Description
Killer afro-reggae-disco monsterrrrrr = mania-classic!
1 december 1944, Thiaroye military camp, right outside of Dakar, Senegal.
1600 French soldiers of West African origin (Benin, Mali, Ivory Coast, Tchad, Senegal , Gabon, Togo etc.) have been quickly evacuated by the French Army during what was subsequentially called the ‘whitening of the colonial troops’ that happened before the armistice signature. The soldiers are awaiting to be paid for their war effort. Things go sideways, protests erupt, and the French military staff decides to open fire. The official number of casualties is 35, although various sources claim several hundred people died on that fatal day.
Since then, several artists have grasped that difficult topic, screaming for recognition and reparation.
Such is the case with a young Senegalese musician and singer named Maxidilick Adioa, with his very first single ever released, ‘Toubab Bile’, in 1987.
At that time, Adioa had been living in France for a few years. He was considered a master percussionist, playing, recording and touring alongside the great Ivorian artist Alpha Blondy. He had just written a beautiful tune, ‘Nao’, for Aminata Fall, one of the biggest actress and singers in Senegal. It seemed like a good time to launch his solo career.
The « Toubab Bilé » song was recorded in the 11th district of Paris, inside the flat of Hungarian sound engineer Banas Leszek. Adioa paid the session out of his own pocket. The vinyl was distributed by the prestigious Safari Ambiance company and the success was immediate. Adioa ended up signing an album deal with Chris Blackwell’s Island records and toured the world endlessly during the following years.
Toubab Bilé remains Adioa’s biggest hit to this day, and one of the best African reggae tunes ever recorded.
In 2012, François Hollande was the first French President to officially mention and pay tribute to the Thiaroye massacre in a speech.
I had the pleasure to meet and interview Max a few months ago, to sign the licence deal for this release and ask him a million questions about his life and music career. Here’s what he told me about this song:
« The freedom French people have enjoyed since the Second World War was gained with the sweat and tears of those African soldiers. We answered the call of General Charles de Gaulle to liberate France from Adolf Hitler (the actual ‘toubab’ mentioned in the song title, ‘toubab’ being a slang word for ‘white person’). Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast and all the African colonies were entirely French at the time. This is therefore a French on French soldiers massacre. We are still waiting for an apology, an acknowledgment and financial reparation for what was promised all those years ago. »
