The Unfortunate Devolution of Zap Mama

Zap Mama was once one of the freshest, funkiest Afropean band out there. Comprised of multitalented and multihued women from Africa and Europe, the a capella group functioned under the direction of lead vocalist, Marie Daulne. Experimenting with polyrhythmic singing straight out of the Congolese forests, their early work was a wonderfully funky and creative wake-up call*.

And then everything went to crap. Want to see how? Observe their timeline of tragedy…

Here are the covers of their earliest albums:

These are released in the early 90s without almost any instrumentation or polish, and primarily in French. The album focuses on the chorus; trading rapid-fire lines, building complex multilayered harmonies, weaving nets of interlocking breathing. The band photos are simple and straightforward: all the singers on equal footing, dressed in an interesting motley assortment of hippie-ethnic clothes, eschewing any pop-glamour veneer.

In the years ahead, Zap Mama makes some changes to their sound—adding an instrumental band, some electricity and some hip-hop crunch along the way—and becomes a major international force. The polyphonic singing on their earlier work plays beautifully with the hip-hop rhythms on 1999’s A Ma Zone, making it a bonafide hit worldwide. Truly global music. The cover to that (arguably pinnacle) album:

Band leader Marie Daulne is now a little more front-and-center, but depictions of the other ladies are still lively and present. The style is far more modern, but their quasi-tribal make-up hearkens back to their roots as a primarily “ethnic” sounding band.

The release of Ancestry in Progress in 2004 marks a definite move towards American-sounding R&B with bits of rap thrown in, and a heavy leaning on English. Still possibly classifiable as “world music,” it could also be billed as a genre-bending hiphop or soul album. 2007’s Supermoon makes no bones about it: the polyrhythms are out the window, guest stars pop up on each song, and any pretense of African/European world music subsumed utterly by uninteresting soul and funk rhythms. The remaining members from the original line-up are no more than back-up singers for the ever-spotlit cat-like croon of Marie Daulne, and nowhere is that more evident than on both covers:

2009, and the release of ReCreation. Six albums and fifteen years after that first album cover. And now? The only Afropean thing about the band is the name, the only hint that the album isn’t some big studio’s newest concoction to make money.

The rest of the band, gone. The styling, divalicious. The production values, stratospheric. Say a fond farewell to the original Zap Mama that came from the fusion of French, Belgian and Congo personas and musical inspiration, that billed itself as an exploration of the female voice and of global citizenship. Instead, meet the next disposable, unmemorable cd that will grace the counters of a thousand Starbucks worldwide.

ReCreation? Try DeMolition.

*: (If anyone is interested in hearing their work, please let me know and I will post something. I know, a music post with no music? This was just a rant, waiting for years to happen.)