Afrodescendant – Bago, 2016

🥁🌍🎵🎺🎶 Like many talented artists, percussionist Bago has recorded little under his own name, compared to his countless collaborations (Pakatak, Ultramarine, Sakiyo, Kassav’, Tanya St-Val, Mario Canonge, etc.). In 2016, Afrodescendant was ‘only’ his third album. Here he builds a natural bridge between Africa and the Caribbean, with a host of musicians from both sides of the Atlantic. We sail between Creole jazz and Afro-jazz, the tibwa meets the djembe, zouk takes on Mandingo airs. From its historical origins in Gorée, it is indeed the whole Caribbean that Africa has irrigated, against its will, and that we find here, in Martinique of course, but also in Guadeloupe, Haiti and even with a few Cuban flavours. The return to the land of origin is reflected in the African ‘teranga’ – hospitality – and Bago covers the traditional Manssani Cissé, even slipping in a few lines of zouk!