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Artist List:
Amampondo
Amjad Ali Khan
Asad Qizilbash
Bembeya Jazz
Chico Cesar
Clave Y Guaguanco
Eliza Carthy Big Band
Ensemble Kaboul
Jimmy Cliff
Julien Jacob
LoJo
Manecas Costa
Manu Dibango and
Ray Lema
Nitin Sawhney
Ojos de Brujo
Oumou Sangare
Pape and Cheikh
Samba Sunda
Sevara Nazarkhan
Sierra Maestra
Super Rail Band
Temple of Sound
Teofilo Chantre
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Profile:
Lo'Jo
 
The ugly ascendance of National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in the 2002 French presidential elections might have taken the shine off France's new post-World Cup pride in its 'rainbow nation' status, but culturally at least, the country's multiculturalism continues to be an invaluable source of creativity and inspiration.
In the musical realm, Lo'Jo are one of the best examples of this open, forward-looking spirit. The band come from Angers in the Loire Valley where they have been at the epicentre of an extended counter-cultural tribe of musicians, painters, poets, film-makers, acrobats, street performers and circus artists for more than twenty years.
Lead singer and lyricist Denis Péan and violinist Guillaume Bourreau formed the early nucleus of Lo'Jo Triban as it was then known, which went on to tour Europe with street theatre group Jo Bithume in the late 1980s before releasing their first full length CD entitled 'Fils de Zamal' in 1992. Three more CDs have followed including this year's 'Au Cabaret Sauvage', partly produced by guitarist and long-time member of the Lo'Jo tribe Justin Adams.
Travelling is part of the creative process for Lo'Jo and the group have roamed the four corners of the earth performing and more importantly meeting and collaborating with sympathetic souls. In 2001 they helped to organise the first Festival in the Desert in the sandy vastness of the Sahara, an event which has since taken on an almost mythical status.
Powered by the rhythm section of Nicholas 'Kham' Meslien on bass and Matthieu Rousseau on drums, and fronted by the unmistakable vocal sound of the Nid El Mourid sisters, Yamina and Nadia, Lo'Jo have grafted together all their musical loves and obsessions like French chanson, Afro-beat, gypsy, Indian, funk, dub, Arabic, Berber and African music into a sound which you're unlikely to anywhere else on the planet or forget in a long long while.
Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2003
Elsewhere on BBCi:
Album review
Official website:
www.lojo.org
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