ARTISTS

In an industry that thrives on young stars, Mangane has something to stand out. He will be sixty in 2024, and he is preparing to release a first album produced by a label, at a time when others are considering retirement. Which will not displease the most curious who should find their way around since this Afro-jazz is not quite in the right groove of the classics of the style. No, it is rather in the back roads that the music of Zoom Zemmatt - who gives his name to the album - is inscribed, in a dozen tracks that gather the sediments of a life spent in music, in the plural of its suggestive.

And yet, it was not written in advance for the one who was born in Thiès, a large city an hour's dr"ive from Dakar and the epicenter of the construction of the railway in the sub-region, in a family line of farmers. His father is a railway worker, his mother manages the household.

In the early days of Independence, the tradition that music should be practiced by griots was strong, but the young Ousseynou - his first name, Mangane being his last name - nevertheless dared, like others, to venture into what was not really a profession at the time. "I grew up in a neighborhood populated by people from the sub-region, Nigerians and Malians alike, who came to work on the construction of the railway.

In this multi-ethnic atmosphere, there were always cultural activities, and that's how I got into music! As a kid, he saw the legendary Rail Band of Bamako, among others. And he was lulled by Afro-Cuban music, that of Baobab, Number One and other Star Band. Not to mention Dieuf Dieul and the Royal Band, on a more traditional side, two bands from Thiès.
And at the same time, I also started listening to Afro-American and English music. Jazz, blues, folk, pop, everything passed through the ears of this young man who took theater classes in college, a lesson in humility he would say much later, and tried his hand at the guitar thanks to his uncles. It was also at his place that he settled when he went to live in Dakar in the early 1980s. Xalam and Touré Kunda were then two sources of inspiration for the man who joined the conservatory at the age of 22, where he would learn the balafon from a master, Balla Doumbia, as well as the basics of classical guitar. He was so keen on the guitar that it was not uncommon for him to play it in an air guitar style. A younger brother, in other words a friend from the same neighborhood in Dakar, would then give him an old six-string. He also gave me a book on chords, enough to start seriously, as an autodidact."

From then on, everything accelerated for the man who had already formed a group with young friends, between original compositions and offbeat covers. Other experiences in the early 1990s would follow, but it was with Nakodjé, of which he was one of the founding members in 1996, that his destiny changed gear. This group, whose name means vegetable garden, would offer him the opportunity to express the full potential of his musical personality. It was an atypical research project: we sought to reconcile the traditional and the modern, by highlighting instruments such as the balafon, the Fulani flute, the calabash, and by using them in a way other than during traditional meetings. The sanza, an instrument originating from a more southern Africa, would have its place there, alongside the drums, bass and sax.

Very quickly, this group in fusion, where the aforementioned modernity naturally combines with tradition, has a great echo in Senegal, and even beyond in West Africa. And soon in Europe where a record is released in 1998. It is also after a tour in Switzerland that he sets foot for the first time in Limoges, invited by the festival Les Francophonies. "When I arrived at the station, I was immediately won over by this city! He will stay there for a month and a half, multiplying concerts and workshops for children". He will soon meet love there.

Three years later, in 2001, Mangane settles there permanently. It is the beginning of a new life synonymous with a solo career. In the heart of France, the Senegalese will meet local musicians, while developing Guêw bi, a Senegalese musical ballad, a project of musical awakening to African cultures with children that continues twenty years later. All his experiences will fuel his own verve, as evidenced by a first self-produced album in 2011. Lann la, (text Y’a quoi?), meets with a first critical success. Which should have been confirmed in 2019, Lëkkëlô (text the link). Alas, Covid will unfairly not give this second album produced at his expense a chance to have the desired influence.

Four years later, here he is back in the stores, with an album that finally benefits from the support of a whole team of the most seasoned, starting with Jean-Michel Leygonie who, as programmer of the Éclats d’Email Jazz festival, invited Mangane on stage several times. This time, it was as boss of the Laborie Jazz label that he suggested he go into the studio in November 2022. "And when Jean-Michel asked me to see who to work with, I suggested the name Alune Wade. We obviously agreed!"

To be his junior, the bassist, composer and arranger, Alune Wade, will nevertheless bring him his experience in the matter, ensuring the arrangements of the sessions while suggesting the appropriate musicians.
We had preparatory meetings, where he suggested some ideas for arrangements and orchestrations. In addition to the two Senegalese, we find guitarist Anthony Jambon, Cuban percussionist Inor Sotolongo, drummer Benjamin Naud, saxophonist Hugues Mayot, Cuban trumpeter Carlos Sarduy Dimet and Valérie Belinga on the choir. The rich cast already says a lot about the aesthetic intentions of this album, an opening that plays beyond the clichés that stick to the skin of Afro-jazz. It is truly a new step, where I benefit from the expertise of these formidable musicians. Certainly, but his words full of humility must not mask his own qualities. Those of a composer who traces his path far from remote-controlled highways. A single note can make me leave to meet a melody!