WE ARE HERE
A Note To Marie Daulne and All The Warriors Who Know

Here we stand. Here we are. And have always been. We are not new.
And this is not a revolution. This is not a new age. Rather, a rising.

Something like a strong heat rising.

Once the scales have been removed, we feel each other's presence,
the vibrations, steady like drums, somehow. The race begins.
We run with open arms to that place we know and recognize as home.
We are one. Separated once by lies and greed and miles and miles of
sand and water, we have endured. Determined to never be separated again.
Not by miles and certainly not, ever again, by thought. We are united
for the common purpose of preservation. Preservation of our souls.
Preservation of our minds. Preservation of what has and always will be most holy: Spirit. Preservation of the indigenous. The innate. The aboriginal.
Preservation of the sacred. When we find each other, there is, in our hearts, a joyful celebration; a reunion.
For we know, that this in our hearts, this song, these letters,
this way of mind is a gift.

When we are alone, we feel strange things. We do not read between the lines,
rather, we live there. We live between the lines, between the black and white;
the top and bottom; the beginning and end. For we are not of extreme mind, rather, we are of balance. We are told that our thoughts and our beliefs and our hopes are altruistic, unreal, impossible.

But we recognize that the impossible may take a little while. May not happen tomorrow. Nor the next day, but it will happen. For ours is derived from a
greater Source.

And though we are peace loving, we are not afraid to get righteous. Righteously indignant. Warrior marks indelible on our souls.

We are happy for the healing sounds of music, poetry, dance. For it is in those spaces that we are most alive, and certainly, most free. There on the edge, where only the warrior will tread and only the courageous will survive. We accept the gifts of our ancestors and we strive hard to carry on the tradition. We seek knowledge always. Always.

We run with open arms. Moving with all deliberate speek. Open arms, always.

---ANGEL

PS: It's called: Ancestry In Progress. And if you don't know, I suggest you ask somebody.


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The essence of Zap Mama goes back to Marie Daulne's birth. It was a very difficult time in Zaire, a time of revolution. The Simba rebels sought to kill interracial couples. Her mother was a Bantu. Her father was Belgian. Threatened, her mother took her into the jungle to stay with the Pygmies for eight months. They were safe because the rebels were scared of the strong magic of the forest peoples. Eventually they were taken to Belgium where Marie grew up. It is this dual cultural heritage which lies at the root of the music and mission of Zap Mama.

By l989 she had spent several years singing in jazz cafes and bars in Brussels when she decided to create a group to musically merge the cultures of her life, both which she cherishes. Marie remembered Sylvie Nawasando from singing on the train to school and later at the university. Their brothers had played music together. Sabine is a mixture of peoples like Marie, Zairean and Belgian. With three, Marie held an audition and discovered Marie Alfonso. Finally they found Sally Nyolo and performed their first concert in 1989.All the women contributed in different ways, spiritual, emotional, information, stories. Marie does most of the researching for the songs.

In the first release, the group focused on the European and Zairean connections, striving to combine the vocalizations of the Pygmies with vocal styles from the European choral traditions. It was, in a sense, autobiographical, with Marie researching where she came from and the songs of her mother's people. The first recording on Crammed Disc,was an unbelievable international hit, not on the commercial charts certainly, but by the eager response of those who listen to world music. The ability to tour and learn of other cultures increased Marie's desire to widen her horizons and incorporate even more of the world into her music. Sabsylma was the result of her growing understanding of other cultures. It's full of Indian, Moroccan and Australian influences. Not only are musical influences expanded but the purpose of healing is enhanced such as uncovering the problem of child abuse in the song "India." It was an effort to bring to light a universal problem for that is how the healing begins.

In 1996 Marie once again heard the siren song to create, so she took another African trip. She departed for Mali where she lived with the Touaregs and learned more of her outward world as well as inward. From a man in Mali, she learned that human beings have seven senses, rather than just the five of western description. The sixth sense is emotions and the seventh sense, which not everybody has, is the power to heal others. It is the power to heal with music, calm with color, to soothe the sick with harmony. She returned home to Brussels fired with the knowledge of her capacity to heal with music. Upon her return from Mali, Marie got a call from a good friend, Michael Franti of the hip-hop soul group Spearhead. Michael believes that America needs the connection to the African spirit which Marie embodies.

The result is Seven, Zap Mama's third album. The title refers to the seven senses of a human being. Marie says, "I made music on on Seven the same way as on the other albums. I only used acoustic instruments... I'm looking for instruments that have vocal sounds, forgotten instruments like the guimbri... The first and second albums were about the voice, what came before. This album is about introducing those sounds into modern, Western life. As her horizons continue to expand no one can suspect what the creative outpouring of this remarkable musician will be. We do know it will be extraordinary!