Black Music

Global rating of the product: 4 stars

WATCH JERICHO AND THE EBURNEANS IN CONCERT:
*April the 26 th, 2008 at Belleville, Paris, 35 bd de la Villette Paris
*September the 19th, 2008 at l’Inattendu, 20 rue du Pré St Gervais Paris

Jericho and The Eburneans do cultivate a positive life philosophy: it is called regg’apt (for reggae aptitude). Jericho’s positive, down to earth attitude is visible in his every day life.
In fact the musician resembles very much the man I encountered in Paris last February, he’s no different: an artistic soul who loves life in its various dimensions.
Not only do Jericho and his fellows teach you a positive vision of life, the talented artists will also recall the African diaspora’s history.

A short introduction allows the viewer to focus on the 5 musicians

Jericho and The Eburneans DVD is made of three songs:

-A Tes Côtes (At Your Side) is based on a trumpet, drum, keyboard background. The song is an emotional lesson of black history that any white man of good will should accept to listen to. As painful events of racial discrimination, deportation, humiliation are mentioned, an intertwined black and white history reveals the scars of a black diaspora that was forced to abandon its culture and traditions to be accepted, intregrated into a society whose wealth comes from their sweat and tears.
You don’t know. Only Jesus would know what balck folks have been through for centuries.

-Madame is a good rhythmic sounding track. Despite its humorous accents, it also point out real social problems, like the obvious difficulties of a jobseeker in a mondialized world. Like it or not, mondialization has an impact on a country’s economy.

-Moultry is a very cadenced track that totally enlightens the drummer’s talent. Follow Jericho’s gangsta tale…feel the emotions of a man on the run.

If you like reggae music, Jericho and The Eburneans are exactly what you need. True fighters with a positive spirit, skilled musicians, Jericho and The Eburneans will probably manage to captivate your attention.
Don Marques’ good bass play needs to be underlined too. The blind musician manages to enrich the group with his specific touch.

What else could I say? Come and see Jericho and his crew live in Paris!

Copyright© by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

Jericho is a reggae musician I had the chance to meet in Paris last February by total coincidence. His music is rich of spiritual life values and reflects positive views on life.
He is the leader of a group called the Eburneans.
Rhythmic, dynamic, enthusiastic, Jericho and the Eburneans spread hope around the world with their reggae sounding rhythms.

More info about the gifted Parisian musicians can be found here.

1. What motivated you to get started in the music industry?

- Since my youngest age, I dreamt about expressing the richness and the values of African culture

2. What is the story behind your group’s name? What does Eburneans
exactly mean?

-Jericho is the name my grandmother gave me. It has a meaning of hope.
Eburnea is Ivory Coast’s ancient name (it recalls the whiteness of elephants’ ivory).
The Eburneans are the inhabitants of the Ivory Coast.

3. Who is your biggest musical source of inspiration?

-My biggest musical source of inspiration comes from the black diaspora

4. Which artists have you collaborated with already?

-I played in the first part of President Brown, a Jamaican artist at New Morning in Paris.

5. Define your music within a few words…

-My music is a mixture of African, Jamaican and Afro-European influences.

6. Could you give us a short presentation about your group?

My group is composed of five musicians:
*Jericho/ leader/ singer of the group, from Ivory Coast
*Jiré/ guitar and vocals/ from Ivory Coast
*Don Marques/ guitar bass, from Trinidad and Tobacco
*Djazz: keyboard and back up vocals, from Martinique
*Mister Jean, drums and back up vocals, from Haiti

7. A few words about your upcoming concert, on April the 26th, that will
take place in Paris?
Jéricho and the Eburnéans are due to perform on April the 26 th at Belleville, Paris, 35
bd de la Villette and afterwards on September the 19th, at l’Inattendu, 20 rue du Pré St Gervais.

8. What is the biggest challenge you had to face since you started making music?

The Eburneans were to perform at the Fête de l’Humanité in front of a huge public. It was very emotional for all of us.

9. Which artist (dead or alive, mainstream or underground) has earned your respect and why?

- The artist I respect very much is Alpha Blondy. He represents Africa with much dignity.

10. What are your songs about?

-My music tells about the history of Africa and contemporary political/ social issues.

11.How do you compose your music? what comes first: lyrics, instrumentals or beats?

-I first compose the lyrics with Jire, then comes the melody. We go on with the whole composition work afterwards and we put everything in place.

12. Besides reggae music, what kind of music do you listen to?

- I’m very fond of Jimi Hendrix’ pop music, James Brown’s soul music and Fela’s Afro Beat.

Copyright© by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

She is beautiful, heartfelt, talented. Highly influenced by the Motown musical world and rich of many other musical influences, Detroit artist Monica Blaire possesses that incredible gift to transform into gold everything she touches. Her deep, warm voice would make any insensitive person burst into tears.

Very much representative of many black music genres such as soul, hip hop ,R’n'B, Funkand blues Monica Blaire perfectly knows how to talk to your heart.
Some of you have probably seen her in Bizarre’s recent videos. I suggest we’d all explore more of her work.

With Christmas knocking at the door, Someday At Xmas perfectly fits into the season. Full of nostalgic accents, built on soft instrumentals and bell sounds, Monica Blaire transports you into a wonderful world of emotions.

Funkin For Jamaica leads the listener into a very dynamic, rhythmic piano-keyboard musical background in which Monica’s soft and deep voice totally comes to shine. Clap your hand and move to the dynamic track!

Set Me Free might surprise the listener at first, because of its only electronic background. Soon, Monica Blaire’s voice will escape from the musical landscape like a bird that had been trapped into a cage. Its strength will liberate an energetic mantra: Set Me Free. I loved the song’s architecture.

Work features Maestro. It intelligently combines strong vocals with rhythmic claps and xylophone notes. Darkness and light work together while Monica offers some vocal power to her listeners. A modern world of electronics seems to cross and contradict the real world. Beautifully done!

Piano notes open up on a jazzy background while Monica gently whispers. You will be enchanted by the artist’s brillance. Step into a world of softness…appreciate the moment, let your soul drink the lyrics.

Detroit artist Monica Blaire belongs to the category of creative artists who mark black music history forever. Check the incredible artist here.

Copyright© by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

No matter of you classify him into a soul, acoustic or jazz musician (or maybe the three of them categories), Emanuel G is an amazing storyteller who immediately raises the listeners’ interest. With his guitar and drum beats background, Emanuel G’s soft and warm voice knows how to talk to his listeners’ soul.

Lean back in your chair, enjoy the chillout atmosphere, open an attentive ear to the music.

A Little More Time is enhanced with numerous guitars and some catchy percussion beats. With a definitely romantic spirit, Emanuel G talks about destiny. Some people are meant to be together. Let Emanuel G convince you about destiny.

Back In My Head is a dynamic track that combines traditional and electric guitars. The softness of the track is counterbalanced with the rhythmic drum beats. Let Emanuel speak about love.

A Man In Love is another poetic track in which Emanuel’s know how will move your heart about that little, but nevertheless important and magic thing called love.

Different expresses life’s numerous challenges and the wonderful opportunity it has to offer, always with a musician’s great sense of rhythm.

Emanuel G might sound too monotonous to some or maybe too romantic. However, I’d advice all of you to give him a listen here before making your mind about him.

Copyright©2007 by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

can download James Brown’s last concert.. It is available on the NPR website…just right click and save target as:)

A lot of people who don t really care about artistic talents prompt to praise artists when they passed away. I have seen such behaviors numerous times and I d like to point out that I am not going to acclaim James Brown s talent because he recently died. I am going to praise this great legend of soul music, because Mr Brown s music has been part of my life since the 80s!

I was introduced into James Brown s music through a Cameroonian friend. I will always remember how much I was impressed to discover James Brown s rhythmic Sex Machine and his euphoric I Feel Good.

As a young student, James Brown s music spiced up my daily life. It gave me a great dose of enthusiasm and dynamism. Starting the day with his music really enhanced my way of life. It made me feel alive, ready to conquer the world.

James Brown s voice touched my soul. He had a unique way of telling things, like he did it in This Is A Man s, Man s , Man s World.

This beautiful song made me feel how much he appreciated women:

 This is a man s world, this is a man s world
But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl

He’s lost in the wilderness
He’s lost in bitterness …

Not only did James Brown have a unique, suave voice, his use of the instrumentals inspired the greatest artists in this world, including NWA, the early Michael Jackson and many more.

James Brown can be seen as the forefather of rap music. He is and will remain a legend in black music. His incredible talent is still a huge source of inspiration to many contemporary artists.

James Brown also gave black folks a new sense of pride with his famous world known sentence:  Say it loud, I m Black and proud!

I could name a multitude of his songs, like Living In America, Papa s Got A Brand New Bag, I Feel Good, This Is A Man s world and many more, but I am going to stop here.

I d like to stay still for a minute and pay homage to the great musician that James Brown actually was. A great legend left us on Christmas day. May God bless his soul. RIP James Brown and thank you for the music that touched my soul over the years. I will never forget you.

Copyright © 2006 by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved

James Brown died on Xmas day. I heard about the news thanks to Donna. James Brown has been a real BIG musical influence in my life and I am saddened by the news. I will dedicate Mr Dynamite an article. May God bless your soul, Mr Brown:)