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CD Review
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Town & Village, CD Review >>
Dobet Gnahoré's multilingual songs on "Na Afriki," meaning "To Africa" (on Cumbancha) represent the singer's decision to create a multi-cultural portrait of her continent, highlighting its political and social issues. Gnahoré grew up in a village on the Ivory Coast, but at an early age she founda mentor in Werewere Liking, the noted Cameroonian, playwright and novelist who founded Ki Yi Mbock Centre for Cultural Exchange.
She has a lilting voice and the instrumental work on the album is just as alluring. The instruments and rhythms come from different parts of Africa and the song lyrics were written in French and then translated into various languages, including Arabic, Wolof (from Senegal), Lingala (from Kinshasa), Fon (from Benin), and Malinké (from West Africa).
The Singer has admitted that she is not fluent in any of the African languages featured on her album, basically even losing her native Dida when she began studying French at the Ki Yi Mbock Centre. Her songs deal with pressing issues, like the plight of women, massacres, the exploitation of children, and intra-family greed and violence.
By BARRY BASSIS 09/27/07
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