Zap mama: "Russian is one of my loved ones"

On December 29, the International House of Music will host the Jazz Zima Manor , at which the largest jazz Openair will remind himself of Anton Belyaev and Therr Maitz with a special acoustic program and the first concert of the African singer Marie Doln for a long time, which founded the vocal group of Zap Mama. The native of Zaira, who went to Belgium because of the civil war in her homeland, Marie Doln with her group became a real sensation in the world of World Music in the nineties. In her music in equal proportions, African vocal traditions, jazz, soul and electronics mixed. Zap Mama records were published by the Lyube Burna Burn Luaka Bop, and among the musicians who collaborated with Marie Doln at different times, there were different people as David Gilmore, Alanis Maurisett, Eric Badu and the Great DJ Karl Craig. On the eve of the concert, Yegor Antoshchenko contacted Marie Doln and asked her about a protracted creative vacation and further plans.

Zap Mama - "Brrrlak"

- You have not released new records for a long time - seven years, if I am not mistaken. What have you been doing all this time?

- Yes, that is so. In Europe, the last album was released in 2010, in America and the rest of the world-in 2009. You see, I worked without stops and breaks for 25 years in a row. This is my first vacation. I returned to a normal life, a family. My daughter was twenty, I began to spend more time with her - now she lives on her own. But I also wrote music, of course. I was interested in how creative people get inspiration from ordinary life, from going to the market for groceries, talking with neighbors, the simplest things ... Now I have material for three albums, so next year I will lay out a single behind the single.

-You moved from New York to Brussels; How did this affect your life?

“Of course, it’s calmer here.” In New York, you are constantly hanging out, you meet someone-in Brussels you can do a house, a private life. In 2014, my mother died, I decided that in her last years I should be with her as much time as I could. This is another reason why the break in my career was so dragged out.

- How did you compose music at this time, what did the process look like?

- I always come up with all the parties in a voice, a Cappella . Shocks, bass, string - I sing these parties and send them to the musicians. And then together we decide how it will all sound.

- You still teach vocals, you have a rather unusual technique. Tell us about her.

- I try to make people understand that the voice is a universal tool, that it is created not only for the melody in the song. The next album will be entirely executed a Cappella -And at concerts I connect the audience: someone sings bass parties, someone imitates drums and so on. On my workshops, people feel relaxed, because not everyone can take and act as a soloist. And we give any person the opportunity to take the place in the general choir that he himself wants. If you feel that you are a cool bitboxer, please. If you want to sing bass, excellent. If you think that you are universal, then you can go from group to group and try yourself in different qualities.

Zap Mama Workshop Fragment

- What people come to you?

- The most diverse - all ages, sexes and races. This is the charm of these classes. Of course, on each particular workshop it is different: in UCla in Los Angeles there were more young people, in New York-more men. But people are very different.

- Will the music on your future three albums be different stylistically?

- The first will be more focused on the young audience, I would call his Dance A style Cappella . Well, or for those who, in principle, appreciate voice music. It will be alive to remind what I do on my vocal workshops: people will dance and at the same time sing their parties. On the second plate there will be jazz and soul played with a traditional band. And on the third-only vocals, accompanied by any one tool, for example, violin. It will be quiet music for the home. A little bossan, a little classic.

DJ Krush Feat. Zap Mama - "Danger of Love"

- It seems that you have material for any institution - a club, a concert hall, a chamber scene.

- Yes, and on the first single, we recorded the song in three versions - a cappella , with an electric group and in acoustics. I always loved to move from one genre to another. Some people concentrate on one thing, but I am interested in making music for both a party and for a calm home listening. The only thing I will not do now is to go to exhausting tours for ten months. This is over, they do not leave time for life and compositions of music. Several concerts per month are enough.

- At what point on Earth did you want to go with a concert or just like a tourist?

- I am very interested in Asia - simply because it is a completely different culture, far from both African and European. So I would really like to visit Japan again. Recently I was in Greece-this, of course, is also Europe, but it has something distinctive, something special. And I love Russia - its architecture, people. They seem very elegant to me.

When they ask me what my favorite language is, I say that in the first place - Portuguese, and in the second - Russian.

- Is it true?

- Yes! And the Russian language is one of my loved ones. When they ask me what my favorite language is, I say that in the first place - Portuguese, and in the second - Russian. Combinations of consonants, the way you pronounce "P". Russian has some amazing melodism that I have never heard anywhere else.

- What will you perform in Moscow? This is such a holiday concert, New Year's Eve.

- I do not have special festive songs, but in my music the most important place is occupied by a voice, and singing since ancient times is one of the main components of the holiday. Unfortunately, people now sing less when they celebrate Christmas or New Year; I try to remember at my concerts how great it is to sing.

Zap Mama & Erykah Badu - "Bandy Bandy"

- What are your sensations from the outgoing year? It feels like we stepped into some new era- Brexit , Trump’s victory, fatigue from globalism, multiculturalism in the form in which it existed in recent decades.

- It was impossible to believe that Trump defeated. I could not fall asleep until six in the morning, called my friends in the States, asked: "Have you voted at all?" The big mistake of the media was that this clown cannot win in principle. Perhaps that is why many did not go to vote - everyone believed that Clinton would win. Let's see what will happen next: it does not seem to me that Trump is really such an extreme that the American media show it. Media is often exaggerated. He spoke many things that seemed unthinkable in the States, but this country has powerful institutions. In general, I have nothing against conservatism - there is nothing wrong with the fact that you seek to save what you are building: your garden, house, family, and so on. Another thing is extremism. In Belgium, extreme right glasses are typed - but this does not happen from the intolerance of people. It’s just that everyone is scared by terrorist acts, afraid of migrants. On the other hand, Belgium would not be so rich if it were not for the resources of her colony Congo - Uranus, Cobalt, Gold and People, Human Resources. We have one world - we need each other.