For his fourth album, “Ya Lelo ya Biso”, arranged by the essential Francky Mouélet, Vital Fouemina has been meticulous: a constellation of talented musicians, Balou Canta, Luciana Demingongo, Djuny Claude, Angelou Chevauchet, Soum Karol with whom he shared the spotlight in the band Lisséki Mondo-Mondo in 1979 in Brazzaville.
The album, consisting of 15 tracks, opens with a poem paying homage to Barack Obama as the first Black President of the USA. It is followed by “Ya Lelo ya biso”, a stunning salsa, an ode to love as the author recalls meeting the one who now shares his life, on a New Year’s Eve night.
Then, in track 3, Lux et Vitalis, Vital Fouemina reminds us that Congo-Brazzaville and elegance share a long history; it is a timeless image to see, on a Sunday, the “Sapeurs” strolling down one of the capital’s most famous thoroughfares, Avenue Matsoua. A melody enhanced by the sublime voices of Angelou Chevauchet and Djuny Claude. Yes, for Vital, as for Congolese people, one is first a “Sapeur” before being a musician, footballer, or politician…
Creating a link between his first album Expérimental Soukous and his latest, Vital Fouemina captures our imagination in the song Adieu Paris – one by one, each line sounds like a final verdict: there is no salvation for the Black man outside his native lands and former customs, and at the end of our lives, we realize that assimilation mocks us like a decoy. No, Adieu Paris is not a form of response to Maxime Leforestier’s Etre né quelque part – the French musician starts from the thesis that one doesn’t choose the streets of Algiers to learn to walk – but a song born from experiences, from lived reality.
However, Fouemina advocates for a perpetual return to one’s roots for renewal. He also often sings in his native language. “It’s clear that I am more comfortable singing in Lari than in Lingala,” he admits. In fact, Vital Fouemina has always feared finding himself one day in the situation of that student mocked and ridiculed by Rabelais who, claiming to speak all the world’s languages, in fact spoke none, having failed to start with his own. He cannot speak of universality without asserting his singularity…
An album you absolutely must listen to!