Tiken Jah Fakoly leads final showcase charge


The opinions have been nigh-unanimous. This 11th WOMEX has been one of the most user-friendly editions ever. Concentrated in a five-minute walking radius, with the giant glistening larva, peanut or caterpillar design called the Sage at its centre, Gateshead has hosted the 2,600 participants with consummate ease. The claustrophobic trade fair in the car park has not been split all over the place like in Essen. The local and WOMEX staff have allied experience with friendliness and efficiency. And, most importantly, the acoustics have finally matched the artistic demands – setting aside the short glitch that short-circuited a part of the Saturday afternoon concert by Debashish Bhattacharya.

Bhattacharya was in riveting form. The Indian offered spectators a full gamut of slide-guitar techniques on his three handmade guitars, transforming and galvanising the Hindustani ragas he has been learning for 40 years. Debashish is 43 years old… Reunion Island accordionist René Lacaille was the surprise guest to join the guitarist for the climax, a song entitled “Joy”. And that was the dominant emotion the audience took away with them from this memorable showcase.

For those wishing to escape the merry bedlam of the trade fair, WOMEX organised yet again a series of film screenings. Today they included two outstanding documentaries linking society and history to music. “Quintal do Semba” describes the roots of the semba musical tradition with the major exponents of this Angolan music. The documentary is part of a project aimed at revitalising a joyful style that has survived decades of war. “Sufi soul – the mystical music of Islam”, meanwhile, is a highly ambitious study of the music of this religion that is steeped in tolerance, exchange and pluralism. Beautifully shot in Syria, Turkey, Pakistan and Morocco, director Simon Broughton has made a powerful statement on the diverse musical forms these beliefs take, as well as the social and political roles they still assume.

Politics was never far from the music of Tiken Jah Fakoly. The tall and lean reggaeman from Côte d’Ivoire unquestionably won the audience vote for WOMEX’s most danceable and energy-packed showcase. The articulate artist is arguably one of “French” Africa’s most popular musicians and he now seeks to seduce audiences further afield. His riveting performance was closely followed by German DJ Shantel. The NRFH hall swayed to his Balkan-drenched grooves and the stage creaked under the weight of his unexpected guests: half the audience were up there swaying to Shantel’s mix of funk, ballads and electronica.

Just a stone’s throw away Brazilian Marcelo D2 kept up the frenetic rhythms. One of the leading voices in Latin American hip hop, the MC slickly allied his break beats with samba, accompanied by his faithful DJ Alexandre Lopes. Les Boukakes were also in the mixing mood, driving the audience at breakneck speed with their Rock ‘n’ Rai. Bringing the tempo down a notch or three, Franco Beninois Julien Jacob weaved his crooning magic with the imaginary language that has become his trademark.

These were the highlights of a mixed showcase bag that divided the participants on everything but one point: the immaculate sound quality in each concert hall.

Daniel Brown