Décolonisons! Africa wants to be free - Acte II

Two years after the first compilation by Survie (reviewed by Mondomix), the French NGO releases another militant album on the country’s neo-colonialist attitudes towards Africa. This time, artists from both West Africa and France come together to drive home the consequences of Paris’ political, military and economic policies in its former colonies. These not only affect the lives of millions of Africans, it also has a debilitating effect on the children of African migrants who are born and have grown up in France’s worst ghettoes.

“Ma Lettre au Président” by French-Moroccan Axiom is perhaps the best known. It was written during the widespread ghetto uprisings of November 2005, and articulates the anger and perspicacity of a new generation led by young rappers. Cleverly mixing the national anthem with one of France’s best-loved protest songs (“Déserteur” by Boris Vian), Axiom demands basic civil rights akin to the movement that swept the United States in the Sixties. A more somber picture is provided by the brilliant rapper Casey and her “Dans Nos Histoires”. She links the brutal history of European colonisation with the marginalisation and bitterness her fellow-citizens experience in the suburbs.

As with the previous album Survie allies established figures like Tiken Jah Fakoly, Tata Pound and Didier Awadi with budding talents on both continents. Several of the songs are exclusives that could be springboards for the latter. The popular Malian Lassy King Massassy, the angry collective M.A.P. (Ministère de Affaires Populaires) and French globe-trotter Kwal are new artists to watch out for. More disappointing are songs by Duval MC, Synaps, 70 Litres and Papa Poué which lack the vitality and originality of the dozens of other musicians on these 18 tracks.

“They tell me of progress, of “achievements”, of diseases vanquished,” said the great West Indian author Aimé Césaire back in 1950 (quoted in the sleeve notes). “I speak of societies gutted, cultures trampled, institutions undermined, religions assassinated...” His words find an echo in the calm and lucid denunciations by the African and Afro-European musicians patiently assembled by Fabrice Tartit of Survie. They underline the heavy legacy we in the West have yet to come to terms with. These modern-day griots are there to remind us of what so many historians omit from the books used in schools. In the months leading up to France’s crucial May elections “Décolonisons” talks as much about de-colonising our minds as in ridding the state of its pernicious policies in Africa. A timely release in a French society that is still unable to face up to episodes of its bloody past – and the nation's questionable behaviour in the Africa of today.

“Décolonisons: Africa wants to be free: Acte II” is available online at www.survie-france.org

January 2007

Daniel Brown