Petite Noir-La Vie Est Belle (2015)

Petite Noir-La Vie Est Belle (2015)

“With my music, I create change…I am using my music as a weapon.”

Fela Kuti

By: Ghost Writer

Close your eyes and imagine you get the chance of mixing adventurous Lodger era David Bowie, the deep voice of David Gahan of the Depeche Mode, the solid and dynamic drumming of ex Fela Kuti's Tony Allen and the world beat production of Brian Eno and David Byrne…, Yes, it sounds completely crazy, I know, but that’s what you get by listening to Yannick Iluga's exciting Petite Noir project, an amazing work of art that really defies the imagination of any music lover and put us almost immediately in a wild musical dimension where everything is possible.

Intense drumming that reminds me of the world's greatest drummer, Nigeria´s Tony Allen, is the reception we get at the beginning of Intro Noirwave, the first track of the daring La Vie Est Belle, but things start really moving at an amazing pace by the time we get to the upbeat and powerful Best, a tune where we get the chance to listen to Iluga's formidable voice and tremendous musical arrangements that not only reflects his native South Africa roots, but also takes a route right through the dark and foggy alleys of London, and the always adventurous omnipresent rain of the streets of Berlin, yes this is a very cosmopolitan record, a true world beat record, in the truest sense of the word, is the sound of the world coming together, putting African music at the upfront of vanguardism.

Next track is titled Freedom and it continues the heavy combination of dark electronica and highly dynamic percussion, it reminds me a little bit of the afro futuristic Atoms For Peace and Rocketjuice and the Moon projects, taking it just a little step forward, and in a more personal way, more expansive and ambitious, nearly bordering on the anthemic, and on what could be a Depeche Mode tune if Gahan and company were born in Africa.

Iluga places himself always in a really interesting territory delivering music that gets catchier with every minute, with each track selected and placed specifically to build an impressive crescendo as shown in the arena size Seventeen, a tune that would make big bands like U2 or Simply Minds really jealous because of the fact that their music hasn't sounded this vibrant in decades, while getting really close to the passionately dark electronic sound of DM, delivering a single that Gahan and company would definitely kill for in the shape of the great Just Breath.

It's really easy to find so many known influences on Iluga's music, but the magical thing on it, is the fact that every element is careful selected from apparently disparate sources that Iluga merges with enormous talent and passion, the crafting a great song called Mor, whose Tony Allen beat, Vaseline like chorus and Iluga's own titanic presence making it so hypnotical, so infectious that is impossible to escape from it, proves Petite Noir as a heavy weight of afro electronica postmodern music.

The record takes then a more rootsier deviation after Colour, with thundering afro beat inspired cadence and Iluga's mind blowing phrasing, giving us such a feel that one can almost sense the presence of the mighty Fela spirit emerging a little bit on Iluga's music arrangements and melody, with a song like Down repeating the formula in the shape of a really powerful sing along.

The record ends with the heavy experimental and eerie Chess, featuring a soulful and inspiring vocal by Iluga along with densely arranged dissonant electronica, La Vie Est Belle is a stunning record, one that deserves a lot of attention for its daring musical proposal, and one that so clearly pinpoints the future of African music stars to come, one that could definitely sets the route for other interesting and innovating act coming from the place where music was born, pointing towards the place where music should head from now on.