Zap Mama - Adventures In Afropea
Zap Mama
- LP
- Label
- Crammed Discs
The acclaimed debut album by these five young women of Congolese/Belgian origin who conquered the world with their joyous acapella mix of Pygmy music, human beatbox sounds, Central African or Arabic pop tunes, Afro-Cuban rhythms & more.
The band was formed by Marie Daulne, a couple of years prior to the recording of this album. The album was produced in Brussels by Vincent Kenis in 1991. He was assisted by Zap Mama co-founder Fanchon Nuyens (who had earlier been the vocalist and bass player with early Crammed band Des Airs).
Zap Mama's origins, message and musical choices embody and glorify the virtues of cultural mix and interracialism. The beauty and freshness of their vocal harmonies, their entertaining, humorous & energetic stage show soon generated tremendous enthusiasm all around Europe and the USA, where this record was licensed in 1993 by Crammed to David Byrne's label Luaka Bop (who, along the way, retitled the album "Adventures In Atropea"), and became the second best-selling world music album of the year.
The track "Brrrlak!" was recorded in 1992 to be released as a single, and was later added to a reissue of the album.