Chronic
The Good Ones, the Rwandan land in vocal harmonies
Album from The Good Ones, "Rwanda, you should be loved". © DR
12/18/2019
With Rwanda You Should Be Loved is writing a new episode in the beautiful story of The Good Ones, a multiethnic trio from the land of a Thousand Hills whose acoustic repertoire anchored in the earth now crosses oceans and cultures, under the leadership of the American producer Ian Brennan.
Hazard ? Destiny? Whatever name you give it, The Good Ones meeting with Ian Brennan belongs to these events which seem so highly improbable that one is always astonished to know that they could have occurred, as much as one s 'rejoices. The planet is vast, and the talents ignored are innumerable, in the most remote corners, but also in town.
In Rwanda, The Good Ones has been making music for decades, for the pleasure of singing and playing together, to express their emotions, far from commercial considerations. A group remained confidential for a long time, without exposure, known to a few and whose members have been dating since the late 70s, when they were children. The formula ? Guitar, voice, percussion, with basic instruments, borrowed here and there.
Music collector in the tradition of ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, American producer Ian Brennan undertook his first trip to this Central African country in 2009. "We had been looking for local music for two weeks, but we didn't "hadn't found anything that was surprisingly original. In the past two days, we were lucky enough to get to know The Good Ones through another musician we had met," recalls the man who at that time, had not yet been awarded a Grammy Award for his collaboration with the Tuings of Tinariwen.
First two albums
The blow of heart is immediate. Ian Brennan immediately records a first album, faithful to the least intrusive approach to field recording that can be. A second, Rwanda Is My Home , follows in 2015, a year after the group's first performance (in quartet) abroad, in this case at Womad. This time, the trio has just discovered the United States during the months of September and October 2019, to present their third album entitled Rwanda, You Should Be Loved .
Of the forty songs written by the fifties Adrien Kazigira, the voice of the group and its main protagonist, the twelve retained in fine have a common scent: it smells of earth, it also smells of church in song, it smells of material simplicity of existence, with its burden of scars that modestly hide the worst trauma.
"This is real roots music . Adrien is still a farmer. His music was born from his land and is an integral part of his daily life. It is something he does to have fun at night, instead of watch TV, since there is no electricity " , explains the experienced producer, who had the idea of giving the songs titles in English, even if the lyrics are in Kinyarwanda, to summarize the content : Life Is Hard , Despite It All I Still Love You Dear Friend , My Smartest Friend Has Lost His Mind …
To underline the universality of the catchphrases of the main songwriter, Ian Brennan suggested to a few international musicians that he rubs shoulders with to enter the world of Adrien Kazigira: Tunde Adebimpe of the atypical American rock group TV On The radio ( heard also in the past with Tinariwen or Amadou and Mariam), guitarist Nels Cline (Wilco), Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine)… Just a few additional touches tactfully added to the board.
They give it more relief, slightly widen the sound palette. And above all, these interventions do not distort the authenticity of the original inspiration, the very essence of The Good Ones songs which have this ability to speak to everyone and seem so familiar.
The Good Ones Rwanda You Should Be Loved (Anti-records) 2019
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By: Bertrand Lavaine
The Good Ones
Rwanda - African music - album