Nuits d’Afrique | Mateus Vidal & Axé Experience, “Uma Festa” in The Rain

by Michel Labrecque

Part of Montreal’s Brazilian community was eagerly awaiting Mateus Vidal, ex-singer and percussionist of the legendary Salvador da Bahia band Olodum, on the free outdoor Nuits d’Afrique stage at the Espace tranquille. Except that the intense thunderstorms of this torrid late afternoon delayed the show and put the crowd to the test.

Mateus Vidal now lives in Montreal with his family. He has set up a new band called Axé Expérience, which mixes axé music with samba-reggae. Both genres were popularized in the 80s, blending samba, African percussion and Jamaican beats. These rhythms have been dubbed “Afro-Brazilian”, hence their rightful presence at Nuits d’Afrique.

Mateus Vidal was undaunted by the elements. With his section of three percussionists, accompanied by a bassist, a keyboardist, a guitarist and a saxophonist-flautist, he took to the stage, singing and jumping. After ten minutes, the sun came out, only to disappear under the rain after another 10 minutes.

It was a magical moment, despite the inclement weather: as Mateus Vidal moved from one side of the stage to the other, dozens of umbrellas did the same choreography. Others continued to dance under large umbrellas, or in the open air despite the rain.

The sparse audience was overwhelmingly Brazilian, of all generations. Smiles abounded, despite the circumstances. Still, I’d like to question the Festival’s decision to program an Afro-Brazilian celebrity at 5pm, for one hour. But festival programming is always unpredictable.

Mateus Vidal aimed for a broad musical spectrum, covering hits such as Gilberto Gil’s Bahia, in samba-reggae mode, and pieces by Olodum, among others.

Then the jinx set in again: the sound system broke down. No problem: the band continued with percussion only, bringing back the sun and creating another magical moment.

Magic and the unexpected! Sometimes it works. We can only hope that the new Montrealer and his new band will be able to take advantage of a better window of opportunity, so that people here, Brazilians or not, can get to know him better and dance to his music.

Photo Credit: André Rival

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Africa / conte / Hip Hop / percussions

Nuits d’Afrique | Les mamans du Congo x Rrobin: A Successful Bet!

by Sandra Gasana

With a dance-based introduction, we first hear recorded ambient noises, mixed with sounds played by the DJ and his percussion. It’s only then that Gladys Samba, the band’s leader, appears on stage, blowing into a saucepan whose dust we can see.

The two dancers, on either side of the artist, are talented: they sing, they play characters, they dance, while Gladys alternates between hip-hop, singing, storytelling, and shares engaged messages, mainly honoring women or denouncing violence against women.

“Matondo means thank you in my language,” she tells us between songs.
Movements from everyday life have found a way of integrating with the music offered by this band. The dancers, for example, are seen pounding millet to the same rhythm played by the DJ and percussionist.

Gladys is also an actress, judging by the little scene played out with the two dancers. So we moved from dance to theater, storytelling, singing and percussion. A whole range of arts came together in this hour-long performance, under a blazing sun.

We were treated to several traditional lullabies but revisited, “not to make you sleep, but to make you smile”, she announced, while getting the crowd involved in the song dedicated to her sister Tombo.

The second part of the concert focused on the return to the village and the vital role of mothers, with a climactic finale featuring drumming by all the artists, followed by a gentle closing, swapping the drum for maracas.

Photo Credit: André Rival

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Gnawa / Psychedelia

Nuits d’Afrique: Bab L’ Bluz Summons The Desert

by Stephan Boissonneault

Bab L’ Bluz, the Marrakesh Gnawa rock group, played their first ever Montreal show during Nuit D’afrique like they were summoning something older than any of us. Under the sprawl of Scene TD, the air was dense with heat, and the band’s Moroccan gnawa trance-rock felt less like a performance and more like a rite.

The guembri’s thick, rubbery basslines threaded through the air like low-flying drones, while Yousra Mansour stood in the centre—voice sharpened with reverence and defiance, curls haloed in sweat. She sang and wailed in Darija, the Moroccan Arabic, each phrase riding the deep pulse of percussion and fuzzed-out electric riffs, her double-necked guembri slung like an electric talisman. Even if I didn’t know the words, the urgency was unmistakable: liberation, history, the slow unfurling of a people’s soul music braided on stage. There were some absolute rhythmic bangers in songs like “AmmA,” and others from their 2024 album, Swaken.

At one point, Mansour raised her hands mid-song as if conducting spirits. The band surged louder, gnawa rhythms clashing with desert blues and wah-pedal grit, making the tent feel too small for whatever force was churning inside. Mansour absolutely rips on the geumbri, playing it like a slide guitar without a slide. We have to give props to the bass guembri/ backing vocalist Brice Bottin, drummer Ibrahim Terkemani, and percussionist, Mehdi Chaïb.

By the time the set closed, the night air felt different, like it had been stirred by something heavy and ecstatic. Bab L’ Bluz had cracked something open.

Afro Funk / afro-pop

Festival Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Sahad: The star of Dakar Shines on Balattou

by Frédéric Cardin

It is said that he embodies the renewal of Senegalese music, an honor that the singer and guitarist Sahad carries as a responsibility, in order to make the art and culture of his country shine.

READ THE INTERVIEW WITH SAHAD

Last night, at the Balattou club, and on the occasion of the 2025 Nuits d’Afrique Festival in Montreal, the energetic and devilishly effective artist lit up the famous Montreal bar with his captivating blend of afrobeat, sometimes leaning towards pop, plenty of funky and well-brass-heavy tunes, and rare echoes of mbalax, because Sahad doesn’t really do mainstream Senegalese pop music, but is not impervious to it either. He rather offers a tightly woven fusion propelled by lively singing and simple yet effective melodies. An ultra-coordinated band responded to the Senegalese star’s every command. They deserve to be named, exceptional as they were, and all-Montreal based : Rémi Cormier (trumpet), Lou Gael Koné (bass), Raphael Ojo (drums), Louis Plouffe (alto sax), and David Ryshpan (keyboards). Sahad is with family in Montreal, so he invited local friends like Vox Sambou, Freddy Massamba (who raised the roof with an exciting Funk rant), Afrotronix, Seydina Ndiaye, and the duo Def Mama Def. A tour of the existing albums made up the first set and the beginning of the second, but the end of the latter allowed us to appreciate a few tracks from the next, African West Station, scheduled for the fall. Funky Nation, We Can Do, tracks that made us sing and sway, and which promise a rather remarkable album, thank you. Yes, Sahad is truly one of the most captivating and irresistible voices in the Senegalese artistic firmament.

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Africa / afro-rock / afro-soul / Auteur Pop / Folk Rock / West African traditional music

Nuits d’Afrique | Daby Touré Restarts His Machine

by Alain Brunet

One might have feared a has-been’s failed rendezvous. Daby Touré hasn’t made an album in a decade. He may have claimed to have composed enough material for three new albums, but we couldn’t vouch for this, as we’d never heard any of his previously unreleased songs. With these doubts in mind, it’s fair to say that the West African artist still had enough aura left to reboot and recreate the buzz around him.

Having been taken under Peter Gabriel’s wing a quarter century earlier remains a trump card, at least powerful enough to attract mainstream media and add fans to those who hadn’t forgotten his talent.

Obvious talent. I have no idea what Daby Touré’s working abilities are, but his acute intelligence and singular vision of the world are undeniable.

So we were able to reconnect with his “classics” from albums released from the zeroties to 2015, and remember him as a seasoned melodist, an inspired riffer, a percussionist for guitar soundboards (the Godin had better watch out, its owner uses it like a frame drum!), a charismatic communicator, a naturally gifted singer, and a switched-on improviser who knows how to extend grooves with his musicians, all locals. Guitars, bass, drums/percussion, vocals: all the members of this new quartet hail from Africa (Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Senegal, Mauritania), and all are professionals of the highest calibre.

What interests us most about Daby Touré is his blend of modern West African music (Soninke, Peulh, Moorish, etc.) and more Western folk-pop-rock. With him, we’re here and there at the same time. A little more over there from the outset, but also at home, because the music of home also engraves the stones of this edifice inhabited by the spirits of music.

The fact that Daby Touré has regained the energy to get the machine going again, and to already offer over two hours of concerts to a multi-generational Nuits d’Afrique audience, is excellent news in itself.

Photo: M Belmellat

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Hip Hop / Jazz Rock / Soul Jazz

Nuits d’Afrique | Stogie T, South African Rainbow, Hip-Hop, Soul, Rock, Jazz

by Michel Labrecque

STOGIE T is a hip-hop star in South Africa. Real name Tobi Molekane, he made his name with the group Tumi and the Volume, who reinvented the South African rap scene. Now on a solo career, he took to the Balattou stage surrounded by a real musical group, which is becoming a trend in the international rap ecosystem.

Not only was there a beatmaker on stage, but also a guitarist, a keyboardist, a drummer and a singer. The result was an extraordinary rap show. Of course it was. Stogie T gives us flow and sometimes very political lyrics, but the musicians have plenty of room to improvise. And many of them have a jazz background, a strong element of South African culture. As for the singer nicknamed Bonj, she’s got a soulful gospel voice that’s hard to beat.

This rock-jazz-soul music with a hint of African influences blends very well with Stogie T’s prose. Some purists might argue that the overall sound isn’t particularly South African… But Tobi Molekane’s lyrics are. Deeply so. He speaks of violence, of the ghosts of apartheid that are always present. But also of everyday happiness and beauty.

Another note: this band truly represents the new rainbow South Africa. There are blacks, whites and coloureds all getting on like a house on fire. It sends out an unequivocal message. And the audience appreciated this unprecedented mix. A pity: the Balattou was less full than at previous Nuits d’Afrique shows. Perhaps the organizers need to do a better job of reaching the potential audience for this kind of concert.

So remember this name, Stogie T, the next time he comes to our land. You won’t regret it.

Photo : M. Belmellat

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Caribbean / Haitian / Reggae / soul-pop

Nuits d’Afrique | Jean Jean Roosevelt and The Afro-Realist Song

by Alain Brunet

There’s afrofuturism, and here we’re in afro-realism. It’s hard to make a more realistic song! Author, composer, guitarist, singer, Jean Jean Roosevelt is a Haitian troubadour model 2025.

Through his rhymes, he exposes his values, his aspirations, his vision of living together, his feelings of exile, his free will over his destiny, his suffering from an absent mother, his planetary humanism and even his hilarious perception of the Quebec winter he has had to endure since his migration to Montreal – a relatively recent one, it seems.

Thus, Jean Jean Roosevelt’s texts are very close to direct thought set in rhyme, to opinion, to civic thought, to a moral stance… perhaps less so to poetry.

Musically, however, the man is an artist. He’s a very good singer, a good backing guitarist, and he knows how to surround himself with very solid musicians: sax, keyboards, drums, bass, quality backing vocals, and I’ll always remember the exceptional playing of Ronald Nazaire, an authentic Haitian master drummer.

It’s clear that Jean Jean Roosevelt first and foremost mobilizes his audience in the Afro-Caribbean community, without any fever or buzz, at least for the time being. He knows how to blend troubadour, rasin, konpa-soul, reggae-soul and power ballad styles – in short, the dominant trends in the Caribbean – with a songwriting approach.

One imagines that there is a vast market for Jean Jean Roosevelt and his good feelings. We hope this market will find him, which is not yet entirely clear in Montreal, at least not this week at Nuits d’Afrique – the Fairmount Theatre was far from full. A question of timing…

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Africa / Afropop / Central African traditional music

Nuits d’Afrique | A Groovy Night with Fulu Miziki Kolektiv

by Alain Brunet

After a notable appearance at FIJM, Fulu Miziki Kolektiv filled the Balattou to the brim and fulfilled their mission: to set the place on fire! The buzz was more than tangible for this most recent Kinshasa outfit to invade the Nuits d’Afrique with an armada of invented instruments and costumes.

Recovered lutherie has become a trademark for street music in Kinshasa, with groups such as Staff Benda Bilili, Kokoko! and Beta Mbonda becoming famous and fascinating non-African audiences.

Like its predecessors, Fulu Miziki Kolektiv relies essentially on percussion and strings cobbled together from recyclable garbage: plumbing, wood, cans, bits of metal and other odds and ends. Dressed in afro-futuristic disguises also cut from recycled fabrics and ornaments, these self-taught musicians have succeeded in assembling a show full of rhythms, songs, rallying cries, hypnotic electro-inspired motifs and pop hooks reminiscent of Congolese soukouss, but also in tune with the afropop hits radiating across the black continent.

This Fulu Miziki Kolektiv signature is a spectacular extension of urban street music in DR Congo, with new percussive sounds and electric strings that are quite similar to the idea of a bass or guitar – created by the famous Kinshasa luthier Socklo?

From the Ngwaka district of Kinshasa, this Kolektiv suggests a five-block vision: eco-friendly-afro-futuristic-punk. Musics played by warrior artists aware of environmental issues, simple and cohesive, highly energetic and massive. Obviously exotic…

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Arabic Classical / Jazz Rock / Krautrock / Métal / Moyen-Orient / Levant / Maghreb

Nuits d’Afrique | Sarab, East-West Conversation In Your Face

by Alain Brunet

On a July evening in Montreal, Sarab arrived just a few weeks after Sanam. What these two bands have in common is a contemporary Arab sound and a rock attitude.

In the case of Sanam, from Beirut, we were into post-rock, drone, noize, ambient and Arab classical music. Sarab, invited to the Ministère on Tuesday as part of the Nuits d’Afrique festival, was an expressive blend of metal, krautrock, jazz-rock and Syrian-Lebanese classical and contemporary vocals.

Climène Zarkan’s vocal expression is strong, eloquent, hypnotic, engaged body and soul in the context of the profound disruptions that the wider Levant region has been undergoing for far too long.

We find ourselves at the heart of the dialogue between the singer, the daughter of immigrants from the Levant but very Parisian at the same time, and her guitarist colleague Baptiste Ferrandis, a highly gifted instrumentalist and musical director respectful of the East-West balance to be achieved in such a fusion exercise.

Sarab’s melodies are a blend of tarab (ecstatic chanting), Sufi incantations and the typical affects of great modern Arab pop (Abdel Wahab, Fairouz, Oum Kalthoum, etc.), not to mention the rock spirit that sets them apart and gives them their distinctive edge.

It’s both rough and complex, expressing the state of today’s Parisian souls who absorb the situation and turn it into art. And it’s done by seasoned artists, well-versed in advanced forms of amplified instrumental music. Clearly, the artists in this quintet are educated and advanced in their respective playing – excellent drummers, by the way.

Their intellectual curiosity has led them to bring together contemporary Arab song and poetry with music that is sometimes Middle Eastern, but above all Western in its expertise and execution.

In short, we’re not talking about quick-fix pop, but this kind of mix is slowly and surely taking hold, provided its practitioners persevere on this path of openness that excludes the easy way out.

We hope they do.

Photo : M. Belmellat

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Afro-Colombian / Afro-Electro / Digital Cumbia / Electronic / latino

Nuits d’Afrique | KillaBeatMaker, Colombian Consciousness and Dynamism

by Alain Brunet

As I left the Ministère on Wednesday, it was clear to me that KillaBeatMaker was making its contribution to Latin music in the digital age. In any case, the Nuits d’Afrique edifice has been enriched. On Wednesday evening, the Medellin resident more than lived up to the expectations of the festival-goers who turned out to meet him. Two heartfelt sets at the Ministère were delivered to the delight of some of his earliest Montreal fans.

The master of the game is at the center of a trio focused on electronic rhythms and patterns, rhythms emanating from acoustic percussion, vocals and a synthetic pan flute.

To her right, Guadalupe Giraldo on percussion, synthetic gaita with a sound reminiscent of panpipes, and vocals (a beautiful voice!). To her left, Julian Ramirez on percussion and backing vocals. KillaBeatMaker triggers machine sounds, and can add human beatbox, rap and vocals. An authentic frontman, he knows how to sing, rap, beatbox and motivate a dance floor.

The dynamism of this performance is contagious, its dramatic framework meticulously designed to heat up the crowd and bring it to the desired paroxysms.

The references highlighted are the result of a fine artistic direction, with a feel for local cultures, cumbia, champeta, Andean music, music from the Colombian Pacific and Caribbean coasts, and also current world music – afro-house, afrobeats, reggaeton and more.

And KillaBeatMaker proves to be more than just a party animal, adopting a critical and progressive stance through the themes of his tracks – the precariousness of Colombian biodiversity, economic injustice, unjust concentration of wealth, imperialism.

Just because it’s fun doesn’t mean it’s funny…

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Brazilian / Reggae

Nuits d’Afrique | Flavia Coelho, A Woman of Many Instruments

by Sandra Gasana

We already knew about her guitar talents, but what we didn’t know until last night was that Flavia Coelho also plays drums, keyboard and trombone. Yes, that’s right, as well as being an excellent dancer and storyteller.

It only took a few seconds for the Olympia to come to its feet when the Brazilian diva appeared on stage, dressed in a tight outfit, native-inspired boots and two ponytails, determined to set the hall alight. Indeed, seating made no sense when you know the boundless energy of Flavia Coelho, whom I like to call “the most French of Brazilians”.

Even her entrance to the stage was dramatic: lighting effects, a distant voice announcing her arrival, and off she went. 90 minutes during which the artist danced, sang and played several instruments, moving from one to another quite naturally. “I set myself the goal of learning a new instrument, and that’s what I’ve done,” she confides, before introducing a piece on which she plays the trombone.

Accompanied by her loyal producer and keyboardist, Victor Vagh, Al Chonville, her Martinique-born drummer who has been with her for several years, and a newcomer, Brazilian Caetano Malta, on guitar, she was well surrounded to deliver a show that festival-goers won’t soon forget.

She opens with “Sunshine”, from her 2009 album Bossa Muffin, on which she inserts her trademark ultra-fast rap. She interacts with her audience several times during the show, in both Portuguese and French, either telling them funny anecdotes or having them sing along to her choruses.

“I’ve just released my 5th album, Ginga, she proudly tells us before “Mama Santa”, the hit that pays tribute to all the women who have contributed to the artist’s upbringing, from childhood to adulthood. Probably one of the highlights of the evening.

She also shared some songs from the DNA album, released in 2019 like “Billy Django”, but also Mundo Meu, released in 2014 with “Por Cima”.

At times it felt like a Haitian evening, while at others it was like being transported to Kinshasa, much to the delight of the audience, who danced non-stop. She adapted her concert very well to the Nuits d’Afrique context, bringing back that Afro touch.

Of course, reggae remained present throughout the show, a genre she is particularly fond of. In fact, she gave way to her drummer for a few minutes of intense dub with reverb, while she replaced him on drums.

As is often the case at her concerts, Flavia invites an artist on stage, and it was none other than Griotte Djely Tapa who delighted us for a few minutes.

As an encore, we had my favorite song by artist “Temontou”, alluding to her admiration for author Dany Laferrière and his relationship with exile, before closing with the hit she created with producer and DJ Poirier, “Café com Leite”.

Niger’s Boubé opened the show in a trio format, also featuring in the program of the 39th edition of the Festival international Nuits d’Afrique with his desert blues. Naturally, Flavia mentioned Boubé during her concert, encouraging the next generation as only she knows how.

Photo Credit: Peter Graham

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Cumbia / latino

Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva Launches the Festival with a Bang

by Michel Labrecque

Fans of modernized Latin American cumbia are in for a real treat at the beginning of July: after performances by Frente Cumbiero and Empanadas Illegales at FIJM, the 39th edition of the Festival international Nuits d’Afrique kicked off with La Chiva Gantiva, a group of Colombians based in Brussels, who quickly set the Balattou alight. Like a match on very dry wood. The fire crackled. Instantly!

La Chiva Gantiva is made up of five versatile musicians who alternate between percussion, keyboards and other sequencers, guitars and basses, and flutes both normal and synthetic. Rafael Espinel takes the lead on vocals and all kinds of other instruments, especially the conga.

La Chiva Gantiva has nothing to envy of Colombia’s great electronic cumbia groups. The group has found an original blend of sounds, sometimes ethereal, sometimes percussive, with playful, intense improvisations. Many of the pieces were taken from their latest creation, Ego, released this year. As Rafael Espinel explained to us in an interview, this album, while playful and danceable, also contains reflective texts, notably on the inordinate place occupied by egocentricity in our societies. And on hunger and the future of indigenous peoples.

There was a surprise guest to accompany the band for a few songs. Noé Lira, the Mexico native, part-Quebecer, part-Mexican, fit in perfectly with the Belgo-Colombians’ groove. And the audience? A cross-cultural, cross-generational mix who got right into it. Most of them danced for most of the concert.

Photo Credit: M. Belmellat

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