the album Rakhi. Having performed under the name Tao Ravao for several years, Ravao and Bucher changed their name to Tany Manga ('sacred earth' in Malagasy) and have gone on to produce Soa, their first album, under the new name. Tany Manga is the fourth album that Ravoa and Bucher have recorded together. It is driven by Toure’s percussions and Ravao’s western Kenya litungu (harp) and Malagasy kabosy and valiha. The kabosy is a small square guitar that sounds like a mandolin.

On Soa, the trio sing about filial love (Soa), romantic love (Fitiavako vaovao, Tiako ianao, Velomo), political freedom (Marary, Miredareda), and the harm of laziness. My favourite track is Velomo, impossible love. Ravao is born of a Malagasy mother and French father while Toure is born of a French mother and Senegalese father. Also performing in Nairobi on November 11 was N’Dour. He had been brought to Tanzania and Kenya by mobile telephone company, Celtell, to celebrate their presence in East Africa after taking over Kencell Communications in Kenya.

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