New from Heavenly Sweetness: "Hymne à la Vie' , Pat Kalla's second full-length LP forthcoming on Heavenly Sweetness is not only as the title has it, a hymn to life, it's also a fine showcase of his band, the Lyon-based groovers Le Super Mojo and a select group of guests from West Africa (DjeuhDoah, Doctor Lass).
Parisian singer Lieutenant Nicholson joins Djeuh Doah to perform a touching duet on the closer and West Indies singer/songwriter - and fellow Heavenly Sweetness artist - David Walters shines on the LP in a lilting pop-funk number drenched in a luxurious groove.
Add to this the delicate, sophisticated production pallette of Guts - another Heavenly Sweetness label mate - and you have a release of subtle, satisfying power.
Throughout his multi-decade musical career, the singer/songwriter and MC born Patrice Kalla N'Galle (his Cameroonian father named him after the assassinated Congolese political leader, Patrice Lumumba) has created music that responds to his African heritage in strikingly creative and innovative ways.
Pat Kalla's music is a unique mix of African groove and ‘Chanson Française’ with a naïve poetry you can find in African tales. He is also a vessel to convey the musical culture of his ancestors: the Cameroonian musician, Manu Dibango's ‘Soul Makossa’ is a strong influence for the artist. In 1996, Kalla was taught how to play West African percussion instruments - the dun dun, djembé in traditional, polyrhythmic styles - using this knowledge to his recordings with his first group, Boulfalé.
Indeed, there is a lightness to much of Hymne à la Vie - both in terms of instrumentation, the light picking guitar and punctured drums - that resembles movement of a dance; moreover, this music is made for the stage, and a dancing crowd before it."
Out May 28 on CD/LP/digital
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