Bibi Tanga was a diplomat’s son, born in Africa and raised in Moscow, Paris, Washington CD and New York. His international upbringing is implicit in the diversity of styles he bring to his music, combining traditional West African grooves with the rhythms of jazz, hip hop, break beat, funk, soul, Afro-funk and more. With his band, the Selenites – named after the lunar inhabitants of HG Wells’ The First Men In The Moon – Tanga delivers another love letter to the global African culture he identifies with.
“On this album, the band was in a sunny place,” Tanga says. “On our first two albums, the moon was our central symbol figure. This time it’s the sun.” 40 degrees of Sunshine was a collective effort, with songs emerging spontaneously from the bands’ studio jams. Le Professeur Inlassable set the mood with his loops, then the band – Arthur Simonini on violin and keyboards, Rico Kerridge on guitar and Arnaud Biscay on drums – created musical soundscapes for Tanga’s melodies and poetic lyrics. They tracked the album in a few weeks, creating an energetic, free flowing sound that makes it pulse with vibrant life.
The sing-along chorus of “Laughing Song” is taken from the words of poet William Blake and marries his exuberant vision to an equally uplifting funky propulsive groove. Le Professeur’s popping bass and Kerridge’s jazzy comped chords support Tanga’s lighthearted vocal. “Kangoya” is sung in Sango, Tanga’s native tongue. Kangoya is palm wine and its skittering, polyrhythmic beat brings to mind the liberating effects of fine drink shared with good friends. The quiet ambience of “Dark Funk” features a sinuous bass line, Congolese guitar arpeggios and suggests Prince mellowing out with Funkadelic.
The title track is a sensual, soulful love song that tips its hat to Curtis Mayfield with minimal backing supplied by finger snaps and rippling guitar arpeggios. The galloping soukous/Afrofunk of “Banda a gui koua” is an energetic track guaranteed to get you moving, while “My Heart Is Jumping” rides a familiar James Brown vamp with tasty clattering guitar work by Kerridge, mysterious, swooping bass accents by Le Professeur and Tanga’s poetic rap. On 40 degrees of Sunshine, Tanga’s global fusion is smooth and effortless, the sound of a new generation that makes music for the world as much as world music.
Bibi Tanga was born in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, but the family’s globetrotting lifestyle gave him a cosmopolitan outlook from a very young age. “I remember the first time that I realized I wasn’t white,” Bibi recalls “I was four years old, in Moscow, and the idea of race, of color, just hadn’t occurred to me. I felt like an outsider until I was 10 and my parents returned to Paris.”
When the family settled in the suburbs of Paris, Tanga became a musical omnivore devouring British new wave, African pop, and American blues and R&B in equal doses. In his teen years, Bibi taught himself guitar, bass and saxophone. He even took up tap dancing. “My father had a lot of records and I listened to everything – Franco and Tabu Ley from Congo, Fela from Nigeria and Bembeya Jazz from Guinea. I loved James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley, disco, funk, soul, reggae, ska, R&B. There’s a heritage of black music from around the world and I’m the heir to it.”
In 2000, Tanga teamed up with French funk collective Malka Family and made his first album Le vent qui souffle. In 2003, he met Professeur Inlassable (The Tireless Professor), another musician with a global vision, and cut Yellow Gauze, his international debut. Le Professeur and Tanga have been working together ever since and Le Professeur’s input is a big part of 40 degrees of Sunshine, Tanga’s most polished and poetic effort. Tanga and the Selenites will be touring heavily to support its release.
Request CD promo or check out the album here: http://snd.sc/t3yiYO
TOUR DATES
July 22 NYC Central Park Summerstage
July 24 Washington DC
July 25 Chicago – Mayne stage
July 26 Seattle – Triple Door/Jazz Alley
July 27 SF – The Independent
July 28 Los Angeles – Grand Performances