Musique Tchadienne, a compilation

In May of 2005, Madé Jonas XXL Le Maximum, a radio DJ from N'djamena, sent me a two-cassette compilation of Tchadian music.  His selection featured a range of different styles, including Paris-based Afropop artists, Tchadian hip-hop, and a politically engaged troubadour from N'djamena.  I recently digitized these cassettes and thought I'd share the most interesting tracks.

Ingamadji Mujos Némo was born in Moundou, the second largest city in Tchad.  He started his artistic career in the early 1980s, acting with a theater company and performing with a musical group.  In 1995, he released 'Viriginie', his first cassette.  Two years later he released 'Offensive Dala', the cassette that introduced his style of 'musique tradi-moderne'.  This succesful cassette was followed by three more releases.

  
An Ingamadji Mujos video, with some nice shots of the balafons.

Béral Mbaïkoubou was born in 1981, in N'djamena.  He lost his sight at the age of three, but nonetheless, despite his difficult circumstances was a brillian student, completing his baccalaureat degree and studying philosophy at university.  Béral's songs are an extension of his literary and political commitments.  He has released two albums, 'le P.R., le fisc et les sans-esprits' (the title can be translated as 'the president, the taxman and the soulless', and plays on the trilogy 'the father, the son and the holy spirit') in 2010 and 'le Jardin des Dingues' in 2014.  Béral has also published two philosophical, and politically engaged, books.  In 2011, he was elected to the national parliament, as a member of an opposition party.  In 'Viens Chez Moi', a biting satire, he sings;

 Here is a challenge to all those possessed by the need to contest,

Who can show me a bigger dump than my city, N'djamena?

A son of Tchad, N'djamena is my capital, 

I remain hospitable despite this 'langue de Gaulois' [French]

It is true that I don't have many riches but I have lots of trash,

a rare commodity in your faraway city.

But stop crying, come pay me a visit, there is plenty of room for you

and all of your trash. 

In your country the illiterate suffer, send them to me, 

here they will become ministers.

Here only intellectuals suffer, while the illiterate collect titles. 

You feel like killing to entertain yourself but in your country life is too precious,

Come visit me, I will welcome you with a handgun, you can kill as much as you like,

just don't spend your time with people like me, we are the ones who get killed to entertain others. 

You are not rich and you want to print some money but in your country the police bust your balls, 

come visit me, here you can do whatever you want, we have a culture of creativity. 

To have money, someone has got to print it, how else could we run electoral campaigns?

Please come, there is plenty of room for all of your trash.

Sultan is a Tchadian rapper who created the group Otentik in 2003.  The group moved to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso in 2004, where they recorded the album Wakitte Taman, which features the Burkinabe rapper Smokey and Didier Awadi of Positive Black Soul.  In the track 'Laoudjou', he builds his lyrics over a bed of balafons from southern Tchad.

Saint Mbété Bao was born in 1964 in Manga, in the Logone Occidental region, in southern Tchad, close to the Camerounian border.  Fleeing the political instability in his region, he moved to Nigeria in 1981, before settling in Cameroun in 1982, where he opened a small business.  He started his music career in 1990 and recorded his first album 'Neurmémedjal' in 1998.  The album, recorded in Douala, Cameroun, included his hit 'Louise'.  He recorded two more albums in Douala, before returning to Tchad.  He passed away in 2011, in Moundou.

Hamed Gazonga recorded one of Tchad's most popular songs, 'Les Jaloux Saboteurs'.  This selection features one of Maitre Gazonga's later recordings.  This compilation also features four groups about which I don't know anything; Jorio Stars, Maitre Yaye, Star Wida, and Laurentca Tourne.

A Jorio Stars video, shot in France. This clip has a few unintentionally surreal sequences. 


Download Tchad Compilation

Enjoy!