ZAZOU/BIKAYE/CY1 "Noir et Blanc" (BEL,CRAMMED DISC,1983)

In a way, this album is, along with AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE`s "my life in a hole in the ground" a sort of european answer to the amazing ENO - BYRNE collaboration. This westworld-african hybrid born in Brussels in 1983 when avant analog electronics by musicians called CY1 (?), fused with Zairean singer BONY BIKAYE under inspiration / supervision / direction of great HECTOR ZAZOU. Trully, only a director with Zazou`s vision & skills could hold control of such a "boiling" encounter between different worlds. The result shows up the several origins and inclinations without being a cultural pastiche.On the contrary (except few easy ethno-dance moments) it points towards new, unusual, avantgardish yet "legible", world-futuristic forms... The eclectic group of musicians who also involved to this record (Vincent Kenis, Fred Frith, Marc Hollander,Gilles Martin a.o.), along with the pure kindness of african soul explain by themselves the undiminished interest of "NOIR et BLANC", long after its avant art lessons became common ground for modern music.

LISTEN HERE (75mb)