JULIA SARR & PATRICE LAROSE

One of the most fascinating new collaborations on the global music scene has to be the meeting of Senegalese singer Julia Sarr and French flamenco guitarist Patrice Larose. 

Not long ago, each performed in the backing bands of more established artists, Sarr with Lokua Kanza and Larose with Marcio Faraco, yet their album, Set Luna, sparkles with a new fusion that is fueled with genuine star power.  And much like the duo’s patron saint, Youssou N’Dour, who looked outside Senegalese music for 2004’s magical Egypt, the duo sacrifices nothing of their creative vision as they bridge cultures that are continents apart. 

“We only met a few months ago at a concert we were both a part of,” Sarr recalls, “but the idea of combining Senegalese music and flamenco was interesting to us; the passion in the singing is so similar and the rhythms are as well.”

“We had a chat at the end of the gig,” Larose adds, “and I loved her voice.”

Sarr’s dry sultry voice is hard to miss.  Her background in African music, pop, jazz and gospel serves her well as she adeptly moves in time with the mixed accompaniment; the two don’t restrict themselves to flamenco with an African vibe.  Sarr’s phrasing is impeccable and skilled.  Even if the words are foreign, she’s soulful and easygoing as she projects a sense of wonder, beauty, joy and playfulness. 

Recorded mostly at home with the two of them and a few friends helping out, the album has an almost romantic sense of intimacy.  Larose accompanies on acoustic guitar, highlighting flamenco’s African roots in his strums and bounding melodies.  He rarely solos in the conventional sense, yet he’s constantly playing, adding different accents as he goes in much the same way a jazz rhythm section player would.

Set Luna’s 12 tracks are incredibly varied, but still focused.  The two duet on “Xale Du Ndaw,” which sounds like it could be reinterpreted version of a Stevie Wonder gem.  Percussion is used sparingly to add more drive to certain songs, and there are solo turns as well.  While songs are straightforwardly acoustic for the most part, sometimes they take on bits of electronic ambiance that add a haunting element to the already noir-ish tone of the collaboration. 

So impressed was N’Dour that he invited the duo to make their U.S. debut during his five-day October residency at Carnegie Hall.  While N’Dour’s appearance was a highlight of the live set, Sarr and Larose never seemed to be lost.  Larose started the performance with a solo piece played on a bright pink guitar.  The music was beautiful, but the guitar put the audience on notice that this would not be your average set of music. 

Sarr and percussionist Alex Tran van Tuat soon joined and they began working through the album.  Without the studio production of the album, the trio sounded even more organic, playing their new fusion with an ease that would seem to come from years of mixing styles, instead of months. 

“I live in Paris and I feel that I live in Paris,” Sarr says of the duality in life and her journey to music.  “I feel Senegauloise.  I live in two cultures.  I came to study journalism and French literature at the Sorbonne, but music became an essential part of my life.”

It’s in the music that Sarr and Larose found their way through life and to each other, of that there is no doubt.

Tad Hendrickson