Lo'Jo

The first thing to understand about the French band Lo'Jo is that they work and live communally. No one person in the organization is more important than any other, be it band member, manager, soundman, or whoever. It's a rare attitude these days when we venerate our stars, but one that's served them well since they started out 20 years ago. Their music reflects modern France, a multicultural society where immigrants hold a vital place (even if Le Pen doesn't believe so), and their particular melting pot is haute cuisine. Uniquely French chanson blends with the rhythms and harmonies of North Africa, gypsy violin flickers spectacularly in and out of the mix, West African kora ripples magically, and a solid rhythm section pulls it all together. It's an idiosyncratic blend of music, but one that's imbued magic, the sound of a poetic world coming together.

International success for the band has come gradually over the last five years, beginning with WOMAD appearances in the U.K. and U.S. in 1998, and gathering momentum ever since. Now, with the release of their third American disc, Au Cabaret Sauvage, and another tour, they're building on the reputation they've established, refining the sound, adding touches of dub here or sonic refinements there over the core they've spent a long time honing.

"The sound is more mature now," explains manager Phillippe Brix, who travels everywhere with Lo'Jo (contrast that with most American managers). "They knew what they wanted the record to sound like, and they can make it happen now and find the real song. The six people of the band are the best lineup they've ever had; they've been together three years and they've never worked so hard. The sound has changed because they don't hesitate to work with modern technology, but they try to make sure they're satisfied - they don't go for a result just from the machines, but for a real song from an instrument, then put it in the machine. This is the way the band uses technology."

"I always think we're children doing experiments about life and sound."

"We worked in a new studio, and I think it's better for our music, we feel more confident there," adds singer/keyboard player Denis Péan. "He has good equipment to do samples. If we want to use technology, we do. I think we feel better together in the band now. We had many troubles in the past, but now we have better control in music and poetry."

Technology is a small part of the puzzle for Péan (who's also a published poet), violinist/kora player Richard Bourreau, sisters Nadia and Yamina Nid El Mourid, who sing and add percussion, sax, and other instruments, bassist Kham, and drummer/percussionist Mathieu Rousseau. They've learned to bring their sound together organically - the homemade samples are simply the icing on the cake.

The first ingredients of that cake were mixed in 1982, when Péan started Lo'Jo in the French town of Angers. A year later Bourreau joined. From there they played with circuses, worked with street theater, and existed on the artistic fringes, releasing occasional records. It wasn't until the mid-'90s, however, that their current musical form began to take shape, first on Mojo Radio, then Bohême de Cristal, both of which, like Au Cabaret Sauvage, were co-produced by Robert Plant guitarist Justin Adams, whose own solo record, Desert Road, has just been released.

"We've made three CDs with Justin," says Brix. "We can remember the first meeting, the first pitch. The second time everyone worked more closely, and this third time, it was like we could do it without the master, but he's brought some very good things, like the way to record the songs, how to build them up to record, and how he's in the middle of everyone, and making the choices of recording. It's a really good relationship with Justin, and also with Jean-Paul Romann, who does the live sound, and who's always here when they record. Justin brought the way to record, and the band has learned how to listen."

Plenty of that listening was done in Bamako, the capital of Mali, where the band traveled in late 1998 to record part of bohême de Cristal.

"What you learn in Bamako, or anywhere in Africa, is that it's very simple and obvious, like the African instruments," notes Brix. "Things are possible, and easy, and they sound very good. It's also philosophical. Here in Europe, we're very much like Americans - very rich, and wasting many, many things. In Africa they're wasting things, but not in the same way - maybe 10 or 20 times less. So you learn something strong when you're in the middle of that, about where you are in the world, what you have to do. And Africa is very important for musicians, of course."

"We've got to know each other well. The two bands works independently, but their inspiration is very strong."

It proved to be very important for Lo'Jo. Bamako, Mali, and especially the nomadic Tuareg people who inhabit the country's desert interior, captured their imaginations. That led to them organizing Festival of the Desert, held in the Western Sahara in January 2000, where Lo'Jo and a number of Tuareg musicians (including the group Tinariwen) performed.

"We're preparing the next one, which will be near Timbuktu, in Mali, in the sandy desert dunes, on January 7,8,9, 2003," notes Brix. "We've found a very good partner, a festival from Belgium. It happens every year in Antwerp, and the director is twinning it with Festival of the Desert. And the director is head of EFWMF [European Federation of World Music Festivals], which helps. The Tuareg Association will be leading the festival, and we're working on it, but more as advisors. And we've found some money from the European Forum, so they're paying for everything. As it is a Tuareg event, they'll have half the festival, Tuaregs from Mali, Mauritania, and Algeria. And there will be maybe one-quarter music from Africa, and the rest of the program will be from other countries like France, England, and America."

Out of the first festival, Lo'Jo helped Tinariwen record and release The Radio Tisdas Sessions, which garnered plenty of favorable attention in world music circles.

"We've got to know each other well. The two bands works independently, but their inspiration is very strong. They're making a new record for World Circuit, with Justin Adams producing, and Robert Plant's invited them to open for him in London."

Tinariwen isn't the first band to have benefited from Lo'Jo's aid. A couple of years earlier they'd helped the Gangbé Brass Band, from Benin, get established with their debut CD. It's all a part of the communal spirit that pervades everything they do - what goes around, comes around.

And for Lo'Jo, things are continuing to go for strength to strength. But they're not about to sit on any laurels and let the world come to them with praise. Like all artists, they're never satisfied.

"I think we can do better," insists Péan. "Not all the tracks are all good, we can do better. I always think we're children doing experiments about life and sound. We're very naive, but now we have the power to be more naïve."

That might sound like a strange desire, but it makes sense. At the heart of the band's music lies a childlike wonder about the world, grabbing at it all, and putting the pieces together to make their own picture of life.

"We've come a long way with many troubles, and some steps with mistakes, and now we can take more right steps. For me it's a beginning, and we feel very good together - about music, about the organization. We have many partners we've built relationships with. Before, we were afraid, and now we're not."

Lo'Jo

"I always think we're children doing experiments about life and sound."

"We've got to know each other well. The two bands works independently, but their inspiration is very strong."

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