My esteemed colleague Paul "Parkinson" Meme, the Dick Dastardly of UK Dance, and Acid House Legend (some of these rumours!) wanted me to answer a few questions about the trip here. I was in two minds as whether this was a good idea, feeling a wee bit precious about this week, but this is a blog, and part of the fun of blogs is being in discourse with your peers, not always setting one's sights for one's naval. Gosh it's all VERY flattering! I've managed not to repeat myself too much, and in any case a bit of repetition might prove useful to ram some points home. I look lovely in blue.
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Can you clarify what must be the biggest question – DID AFRICAN PEOPLE LIKE TECHNO? Did they get down to it? Did they “get it”? Did they think you were a bunch of crazy whiteys who were there to be indulged for the entertainment value but not to be taken seriously, musically speaking?
Techno was no big deal, the Africans we met were totally unfazed by it. Had heard it before. The little kids loved it. A bit older (over 18) and people had a slightly cooler reaction. Hipsters! The only shame with the encoded film as it stands is that you can't see the INCREDIBLE dancing people were doing. That's the best case for showing how people liked it. YES, in short.
Were they hip hop fans and if so did that mean they had a good grasp of techno – or did they understand it anyway?
Definitely into Hip-Hop (you heard Trikont's Africa Raps Comp?) Hugely into Ragga. They knew Techno, but were mostly interested in beats as a setting, so we got drafted into their way of things, in effect providing the riddim.
Which records went down best where?
People liked everything, though the "harder" euro stuff, like that track Mike played on the beach didn’t really go down too well, and the Detroit and Chicago tracks were basically more popular than anything else.
Didn’t they find all this instrumental wibbling a bit austere compared to the vocal-centric warmth of much African music?
No. The more traditional African music is "emptier" and “weirder” than straight African Pop. Bouba was of the Bambara tribe who inhabit Mali, Senegal, Guinea and The Gambia and performed in a big traditional troupe. We used to listen to tapes of his outfit. I think he had the same relationship to it as we might have with going to Church at Christmas, does that takes the sex out of the "Techno-Primitive" angle?
Did any of this dance music stuff make sense without, like, the drugs?
Well we WERE smoking weed and drinking. Yeah of course it made sense! The thing is about the mass ecstacy abandon thing is that there's no real place for that in the culture. The way our crew INSISTED on running things, form a big circle and people take turns dancing in the middle, was the form. That's how things are done out there "traditionally." What was weird was how the whole cultural imperialism angle collapsed when we were out there, we were slotted into their way of doing things both in the way the dance was run and with the music, which was effectively substituted for djembe (drums) in the equation djembe+singers+crowd=party. Though of course on the other hand, Bouba and Waya were like our MC cheerleaders, opening people up to the experience. In the clubs things weren't organised "traditionally" like that, but clubbing per se was a very cosmopolitan and smart thing to do, only available to a mere fragment of the population. You'd dress up, and wouldn't get too "messy."
Did any of the locals want to have a go on the decks? (I assume Africa has DJs…) If so did you let them?
There are quite swish clubs in Dakar. El Hadji Ndiaye, who was the other superstar in Etoile de Dakar alongside Youssou N'Dour showed us his club outside the city, and it was very smart indeed. We played another very chic club in Dakar (with an AMAZING record collection!) but it was empty. They mucked about a bit on the decks though largely people were much more interested in taking the mic, singers and rappers, everyone had a bash. I think Jamaica's way with "hi-tech" is the way it will go/has gone out there. Electronic music as a backing for vocals, not necessarily as a stand-alone, though that would be thrilling.....
What was the biggest crowd you played to?
About 200-300 at the street-rave in Dakar.
Did you pull?
No. I was going out with the DJ’s sister.
Did you REALLY look like SUCH a miserable fucker all the way through the trip?
Yes. Though inside I was grinning.
Posted by Woebot at October 2, 2003 08:48 AM