WOMAD

Gangbe Brass Band

From Benin

When the French group Lo’Jo were attending a music and theatre festival in Bamako, the capital of Mali, a few years ago they met and befriended an eager bunch of young horn players and percussionists who had driven the 1000+ kilometres to Bamako from Cotonou in Benin in a beat-up old van over some of the worst roads in Africa. It was a feat of dedication that is characteristic of The Gangbé Brass Band, all of whom were accomplished jazz musicians before they came together in 1994 in their hometown of Cotonou.Since then the group have toured throughout West Africa and France, delighting audiences with their afro-beat flavoured take on traditional songs and rhythms of Benin powered by funky tight horn arrangements, hi-octane rhythms, jazzical flavours and chants in Yoruba, Fon, Goun and Creole.A mini CD album was released by Gangbé on Lo’Jo’s own label last year and the two groups went on a triumphant tour of France together, the African flavours of the former complementing the polyglot originality of the latter perfectly. ‘Gangbé’ means ‘metal’ in the Fon language and this is the best metal music you’re likely to hear all year.