Dobet Gnahoré (interview) and Pat Kalla alone in the #Session Live

Dobet Gnahoré.

© Jean Goun

By: Laurence Aloir

6 mins

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Ivorian artist

returns with a 6th

album

 released by Cumbancha.

Recorded in Africa during the pandemic, 

celebrates diverse African talents, as well as the cause of women, creativity and positivity.

Dobet Gnahoré, African star and winner of a GRAMMY in 2010, is known for her breathtaking choreographies, her stage presence and her interpretations rich in emotions. With this new

album 

, the artist breaks with the acoustic tradition she loved until now and immerses herself in the modern afropop sounds of her country. With an international release scheduled for June 4, 2021, the album also marks the return of Dobet Gnahoré on the Cumbancha label, which released his album 

in 2007.

Originally from Ivory Coast, and while living in France for many years.

Dobet decides in early 2020 to return to settle in Africa, while the Covid-19 pandemic is causing lockdowns across all of Europe marking the abrupt end of tours and live activities.

Back in her homeland, she quickly reconnected with the flourishing local music scene and began working with talented producers, musicians, designers and artists from the underground scene.

It is imbued with the inspiration and energy of a booming Africa.

The result is an album filled with messages of optimism aimed at women, hope for a better future, marking a significant break with her previous, more acoustic and introspective albums.

Dobet Gnahoré.

© Jean Goun

Having grown up within the community of artists 

, a world-renowned African theater company, Dobet Gnahoré was immersed in art and creativity from birth. When she was 12, she told her father, 

, a well-known musician and performer in Côte d'Ivoire, that she would not go back to school, preferring to devote her time to music and dance.

In 1996, Dobet Gnahoré met French guitarist

.

They decide to settle in France to form the

group 

.

They will record and perform in concert across the world for two decades.

Gnahoré's participation in several Acoustic Africa tours

Malian guitarist 

and South African singer-songwriter 

make her known to a wider audience.

In 2010, she gained even greater fame, when her collaboration with American singer 

earned her a GRAMMY for best urban / alternative performance on the title 

.

Dobet Gnahoré.

© Jean Goun

The first single album, 

 is a collaboration with Ivorian zouglou star Yabongo Lova. The song is a message to anyone going through difficult times. "

sings Gnahoré as if to encourage us in the face of adversity. On the track 

, she sings "

. " In 

 Dobet Gnahoré emphasizes the importance of strength and love within the family; in the chorus, she sings: "

." The video, produced by Ivorian producer Steven Awuku, offers a colorful version of his house in which Gnahoré dances in outfits with light patterns giving an electric and playful air to the whole. The most introspective song from Dobet's album, 

, sheds light on her singer-songwriter facet with this call to God to help her repent of her sins. "

" she pleads as she hints at her inner torments.

Color

, the sixth album by Dobet Gnahoré, one of Africa's most promising talents, is otherwise playful and filled with catchy electro grooves and catchy melodies.

It reflects the urban energy of modern Africa and the determined spirit of an independent artist who looks to her future with strength and optimism.

Titles by Dobet Gnahoré, extracts from the

Desert

Zalighéhi

Get up, 

Woman

Pat Kalla & Super Mojo.

© Felix

Then we

welcome

in the #Session Live for the release of the new

 at Pura Vita Sounds / Heavenly Sweetness.

Inspecting the packaging from every angle is useless, the precise composition is nowhere mentioned.

Neither list of ingredients, nor percentage, nor grammage.

Just a mention “Made from natural musical elements collected in Africa and South America”.

However, through its cardboard box, the Super Mojo radiates both mystical and supernatural powers that are attributed to it!

Developed by

, the voice of

the

is a musical potion combining the beneficial virtues of highlife, afrobeat or cumbia, which he associates with the power of funk, the smoothness of soul and with the highly dancing force of afro-disco synths.

A concentrate of references, it mixes African culture and French song to revive even the most stiffened legs.

The Super Mojo gives the dancers back the lost vitality!

Miracle elixir with a thousand and one properties, its rejuvenating benefits no longer need to be demonstrated.

Why ?

Because Pat Kalla is also a storyteller!

Skillful in handling the language, he has no equal in revealing the very essence of emotions.

The Super Mojo warms the heart and frees it from all that encumbers it!

Prodigiously sarcastic, his pronounced taste for humor, the imagery and the second degree make it a product guaranteed without any confrontation or destructive frontal attack.

The Super Mojo awakens consciousness!

The Super Mojo is the organic breathing of instruments that have remained confined to their covers for too long.

Bass that roar, keyboards and brass that mark the way to the dance floors that open in each of the pieces.

It is a poetic imagination, it is sharing that becomes the rule.

Doors that become impossible to close, the interior and exterior that barter, exchange and give.

Packaged in a fourteen-track format by

, it encapsulates the science of arrangement and the studio experience distilled by the dj-producer-beatmaker.

It is heat that spreads, smiles that appear, colors that burst.

The Super Mojo is an HYMN TO LIFE.

Pat Kalla & Super Mojo.

© Landry

Pat Kalla Live tracks or from the

Who did this to you?

  Live RFI

La vie c'est jolie 

(Feat David Walters) from the album

Sabrina

 Live RFI

Pride of Dad

 Live RFI

Sound 

(Replay)

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