This weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I will be playing a supporting role in Hééé Mariamou, a play/dance performance written by, directed, and starring Maimouna Coulibaly, Malian dancer/actor from Paris.  It will be at the Dance Mission Theater on the corner of 24th and Mission in San Francisco.  There will be lot’s Coupe Decale, Kuduro, Dancehall, Zouk, dancing, singing, and more French Urban sounds, as well as music by Malian legends such as Salif Keita, Oumou Sangare.  The dancing is amazing, and the energy is really live.  She also deals with many issues of African immigrant identity and growing up with a diverse cultural background, ideas that are shared with threads in my own thoughts/work.

Check the video trailer from my previous post, and an excerpt from this article that appeared in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle.

“My little sister, she’s 20 years old now,” Coulibaly says, “and I know that she’s not really sure of what she is exactly (African, French or Afro-French).”

Through “Mariamou,” Coulibaly says she’s hoping to shed some light on the conflicts she and others face. Her performance mixes a play with African urban dance forms, like N’Dombolo (Congo), and other styles of dance, including modern ballet and street jazz.

The piece is Coulibaly’s way of taking the best of both worlds after years of trying to make everybody happy.

“Now,” she says. “I choose to take only the positive things in each culture.”

Dakar in a lot of ways (right now at least) is the African city of my dreams. It’s not my ancestral homeland, but it feels like home to someone in between worlds like myself. A diverse cosmopolitan population, but a strong sense of cultural pride and deep traditional legacy. You have two strong different strains of identity making, the poetic pan-Africanist philosophies of Leopold Sedar Senghor mixed with the deep tradition of their unique African Islam, a mix of East and West for me that have come together to form a peaceful, fairly forward thinking, and welcoming nation.   It’s reflected in the music.  At any night of the week you can go out and enjoy a live show with mbalax infused blues, reggae, or salsa, an “African” club specializing in everything from Mbalax to Zouk, Coupe Decale to Funana, or a Euro-American lounge/nightclub playing European, American, and Caribbean Club Hits.

A Dakar "Beach Party" Hip Hop Club, with a West African wrestling match interlude

If you happened to be in town last Saturday, you could have caught me at K Club, playing Dancehall, Kuduro, Juke, and Southern Rap/R&B. I have to admit the night didn’t go off without it’s glitches, and I did get a little uncomfortable by the over romanticization of the US and Jamaica, just as I get uncomfortable about the reverse in the states, but I guess that’s what traveling and being a representative (again being in the middle) is all about.

The night was fun though. Sogui made his homecoming debut, and a lot of his old friends came out. The dance floor filled and emptied throughout the night, as I think folks were testing the waters a little bit with the new, new tunes that may have been unfamiliar. Proudly, my remix of Akon’s tune Right Now (Na Na Na) was one that was met with surprise and shouts of delight (pandering to the hometown crowd) and kicked off a Coupe Decale, Kuduro section that was the highlight of the night for me.

The night didn’t go off without its glitches, and the ones that did happen were quite interesting! I didn’t realize until someone told me that when I juggle a riddim of hip hop remixes or dancehall versions, it didn’t really matter unless the folks really knew the song, cause the lyrics weren’t in French. A big Homer Simpson “Doh!” went off in my head. I don’t know I wasn’t playing my Gwada Dancehall!   The electricity cut off several times during the night messing up the flow of the dance floor.  And, late in the night, some local rappers almost killed the night completely when they couldn’t control the feedback they were putting into the mic. Sogui turned to me and gave one of many, “This Is Africa’s.”

The industry intrigues me in Dakar, so much so that I’m thinking about going back soon to work, perhaps in a club, and at the same time perhaps do music production workshops at Africulturban in Pikine (Dakar’s South Bronx) a community Hip Hop organization I got linked up with through Mr. Ghislain Poirier.

Akon and Hip Hop have such a huge presence, but so do Youssou N’ Dour, and other more traditional artists.  Brick and Lace, who are signed to Akon’s label had flyers all over town for their show on Wednesday, and Titi played a show at local live club, Just for You on Sunday night.  As always representation and identity come back when I think about place.  Akon is such an interesting case of an African American, one I’ve mentioned here before. People hate his latest album, and say they don’t like him (for going too pop.) I’ve defended him often, and Eddie Stats even said I redeemed Akon for him, but just like any national idiosyncrasy, it can be at the same time a source of pride and embarrassment. I think Malik put it best by saying, “when I’m inside Senegal I get annoyed by Akon, but when I’m outside Senegal I’ll defend him to the death.” In reality what we see in Akon are all things that being African reflects/represents in us, all his contradictions are ones we share. After all, public figures are only more visible representations of ourselves.

As a final note, I think the documentary I Bring What I Love addresses some of these issues of representing a nation from Youssou N’Dour’s perspective. It’s opening this weekend in San Francisco with a special talk by the director this weekend only.

The fellas at Little Baobab have been talking up Nigerian Club music since Sogui’s mom visited Lagos and sent him a bunch of CD’s.  I like Bizzy Body, and 2face, and caught a couple tunes like Yahoozee and Gongo Aso, but haven’t been checking for stuff from Nigeria lately, so I’ve been meaning to check some of it out.  I definitely got caught sleeping the other night when DJ Steve threw on a crazy Naija jam by Wande Coal.

I did a little looking on the Internet, and found a mixtape, and a bunch of tunes by various Nigerian artists.  What I love about the Nigerian tunes is they are such a mash of styles from around the world, incorporating Soca, Juju, Akon and T-Pain rap singing, Afro-Beat, Coupe Decale, Zouk and even Reggaeton.  So in that spirit, this time at the Highlife we’ll be playing Naija Jams, Hip Hop and Club Music from around the world.

Come check out the Highlife this Thursday at Otis Lounge in San Francisco.  Chief Boima & Shawn Dub  10pm to 2am, No Cover!

“I don’t know why but I too have become infatuated with Afro-Portuguese music. Maybe it’s because I’m Sierra Leonean and the Portuguese were the first to colonize before the British, and some Portuguese words survived in Krio like “sabi.” Or, maybe it’s because I speak Spanish not French and the it is much easier for me to get the general meaning behind the Portuguese lyrics than songs in other languages. Or, maybe because when I first heard Kuduro it blew my mind, and as a dj I became obsessed with the music that moves your booty like the Chicago House I used hear to at our middle school dances, but has roots in music like the dance tunes I knew from the African parties of my parents’ generation. But, here I am today collecting anything I can get my hand on from Bahia to Lisbon to Luanda and beyond.

Here are two hip hop tracks that also blew my mind when I first heard them. They are from two hip hop artists from Angola.

The first is Das Primeiro whom I heard the first time on some hip hop compilations when I took a trip to Portugal, he also has a track on the Rough Guide to African Rap. I think that he lives in Europe somewhere now, (Amsterdam?) but he reps Angola, and has a monster flow, with the confidence and delivery that could stand up to any of the greats in any language. I like his use of samples and really seems to be aware of his cultural roots while maintaining a strong hip hop identity. I chose the song Mana Maria because it has a real nice guitar sample that reminds of some of the Kizomba tunes or the other guitar based tunes that I’ve heard from Angola.

The second is Sonho Africano from Hemoglobina two Angolan MC’s, who live in South Africa now. (?) I heard them first on DJ Edu’s show on BBC 1xtra. This song is my favorite African hip hop song, because it reps a bunch of different nations, as well as the dope lyric content about what a gwan in Africa. It also has a beautiful guitar sample, and the beat drops heavy! I haven’t tracked down their album yet, but writing this has reminded/inspired me to do so. If any one knows where I can get it, hit me up: boima [at] ironmilitis.com. There are ton of great rappers in Portuguese out there, not just from Angola and who all use cultural influences to make their own brand of hip hop, like Sir Scratch, Rappin’ Hood and Marcelo D2. Check em’ if you get the chance.”

Thanks, Boima.

Das Primeiro – Mana Maria
Hemoglobina – Sonho Africano