Zap Mama

Zap Mama is a Belgian musical group founded by Marie Daulne. They sing in French and English with deep African roots.

Musical Origins

Daulne was raised primarily in Europe and first heard a recording of traditional pygmy music when she was 20. She decided to return Congo Kihshasa in 1984[1] to learn about her heritage and train in pygmy onomatopoeic vocal techniques.[2] "I go all around Africa. I started where I was born, in the forest of Zaire. After that I branched out to West Africa, South Africa, East Africa. It [is] very easy for me to learn because all African cultures seem to have something in common the music and the voices," she says.[3]

Founding of Zap Mama

By 1989 Daulne had returned to Belgium and spent several years singing in Brussels singing in jazz cafes when she decided to create a group to merge the cultures of her life and in 1990 founded the group Zap Mama.[4] "When I did my first album, I was looking for girls that were the same mix as me--African and European," she says. "Because I wanted to put these two sounds together to prove that to have blood from white and black was perfect harmony on the inside." [5]

Music by Zap Mama

Zap Mama have released six full-length albums: Adventures in Afropea, Sabsylma, Seven, A Ma Zone, Supermoon and Ancestry in Progress. They received a Grammy nomination for Adventures in Afropea, and two of their albums, Adventures in Afropea and Ancestry in Progress, reached #1 on the Billboard World Music Album chart.

Zap Mama’s songs have been featured in numerous films and television shows including So You Think You Can Dance?, the Mission Impossible II soundtrack and the Wired CD.

They have toured globally, including performances at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Coachella Festival, Austin City Limits Festival, the Blue Note Festival in Tokyo, and numerous WOMAD festivals. Zap Mama's next album, entitled "Supermoon", is scheduled for release August/September 2007.

Works with other artists

• The Roots are featured on the album "A Ma Zone".
• Erykah Badu is featured on the album "Ancestry in Progress".
• Zap Mama is a guest performer on the song "Comin' to Gitcha" by Michael Franti, from the album "Chocolate Supa Highway".
• Marie Daulne is a guest performer on the song "Listener Supported" by Michael Franti, from the album "Stay Human".
• Zap Mama is featured on the song "Danger of Love" by DJ Krush, from the album Zen.
• Marie Daulne is featured on the track "Ferris Wheel" from Common's 2002 album Electric Circus.
• Daulne recorded with Chanteuse Flight on a track called Vibraphone.
• Daulne is featured on the soundtrack to La Haine, a french film which she recorded with her brother Jean Louise Daulne.
• Common and Talib Kweli are featured on the Zap Mama song "Yelling Away" on the album Soundbombing III.

External links

• Official website
• Fan site