ZE MANEL

DIALOGUES OF THE HEART

"I see music as a dialogue," says West African music legend Zé Manel. "But music is not in the brain -- music is in the heart."

After years of political and musical exile, "the talisman of Guinean music returns to the origins on a Sea wave"
-Diário de Bissau

"... politically sharp, poetically soft, guitars mourning without pedal effects, ...and Manel's terrific voice."
-The Rough Guide to World Music

In the tumultuous 60's and 70's, as independence from colonial rule was won across Africa, there emerged many expressions of cultural revolution. In Guinea-Bissau, it was music. Deep-rooted rhythms and folklore were re-interpreted in modern arrangements that inspired, mobilized, and unified. The new music featured electric guitars, brass, and lyrics sung in Kriol (a synthesis of several African languages and Portuguese), the language of the people. Zé Manel is a foundational figure of that movement.

Manel was born in Bissau, the capital city, on May 22, 1957. At age six, he formed a band to play music at boy scout camp. Soon the band was playing weddings, baptisms and birthday parties, and its members took their craft so seriously that some were forced to leave. By age seven, young Zé, playing drums and acoustic guitar, had become the main attraction of this band, named Super Mama Djombo after the female spirit of a sacred offering place. When Guinea-Bissau won its independence from Portugal years later, Orchestra Mama Djombo emerged to sing the victory.In the years that followed, Kriol music became the bridge that brought people to their national identity. "Independence felt like people taking over their own house," recalls Manel. "After independence, life was a party, not a struggle." In that euphoric atmosphere, Mama Djombo acquired the status of national group. They often traveled with the first President Luís Cabral, representing the new nation through music. In 1978 they were flown to Cuba to mark the new musical identity "present" at the 11th Youth Music Festival. The group filled a Senegalese stadium, where the crowds literally broke down the doors to hear them play. It is said that whenever a Mama Djombo song came on the radio during lunch, people would get up and dance-and then return to their meal. It seemed an ascendancy that would never end.

The pressures of success-and ideological conflict-brought the end of the band in the mid 80's.
In 1982, Zé released his first solo album Tustumunhos di Aonti (Yesterday's Testimony), which sounded the alarm over the formation of a new, repressive ruling class. The album was a national event (people in Guinea-Bissau today still sing the songs from this soulful, relevant album), but the political environment was heating up and Manel's fans were concerned for his safety. It was becoming increasingly easy to "disappear." He was given a scholarship to study abroad-one of the more pleasant means of removing voices of dissidence.

Manel left Guinea-Bissau for a Portuguese conservatory to study classical music, opera and piano. Upon completion of his studies, Zé played for a year on the Paris scene, then moved to Oakland, California to equip a studio. Maron di mar marks Zé's return to Guinea-Bissau for the first time since Tustumunhos. The album has touched a nerve with people there, and Manel is once again a national hero. The struggle for dignity and new possibilities that drove the revolution continues today, as a society strives to affirm democracy and identity.

Thanks to Zé Manel, Kriol music once again aids that fight, providing a counter-narrative to potential constitutional fictions. .


Biography:

Singer and multi-instrumentalist, Zé Manel is one of the most famous and influential contemporary musician to emerge from the West African country of Guinea-Bissau. By the age of seven, Ze, playing drums and acoustic guitar, had become the main attraction of Super Mama Djombo band.
During the 1970's, this seminal orchestra played a major role in the liberation struggle of this former Portuguese colony. In 1982, Zé released his first solo album Tustumunhos di Aonti, which sounded the alarm over the formation of a new repressive ruling class in Guinea-Bissau. The album was a national event (people in Guinea-Bissau today still sing the songs from this soulful, relevant album), but the political environment was heating up and Manel's fans were concerned for his safety. Manel fled his homeland.
This self-exile took him to Portugal, France and, finally, the United States. His American debut album, Maron di mar (Cobiana Records) released in 2001, was an instant success. It received rave reviews from European and American media and was nominated for best album at the All African Kora Music Awards in South Africa, and best world music album at the Just Plain Folks Music Awards in the USA.

He returned with a new album African Citizen (M10). His message in the title track is more global. Zé calls for African unity, peace, and stability in all continents. He delivers his messages Jji the most beguiling of-tenor voices accompanied by his acoustic guitar and percussion. In this release, Zé's uniquely innovative talent expands the boundaries of both traditional and contemporary Guinea-Bissau dance music, creating a new musical genre that is urban yet profoundly steeped in the root. Sung in many languages (Kriol, Portuguese, English, and French), the lyrics are as declamatory and inflammatory as his rhythms are infectiously danceable.
Ze sings of love for family and friends, respect for women, compassion for children, social justice, and he poignantly describes the ravages of poverty, prostitution, AIDS, and the dictatorships that repress the advancement of people.
Ze said he faced the challenge of blending cultures while preserving his own. "I am respecting our traditional music, but we want to make more progress towards meeting other cultures." The album was recorded in the United States with guest artists from around the world.

Discography:

Tustumunhos di Aonti (1982)
Maron di mar (Cobiana Records, 2001)
African Citizen (M10 Records, 2003)


Maron di mar

Album Description

Contemporary pop from Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.

Guinea-Bissau has been largely overlooked in the newest wave of enthusiasm over music from this part of the world, despite the influence that Bissau-Guinean music has had in the region. Ze Manel is one of the icons of that country's musical history.
He continues a tradition of popular music which values Bissau-Guinean rhythm and folklore while bringing these into musical dialogue with European, Latin and North American sounds.

"Tchiko Te" is a hard driving dance track recorded entirely by Ze, except for the trumpet. He has the trumpeter "talk" through the trumpet in a two-note solo, in imitation of a traditional horn (they won't understand it though, since this trumpet speaks English). Later on the trumpeter takes off on his own jazzy solo, over the top of hard-driving african rhythm in bass, guitar, drums and conga.

"Divine Fire" reminds one of a hard-driving, sexy blues, punctuated with a twang like those traditional storytellers use to keep the rhythm of their narrations.
"Safinte na baloba" is a complex intertwining of acoustic guitar, played on the classical instument with conga in the background.

"Siko na Bankule" is a cindarella story with traditional rhythm and a flying flute solo.
A number of the instruments used on this album haven't been used in Bissau-Guinean music before. These are probably the first songs recorded in English by a Bissau-Guinean artist, in an album which serves up ever new and surprising compositions. Most of the songs are sung in the Portuguese creole of Guinea-Bissau, where the album is already a national event.

Afrika Unite
Maron Di Mar
Siko Na Bankule
Na Kaminho Di Luta

www.cdbaby.com/cd/zemanel,
www.cobianarecords.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005KAM0/ref=m_art_li_1/104-1519922-7793559?v=glance&s=music