A Ma Zone [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Zap Mama

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 8, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Luaka Bop
• ASIN: B0000CC83G
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #89,469 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #55 in	Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > Belgium
  #90 in	Music > Folk > A Cappella

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Zap to the Future A Ma Zone is a collision of sound and culture

Running the gamut from soul to hip hop to drum & bass, Marie Daulne's Zap Mama is expanding the perameters once again with their fourth album A Ma Zone. With the help of people like Philly's hip hop dissidents The Roots ("Rafiki", "Songe"), This Kid Named Miles ("Kemake") who was featured on T-Love's incredible Return of the B-Girl EP last year, Speech ("M'toto") and the oft-sampled Camaroonian Soul-Makossa sax man Manu Dibango ("Allo, Allo"). Zap Mama pulls off an amazing balancing act, riding the fine line between the deep roots of Afropea,the newest continent, and the technology of the future.

A Ma Zone is Marie Daulne's full immersion into the music that kept her breakdancing through high school. Reuniting long lost sounds - West African guimbiri meets West Coast hip-hop scratching - and introducing them to the big city and village fire respectively. And because hip-hop and African music were both part of her childhood, Marie's fusion of zouk guitar montunos with raw breakbeats immediately makes sense. She always preferred listen ing to Stevie Wonder and Run DMC: "Our mother would make us learn the polyphonic singing, but at the time we thought it was boring because it was traditional." Instead, Marie honed her beautifully distinct vocal skills through imitation of the sultry voice of Roberta Flack and the lip-smacking beats of the Fat Boys' "Human Beat Box."

A Ma Zone marks a lyrical shift for Marie, from politics to the social shortcomings of modern society with the emphasis being placed on the dehumanizing effects of modern communication. Marie explains: "Everybody's in such a hurry these days that everything has to be done by telephone or over the information superhighway." A Ma Zone offers listeners an alternative to life at 56k.

We've told you too much already. All you need to know is that this record is a cool R n B, hip-hop gourmet salad. An afro-euro caviar, champagne and funk mixture. "I want to show of the rest of the world the power, the human capacity, through the voices and the sounds that people forgot, the sounds people made during the day, every day . All the sounds made by humans, instinctually , the sounds can relax people, can give energy, harmonies can make you cry. The universal sounds made by humans - American, European, Asian , African, Indian, Australian and Indonesian... laughing, swallowing, coughing." Let us not forget the beautiful sound of a press release being crumpled up either.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical piece of "world" music. Beautiful., September 12, 2004

By	Thomas B Goodloe "Berkeley Goodloe" (Richmond, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this CD a couple years ago, but didn't really start listening to it until recently. This CD gets lumped in with "world" music because of its african feel, but this is a slight misnomer. Most people who think of "world" music think of something that should be a soundtrack on National Geographic Explorer. This is so much more than that. All of the instrumentation contained in this album give you an idea of the talent involved, and the songs each have their own mood. I enjoy the lyrical stylings of "Rafiki" and the high-flying vocals and moodiness "My Own Zero". Worth every penny!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Nice Had To Buy it Twice!!!, May 12, 2004

By A Customer

I'm a huge fan of Zap Mama. After seeing them perform live at the New Orleans Jazz fest I had to buy 7 and I didn't think they could improve upon that album. Well I was wrong, A Ma Zone is just as good if not better. I let a friend borrow it and never got it back. If it were any other CD I probably would have said forget it. But that CD was so nice I had to buy it twice. All of the tracks are awsome but my favorites are, Call Waiting, Ya Solo, Comment CaVa, and Gbo Mata. Definitely a must buy!!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Ma Zone by Zap Mama, December 1, 2005

By	A. del Llano "Zap Mama Fan" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"A Ma Zone" THE FIRST VERSION is one of the best CDs ever made. My saddness was when I ordered some of these as gifts and found out that the new version is NOT AS GOOD :(

The second version has another song first, insteaad of Rafiki. But the worst part is that the second version sound quality is really muffled and bad.

Does anyone have a copy of the original version of this CD, the one that has "Rafiki" as its first track, that they would sell???