INTERVIEW : TAKANA ZION
Interview by : Sébastien Jobart
Pictures by : DR
on Wednesday, June 06th 2007 - 28 208 views
Takana Zion had two album projects with Tiken Jah Fakoly, left in the drawer, before joining Manjul in his Humble Ark in Bamako. With him he is making his first real album, "Zion Prophet", on Makafresh, due out in early June. A chance to get better acquainted with this young Guinean artist.
Reggaefrance / How do you go from rap to reggae? They are two fundamentally opposed genres.
Takana Zion / In Guinea, I was into rap but also into ragga. When I found my spiritual identity, Rastafari, I told myself I had to turn towards reggae, which is the best way to express my message. Reggae is wiser in the way it expresses itself. Rap is younger, raw, like dancehall. Reggae speaks to you of History, which is taught in a rather vague way at school. Reggae is much more open, and teaches you to know yourself. That's why I use reggae to spread my messages.
Who do you consider your main influence?
Peter Tosh influenced me a lot because of his political message. He's a man who did a great deal for the rasta movement. Through the different themes he tackled, equality and justice. It's true that you can't dream of a world of peace without equality and justice. He reworked a lot of English words. He turned "oppressor" into "downpressor". He was a man who fought hard. In recent times, it's Sizzla Kalonji who is my main influence.
In Conakry, you talk about your native country, what pushed you to leave it?
It's the socio-political and economic situation that pushed me to leave the country. I suspected there was little time left before it blew up: there was famine, no work, a lot of violence. The education system is wrecked: there's no sure future even for the children who go to school. I told myself that if I wanted to succeed in the music business, I had to get out of there. It's not easy to live there.
The President of the Republic is a general.
Now, we are lucky to have a new government with people who have never worked in Lansana Conté's government (in power since 4 April 1984 after a military coup, then successively re-elected in 1993, 1999 and 2004, ed.). I think there's a little hope in people's hearts. They expect a lot from this new government. There were many deaths. That's what I talk about on the track E oulé fu: the young people who were killed in Guinea during the strikes and demonstrations.
You sing in Soussou, in French and in English. Why so many languages?
It matters to me because the message I carry is universal. The same problems are happening in every country today. It is good to sing in different languages so that people feel concerned. English is the most widely spoken language in the world, French is widely used in West Africa, and Susu is the language of Guinea; everyone speaks it there. I also sing in Malinke, which is spoken a lot in West Africa. Through these languages, I can reach different ethnic groups, different peoples, different cultures.
You made the album with Manjul. How did you meet him?
The first time Tiken Jah listened to my sound, he thought of Manjul. But we only met during a nyahbinghi session, to mark the anniversary of Bob Marley's birthday, on 6 February. He encouraged me a lot; he told me I had to stay firm and that God would then open the doors for me. Those words have stayed in my heart. I have two albums for Tiken Jah Fakoly, and the first was recorded in Manjul's studio. When we had made the two albums, things dragged on, and I had nothing left to do, since I had dropped out of school. And as you can imagine, it is not easy to survive in Africa on music. So I went to Ghana to take English classes. When I came back, the album still wasn't out, and I wanted to keep busy. I sing all the time and I live from music. So I decided to make a third album. I asked Tiken for his agreement, and I went off to record with Manjul. We have the same spirit; we listened to each other a lot.
What do you take away from working with him?
What touched me about Manjul is his personality. He is someone very gifted. In Africa few people do the same work as he does. I have been to Burkina, Ghana, Guinea and Senegal, and I haven't seen a studio like his. Manjul plays instruments, he does live work. Not everyone offers artists that, riddims that well made. In Africa, people use digital. Manjul comes with his Jamaican, European and African influences. All of that makes for a different reggae colour from the one we have known in Ivory Coast from Alpha Blondy to Tiken Jah Fakoly. Manjul's studio is a pillar in West Africa. I tell you, all the young artists will go through that studio to make a name for themselves internationally. Studios like that are rare in Africa. I had never seen one.
Do you have other projects already?
I have a compilation project with Guinean artists, produced by Manjul. We came here to work. In Africa, there is more doing than saying. We have to push people to work, because it is collective work that will bring development. We have to make young people responsible. All the young rely on the old, and that cannot go on like this. The people rely on their leaders, and everyone has to learn to take charge of themselves so that we can move forward.
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