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CD Interview
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PRI The World, CD Interview >>
Our Global Hit today is not about depth. It's about distance -- and how music can bridge a gap of thousands of miles. The World's Marco Werman has the story of Papa Noel. >>>>>> Papa Noel is how you say Santa Claus in French. But we're not talking about Father Christmas here. We're talking about an African musician. His real name is Nedule Montserrat. He was born in 1940 -- in what was then the Belgian Congo... on Christmas Day. That's how he got the nickname, Papa Noel.
Now -- if the music you're hearing sounds a bit -- Caribbean -- well there's a good explanation for that. Papa Noel grew up at a time when Cuban music was all the rage in Congo. His mother used to play mambo records -- and Cuban rhythms played on the radio all the time.
Papa Noel launched his musical career by teaching himself to play Cuban songs and a local style known as Congolese rumba. It's not surprising, this Congo and Cuba connection. The bond is centuries deep.
Slaves brought ritual African drumbeats to Cuba. Musicians there fused those drumbeats with the folk rhythms that Spanish colonists brought to Cuba. Records and radio broadcasts then took the original African sound back to the continent like a boomerang. >>>>>>> A few years ago, Papa Noel decided it was time to go to the source. He traveled to Havana. He cried while walking the streets there. He said it felt like a homecoming.
Papa Noel's new CD is called Café Noir. It features Papa Noel playing alongside several Cuban musicians. The album was recorded where the performers felt most inspired: the center of Havana.
To Hear Full Interview Follow The Go Link 05/10/07 >> go there
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