AFRO PSYCHEDELICA BAND SISELANBONGA
MUSICAL ROYALTY
This is a bittersweet moment for me. After more than a decade on interviewing some of my favorite and most inspiring creatives in the world. I’ve decided to take a break from the platform. I am learning to disconnect more and more from the digital world and wanting to go back to basics, like turning a page of a book with my hands, an action I have not done in a long time. That said, this is not goodbye, but just a break. I leave on a high note with an incredible interview with the following band that absolutely blow my mind! So excited for this opportunity and super happy to share the following with you my lovely audience. Meet the Afro -Psychedlica band SISELABONGA. When the three of them met for the very first time at a project called Forest Jam in Madagascar – a fellow musician who happened to be listening in on their conversation finally interrupted them and asked, “What is this ‘Siselabonga’ that you guys are constantly talking about?” What they were actually saying was “si, c'est bon”, which simply means “yes, it’s good” in French. They immediately fell in love with this strange new word and started to use it whenever something that called for a joyous exclamation would happen.
How did you guys meet and begin this musical journey.
Fabio: In 2016 we recorded our first EP called Binta. We were in Dakar, Senegal. A year later, we released it DIY style. Then three tours followed, two in Switzerland and one in Senegal. We spent our time shuttling back and forth between Senegal and Switzerland. We chilled with each other’s families, discovered each other’s cultures, jammed a lot, wrote songs, recorded demos, fought, reconciled and even shared mattresses. Now, we are ready to drop our new EP Warnama, which marks an upgrade from an acoustic trio to an electric, amplified quartet. We call this new incarnation of our sound Afro-psychedelic.
Tarang: Or Kora Rock’n’Roll! I first met Fabio Meier in Senegal, back in 2014, when he came to Dakar to study the Djembe. I met Glauco in 2015, in Madagascar. Together with Fabio, we were involved in a music project called ForestJam. Fabio knew Glauco from his teenage years in Switzerland. Glauco had a very tiring flight behind him, roughly fifteen hours, and popped into our hotel room in the middle of the night. I took the kora and started to play. Glauco joined me, he took his guitar and started to play along. Man, from that point on I knew that this guy likes to play for real!
Greatest inspirations or influences?
Tarang: I love calm places close to nature. There, I’m able to connect properly to my heart. Our music comes from the heart. I build up a connection till it comes out as music.
I love the music of Habib Koité. The way he puts the musical tradition of West Africa into a modern context, this is very inspiring.
The Zimbabwean Band Mokoomba is a big inspiration. We shared the stage with them on our first tour, and we listened a lot to their music when we were on the road. The way they perform on stage is so disarming. How they move and how they sing. Man, that's somethin’ else. Our music is very different to theirs, since they are rooted in the Zimbabwean tradition. But energy-wise they are a big example for us.
Fabio: Dakar and Senegal, in general, are a big inspiration for us. The music, talkin’ about the Mbalaxa and the chants of the Bay Fall, which you hear sometimes all night long, from far away. How proud the people are, and with how much dignity they do their thing. The hospitality of Senegalese people humbled me. As a European, I never got so deeply confronted with the importance of sharing and building communities, like I was when I first came to Senegal.
I love BKO Quintet from Mali. How they take the Donso tradition and put it into a contemporary rocky aesthetic – it’s mind blowing to me! I love how earthy and raw their productions sound.
What is the band's creative process like?
Tarang: My inspiration comes from strong emotions. If something feels heavy I can transform it into an idea and then into a song. It’s a way to cope with it. Also, my ancestors inspire me. A lot of ideas that come out of me were already planted as a seed into my spirit. Infiltrated by my ancestors, who also played the Kora and sang. I don't need like to settle in a comfort zone with a new song. Inspiration can hit me anywhere, any time.
But at the same time, I can't force it. It comes when it comes.
Fabio: Mostly, it’s Tarang who comes up with an idea and then we jam it till it’s vibin’ with us all. Tarang penned all of the songs on our new EP, except for Namou, which was written by Glauco aka Blind Boy De Vita. When the idea vibes, we try to put some structure in it, arrange it if it calls for it. By the time it feels smooth, we play it till it’s ready to be recorded.
Sometimes, we just start to record something that pops up spontaneously. Then, we go from there. Add layers, remove some of them again, till we have something vibrant.
Our creative process is rarely the same, as the circumstances are rarely the same. The process can be as vast as also our songs are diverse. We have these cute unplugged lullabies in our set as well as full blown badass rock songs.
How has the pandemic affected the band?
Tarang: Covid made us lose lots of nice shows. Which is not only a financial disaster, but also bad for us because we can’t reach new listeners, the way we would like to. These days, we have our release tour in Switzerland and Germany, to promote the EP. But, since Switzerland made a “visa-stop” against Senegal, I can't travel to Switzerland. This hit us really hard. Luckily, my older brother Sankoum Cissokho is also based in Switzerland and he can help us out and sub for me on this tour.
Aside from this, Covid gave me a lot of time to work on my musical weaknesses, it got me diggin’ deeper into some ideas, and writing new stuff. So it’s also a boost to my inspiration, playin’ and singin’.
Fabio: Same same. The lockdown made me practice more and gave me more focus. I had time to concentrate on figuring out some new approaches and solutions. At some point, where the frequency of the daily life kinda raised back up to where we were before the lockdown.
I missed the calmness and the slow pace of the lockdown. I wish the world would have learned more about swinging, not always staying at these high frequencies. Also, I wish people who are in power would react faster to other problems like the climate change, the refugee crisis, neocolonialism, racism, hunger and patriarchy, like they did when Covid hit.
Concerning our tour, it’s a real pity that Tarang can’t get a Visa. We feel blessed that Sankoum Cissokho can help us out. But people are not going to concerts as they did before, and it’s hard to plan things. There is no information about when Switzerland is going to terminate the “visa-stop” against Senegal.
You guys fascinate me, please tell me more.
Fabio: Tarang comes from a griot family. Griot is a French word and it means storyteller. The original name for it is Djeli. This tradition is rooted in the Mali Empire that stretched over West Africa during the middle ages. Before there was the Songhai Empire and afterwards the Ghana Empire. Kings like Soundjata Keita or Mansa Mussa were known even in Europe. Their stories are famous even today. The Djelis worked at the royal court to amuse and advise the king, accompany feasts and transmit the history and social rules to the people. At that time, West Africa was flourishing. They had lots of gold. The first European travellers were astonished by the moral courage, the safety and the hospitality of the region. Tarang has more than 20 siblings. They all make music and are scattered all over the world. Their family House in Dakar is like an institution for their kind of music and dance. People from all over the world travel there to learn about their heritage. Tarang’s grandfather was crowned as the king of the kora, his name was Soundjoulou Cissokho. Same for me, I got into this music when i met Sankoum in Switzerland, and he took me there and introduced me to Tarang.
Tarang: I’m born as a Senegalese into a royal griot family. You could say, that I am a kind of a prince. But that’s all secondary to me. What pays off is what I work for. My mother is a griot, my father is a griot. So I’m a sora. Which means both parents are from a Griot lineage.
Thank you so much guys, these interviews are what has kept me so dedicated to continue writing and interviewing wonderful people like you guys, your story, inspirations, and music inspire me and I hope they will be enjoyed by music lovers all over the world! xx nanu nanu
