More Related Content
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked (20)
Soul Trader
- 2. ERIC SOUL INTERVIEW SEPTEMBER鐃NOVEMBER2010 35 rouble, chaos, con-fyoo-shon, says Eric Soul in a thick French accent leaning back with his beanpole limbs draped over the banquette of a non-descript London restaurant, Wahala! Wahala! All around us suited and booted o鍖ce managers murmur over bland lunches. Eric sticks out like the roller coaster in an otherwise boring amusement park. Im all about Wahala! he says referring to the Yoruba word for problems, You know why? cause Im here to 鍖ip the script. Africa is used to problems. I want to turn the word in to something positive through music. Born Kirengara Karenga in Rwanda, the son of well-known folk singer Cecile Kayirebwa, Eric is one of a new-breed of second-generation European Africans showing an interest in and promoting the musical and pop cultural in鍖uences of home. His show Wahala broadcast every Saturday afternoon on VoxAfrica, throughout Sub-Saharan Africa is a crash-course in contemporary African music created by Africans in Africa and in the Diaspora. Wahala bridges nations and generations with a Pan-African perspective. In the last few years weve seen African musicians burst out of the world music category and onto the mainstream conscience. The 鍖rst ever MTV African Music Awards were launched, Fela! The musical is a major success on Broadway. 2010s summer anthem was Shakiras Its time for Africa. Time will tell if its just a fad but Eric is determined for it not to be. Raised in Belgium on a diet of Fab Five Freddy, Yo! MTV Raps and Michael Jackson, Eric trained as a DJ and street dancer moving to the UK in the 1990s with a dance troupe. There was a huge music movement going on at that time, he says, It was the start of hard house, garage, and drum n bass. We toured all the big warehouse clubs in the UK like The Hacienda and Cargo. I was blown away by the UK club scene. For Eric the 90s were a 鍖rst-hand lesson in the power of music in in鍖uencing mainstream perspectives. The realisation coincided with an invitation to DJ at a club in Kigali just two years after the war. I had been away from Rwanda for twenty 鍖ve years, he says, it was emotional meeting people who stayed in Rwanda during the war and who knew me when I was a kid. I connected with myself. The Kigali club night was an enormous success. The 鍖rst thing people want to do when peace replaces war time, he says, is celebrate. The club was packed and atmosphere intense. People were still at the early stages of the healing process and projecting all this hope on to me, asking me to start a radio station or open a club. I felt overwhelmed and decided to come back to London. Back in London Eric studied musical engineering and production and built a name as a DJ going on to share a stage with the likes of The Prodigy and Akon but the experience of re-visiting Rwanda didnt leave him. Young black people used to ask me why I spoke French or where Rwanda was, he says, All these questions became a trigger for my crusade. I was shocked to realise second or third generation Africans Eric Soul, London-based DJ, cultural activist and founder of Wahala TV on why his company 'Afrogroov,' isn't just a concept but a global music revolution. WORDS EmmaWoodhouse PHOTOGRAPHY JonathanPerugia
- 3. INTERVIEW ERIC SOUL 36 SEPTEMBER鐃NOVEMBER2010 didnt know much about their heritage. The black community was really divided. In other parts of Europe my peers were proud to say they were from Nigeria, Senegal or the Ivory Coast. In London they would say they were from Harlseden or Stratford. They would say Im British but my parents are from Africa. Traditional African music was for their parents. The kids were in to cars, bling and American hip hop. Afrogroov was born as a club night that bridged the gap between traditional music and contemporary urban sounds. Now its a collective and the production company behind Wahala. Afrogroov is huge, says Eric, its a lifestyle. As soon as British Nigerians who are defensive about their Britishness hear Afrobeat with a contemporary sound they are straight on the dance鍖oor. When they see their traditional music being interpreted in a new way you can see their curiosity being triggered. As a DJ Eric is keeping old-fashioned music alive and relevant in the same way American rappers have done with Motown and Soul; The Fugees singing Roberta Flack or Jay-Z sampling James Brown. I thought about all the music that we had in the 50s, 60s and 70s in Africa, he says, I wanted to sample it and rework it. This is all going to start happening. People are going to rap over it, sample it, sing over it. Musicians are going to wake up and its going to be mayhem. Clips of Wahala are infectious. You can feel a movement bubbling up just watching it. In the style of Yo! MTV Raps its all jaunty camera angles and high energy; big ups and high-鍖ves from Yabba Funk, Nneka, Mpho, and Knaan. Clips report on live music, spoken word, 鍖lm and workshops. So is this interest in new music from Africa just a fad - Something to mark the 鍖ftieth anniversaries of a number of countries, or part of the World Cup zeitgeist? What we are seeing is a cultural shift, says Eric, People are less in denial of what it means to be African. Even that concept is bizarre. Africa is an entire continent with 52 different countries! I started Afrogroov and Wahala to provide a structure to the music and give it economic relevance. I can 鍖ll a dance鍖oor with African music but dont have the market to publish the product. I felt it was important to document the impact that African music is having. If you want to know what was happening in the jazz era or in Harlem in the 60s you can 鍖nd a ton of archive footage. I needed to create a way to document what it happening now. There needs to be archive for people to see how this African music is coming about, changing and evolving beyond Youssou NDour and Fela. Afrogroov busts stereotypes and makes connections. I am responding to a vital need. Watch Wahala at VoxAfrica.com THE NEXT BIG THING Eric Souls 5 musicians to watch out for KNaan This talented hip-hop artist is popular but its di鍖cult for him to hit the mainstream. The media and music industry seem to sideline him. He should be selling millions. Simphiwe Dana This soulful, jazzy Xhosa singer with in鍖uences ranging from Salif Keita to Nina Simone has a voice like honey Shad K Kenyan-born Shadrach Kabango's Kanye-esque sound has mainstream appeal combined with poetic lyrics. 'The Old Prince' received a nomination for rap recording of the year Daara J Senegalese rap trio in鍖uenced by Grand Master Flash and The Furious Five, Afro-Cuban rhythms, perform in English, French, Spanish, and Wolof. Carlou D. Senegalese prot辿g辿 of Youssou NDour is a mystical and spiritual lyricist and dancer. Afrogroov is huge, its a lifestyle. As soon as second and third generation British Nigerians hear Afrobeat with a contemporary sound they are straight on the dance鍖oor