Album Review: Zap Mama 'ReCreation'

The weekend is the time of relaxation and reflection, the two short days you have to yourself before you have to wake up on Monday morning and begin the daily grind over again. This is the time that you really want to chill and just be. Don't you wish that you could just hold on to that feeling forever and have it never end. Who wouldn't want to have that feeling everyday and hold on to it? For those that do, I suggest you listen to Zap Mama 'ReCreation.' This is the new album from Zap Mama the fusion band led by the amazing chanteuse, Belgium born Marie Daulne. It's an album that is made for those relaxing days spent alone or with a lover just enjoying the vibe of the day.

I wasn't very familiar with Zap Mama before this album so I didn't quite know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. The album is a mixture of many different sounds coming together to create a beautiful tapestry of music that anyone can vibe too. From Wiki: Daulne says her mission is to be a bridge between the European and the African and bring the two cultures together with her music. "What I would like to do is bring sounds from Africa and bring it to the Western world, because I know that through sound and through beats, that people discover a new culture, a new people, a new world." Zap Mama specializes in polyphonic, harmonic music with a mixture of heavily infused African instruments, R&B, and Hip-hop and emphasizes voice in all their music. "The voice is an instrument itself," says Daulne. "It's the original instrument. The primary instrument. The most soulful instrument, the human voice." She can't be more right.

'Vibrations' is a song that displays the bands eclectic sound fusion, it transitions back and forth between an up tempo vocal melody and down tempo into a smooth steady groove. I can imagine sitting in the middle of a village around a fire and watching tribal dancers move rhythmically to the beat. 'Hello To Mama' throws a little Afro-Cuban flavor to the mix, a very up tempo drum and horn laden track that brings to mind big band club music and salsa dancing. The album embraces you in its rhythm and doesn't let go, not that you would want it to, later it breaks down into the downright sensual. The amazing duet 'The Way You Are' is almost perfect and warms the soul with how these two amazing singers are vibin' with one another. Another interesting collaboration is 'Paroles, Paroles' with French actor Vincent Cassel. It's more spoken word piece set to music than song. The way the two trade lyrics off each other sounds so dope that I don't even care what they are saying, it's so damn sexy without the translation.

'ReCreation' is really good album and definitely one that should be in your collection, full of nice feel good songs. Not everything works, but it has enough of what does to make you feel good the whole day long. I suggest listening to it at work if you can because it will definitely bring you out of the gloomy funk of the daily grind and make you feel like you're having that relaxing weekend experience again. I'm going to go back and familiarize myself more with Zap Mama because this is music that everyone should have in their life.

JayTeeDee gives Zap Mama 'ReCreation' 6 out of 7 head nods.

Head Nod Scale
1=Don't waste your time like I did mine.
2=Waste your time like I did mine but I dare you to disagree.
3=Well, there was the single.
4=If it were a hand in spades there's "two and a possible".
5=It's a "good" album. Meaning at least 3 or 4 solid songs.
6=Really Good Project. Has the "Rewind Factor" more than once.
7=The number of completion. Great Album. Instant Classic.