The Edmonton Sun
June 16, 2000

Happy music belies Popo's past
Burundi-born musician's return to his homeland was a stifling experience

By FISH GRIWKOWSKY

With perfect English and a voice as soothing as warm tea, the Mighty Popo explains himself from his Ottawa home: "Well, you know. You grow up in a place where there's not much opportunity for the youth. So you go to the so-called developed countries ...''

At this we both chuckle. Popo's real name is Jaques Murigande, and he's a great singer and guitarist, honed on the blues, deep enough into an African sound to make him unique. About 15 years back, he came over to Canada from his native Burundi.

"When I'm playing in my band, I'm on a mission," Popo says. "I'm trying to make the people of the world aware of another place, in a friendly way. As you know, a lot of countries have spent some time trying to keep black people underfoot, even though most countries of the world, most civilizations, learned a lot from the black civilization.

"So it's music with entertainment, with a message. But more fun than that may sound. I live what I say, what I sing."

His second album, recorded in a snowed-in cabin outside Ottawa, is called Dunia Yote (the whole world), a good title for the mix of music on it. There's militaristic reggae, Rwandan flavouring, blues, all in French, English, Swahili ... yet it stands cohesively together like a polished chess set. Black ebony and strong marble.
Popo is strumming his 20-year-old, handmade guitar while we talk. Beyond music, he speaks four languages fluently (French, English, Swahili and his native Kinyarwanda). When he returned to Africa a couple years back, well, it was a stifling experience ... although not in a bad way.

"I was invited by the Rwandan government in '98 to go play the Pan-African Dance Festival. I'd never been to Rwanda. So it was like 'bang.' Got to meet my grandmother for the first time. It was, as they say, a real eye-opener. Here's a country that just came back from ..."

"Hell?" I finish.

"Yeah, like that. Worse. It's not over. You see the signs everywhere, bullet holes in buildings, ruins. But then you see people really happy. That was the thing. Here's these people who are so poor and still they're offering things to you. It was 15 days of being in trance. I played music and I don't remember what I did. I have no recollection."

For his shows at the Sidetrack Cafe on Wednesday, then at the North Country Fair in Joussard next weekend, the Mighty Popo is bringing in one hot, six-piece band. He'll be on guitar, with additional guitar played behind him ... "and we got enough percussion for you, as well as a saxophone player."
It's a good show.

"I have fun backing other people," says Popo, who's toured with Dutch Mason. "It's much easier than playing my own shows. But it's more satisfying when you're doing it yourself. With this album I had lyrics about some friends who were killed, so that had to go with a beat from Rwanda. Another song, you feel like it should be a reggae tune. I kind of choose what will go with each song.

"The experimental part comes with poly-rhythm instead of normal beats. I love New Orleans music. It's the closest things to African, so you'll hear some of that. I just wanna be myself, ultimately. It's really hard for an artist to find their path and find their sound. I've been trying to see where I fit. It's up to you guys to say how I'm doing."

If you don't get the idea by now, we think you're doing just fine, Popo.