Zap Mama

Friday, February 20th, 2009 | News

Maya Angelou – ‘Phenomenal woman’

“….its in the reach of my arms
the span of my hips
the stride of my step
the curl of my lips
Im a woman,
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
thats……”

From the misspelling of the artist “brandy” [during one of my youtube scavenger hunts] I was fortunate enough to stumble on this gem of a “oh heeellll yeah!” or else known as “Bandy, Bandy” by Zap Mama ft Erykah Badu.

Zap Mama and Erykah Badu – Bandy Bandy

Marie Daulne, the founder and leader of Zap Mama, was born in Republic of Congo the fourth child of a Walloon (French-speaking Belgian) father and a Bantu mother. Daulne was only a week old, when her father was attacked and killed by Simba rebels, who were opposed to mixed-race relationships. Pygmies rescued her family from the rebels and she pays homage to those pygmies in the song ‘Gati’ from the album, ‘Supermoon’.

With an eclectic history of influences including Etta James, Bob Marley, Run DMC & Beastie Boys to {Dualne and her sister’s} mother’s Congoan songs and French radio, Zap Mama was born. This polyphonic, harmonic music has a mixture of heavily infused African instruments, R&B, and Hip-hop with a strong emphasis on the traditional African harmonies.

Two decades later, seven albums, collaborations with Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common, Bahamadia & Jazzyfatnastees, and tracks featuring on blockbusters like ‘Mission Impossible’ & the recent art film, ‘What about me?‘, Zap Mama can be explained in just one word…… “dope”.

Not only does this woman’s beauty make you blush, and her wails get you high, Zap Mama is an evolution of the soul who never fails to get you movin’ like …..

“…like Bandy Bandy (the snake), wave your body…“

You can check out more from Zap Mama at:

www.zapmama.com

www.myspace.com/zapmama

www.zapmama.be