Ottawa Xpress
Arts & Entertainment
March 9, 2000

Quantum Leap
The Mighty Popo Sprouts New Roots

Stephen Neale

Sometimes the simplest phrases are the most descriptive.
"Oh yeah, oh yeah Africa" - a celebratory call heard in the opening moments of "Katika," a rollicking soukous jam from The Mighty Popo's second CD release, Dunia Yote, perfectly captures both the sound and the inspiration at the heart of this tremendous new album. From the traditional sound of "Karibu," which opens the album, to the throbbing rhythm of the title cut, the infectious highlife of "Vive Lange," the Afrobeat rhythm of "Urwibutso," the pulsating reggae of "Internalized Racism," through to the final track, a cover of Baaba Maal's relaxed and subtle "Minuit," Dunia Yote ("The Whole World") is a quantum leap forward from Popo's 1996 release, Tamba.

"I think there is a maturity in the music -the presentation of the music, my ability as a songwriter, being able to bring together all that I want to bring to my music," determines Popo. "Tamba, which is more blues-based, tried, with varying degrees of success, to mix a range of genres. With Dunia Yote, the focus is still on one style, with the other influences playing a more subtle role."

A fixture in Ottawa musical circles for many years, Popo has played with - and in some cases continues to play with - Bingie Barker and the Raggamuffin Band, The Hammerheads, Mumbo Jumbo Voodoo Combo and the Al Millar Band. He has toured the United Sates and Europe with New Orleans bluesman Andy J. Forest and toured Canada with Dutch Mason. He regularly takes part in a variety of weekly music jams around the city.

Born Jacques Murigande in Burundi, of Rwandan parents, Popo (a nickname that has stuck ever since he was tagged with it as a child) was surrounded by the musical rhythm of Africa. Both the traditional music of his home and its surrounding area, and the music of the world, were everywhere - on the streets of Bujumbura, in the homes of friends and relatives, on the radio, on tapes that were passed around. West African juju and highlife, South African township jive, Caribbean reggae, calypso and soca and American blues and R&B have always been in Popo's sphere.
The ambition has been to meld these influences in a meaningful and coherent way, to create something unique - a "Popo" sound. Dunia Yote demonstrates that Popo is progressing towards achieving that goal.

The time between his two releases was well spent, according to the singer and guitarist.

"Several things have happened since the first CD," Popo says. "I have listened to the advice and the comments that I received from the first release and I have thought about them and tried to build upon that, and to combined that with some of the musical experiences that I have had over the past few years.

The experience with Forest seems to have had a particularly profound influence on Popo. "When I was with him I got the chance to go into the studio and record - this was in New Orleans," he enthuses. "We went in the studio and there was me with George Porter, Jr, bass player with The Meters, and Herman V. Ernest III, who has worked as a drummer for Dr John. There was me, Popo, in the studio with these guys! I was fine until they started arriving.

"I was nervous - Did I know my parts? - but once I got over my nervousness, it was revealing," Popo continues. "Because these people, these legendary musicians, showed up with the music all charted out; they were prepared and you could tell that, while they are gifted and talented, they take nothing for granted and they continually work on their skills."

Several tours of Europe with Forest also taught Popo about some of the risks of life on the road. "We played countless one-nighters and you operate on no sleep," he explains. "And you have to take care of yourself on the road or you will lose what you have built up." Musically, though, Popo gained an understanding through the road-savvy ensemble that "it is not necessarily what you can play, but you play what is best for the hand."

The final piece of the puzzle for Dunia Yote came with his performance in Kigali, Rwanda, at the 1998 Pan-African Dance Festival for Peace - a return home which provided the water for seeds planted years earlier. Meeting family, friends and musicians waiting to hear what was really inside the artist "put me back deeply into the roots sounds," he says referring to hearing bushman singing from Rwanda and a N'dere troupe from Uganda. "The effect that this had (was), as an artist, I don't want to disappoint all the people I met... I think they will be happy with this release'.
Recorded last winter in the Gatineau Hills, the songs on Dunia Yote are sung in a variety of languages including, Swahili, French, English and his mother tongue Kinyarwanda, to provide us with an articulate global soundscape, rich in honesty and consciousness.

Like the song says, "Oh yeah, oh yeah, Africa."