King Josy Friday & His National Toppers Band
Aiye Wa A Dara

A record-book proposition:- A 7inch vinyl record by Terakaft, produced by Justin Adams (Robert Plant, Brian Eno, Tinariwen…)- A novel by Philippe Brix written in English and French.Welcome to the fascinating world of Terakaft, one of the most legendary bands from the acclaimed Desert Blues / Tuareg Rock scene that’s been nurturing in the Sahara desert for the last two decades.A world made of light, dust, goats, tree shadows, gas, tea and fire.A world where teenagers don’t dream of being footballers but guitarists like Ibrahim of Tinariwen, like Sanou of Terakaft, or like Ousmane of Tamikrest.A world made of constant stuggles, of war zones, where getting a visa to tour is nearly impossible, where covering your face and head with tuareg turbans to face the desert winds will turn you into a potential islamist when boarding an airplane.A world that Philipe Brix knows damn well: he’s been managing those guitar heroes for the last two decades. 'Jagwar' is his coming-of-age story, a tale of resilience, of doom, of family, of utmost tensions and unrivaled peace, the adventure of a life time.His journey will take you from the deepest deserts of Mali, Morocco and Mauritania to the biggest music festivals all accross Europe and America.

"DEBS c'est : la joie pour ses admirateurs, la tristesse pour ses détracteurs"

Vis-A-Vis released a hugely impressive 13 albums between 1975 and 1982. Both talented studio artists and live musicians, the band was led by vocalist Isaac "Superstar" Yeboah with Sammy Cropper on guitar, Slim Manu on bass and Gybson "Shaolin Kung-Fu" Papra on drums. The We Are Busy Bodies label is in the process of rolling out reissues of plenty of those records and this is one fo the best . A real listening joy, it brings with afro grooves and noodling jazz melodies, richly textured organ and bass work that all help take you to warmer, earthier climes in an instant.

In November 1976, Jef Gilson’s phone rang. What a surprise! It was Serge Rahoerson, one of the musicians he had met in Madagascar at the end of the 60s and who had played on his first album “Malagasy”. Rahoerson announced that he was in Paris for a few days. Immediately, Jef wanted to organise a recording session, starting the next day. He thought of a trio including Serge, Eddy Louiss on organ and cellist Jean-Charles Capon, who had also been on one of the trips to Tananarive and so had also known Rahoerson there.Unfortunately, Eddy Louiss –who had already played with Gilson and Capon on the album “Bill Coleman Sings And Plays 12 Negro Spirituals” in 1968- had to drop out at the last minute: he was delayed by a session with Claude Nougaro. Jean-Charles Capon had also become a sought-after studio musician since his trip to Madagascar in 1969. He appeared on several key albums on the Saravah label including the now famous “Comme À La Radio” by Brigitte Fontaine, “Un Beau Matin” by Areski and “Chorus” by Michel Roques, without mentioning the album by his own Baroque Jazz Trio. He was also to be found with Jef Gilson for his album on Vogue with the ex-drummer from Miles Davis’ first great quintet, Philly Joe Jones, or also in the orchestra led by Jean-Claude Vannier for the album “Nino Ferrer & Leggs”. He also played regularly on albums by Georges Moustaki.Jean-Charles Capon and Serge Rahoerson found themselves thus in the studio, with Jef at the controls. He had decided to record the rhythmic structure right away. He would find the soloists later, that didn’t worry him. Serge Rahoerson was on drums. Though a saxophonist by training, Jef remembered that Serge was also capable of great things behind a drum kit: he was the improvised drummer on their cover of “The Creator Has A Master Plan” on the album “Malagasy”... The great memories came flooding back (the nod on the title “Orly - Ivato”), and the old magic worked again.Brought in momentarily from Europamerica, Gilson’s new big band, in which JC Capon also played, the saxophonists Philippe Maté, from France (another Saravah stablemate) and the American Butch Morris (soon to be a key member of David Murray’s band) were invited to record their parts later and Gilson mixed it all as if it had been one single session (as he had already done on other albums, with the tracks by Christian Vander recorded before the creation and success of Magma).The album would not appear until 1977, on Palm, Jef’s own label, and was dedicated to the memory of Georges Rahoerson, Serge’s father, who had also played on the album “Malagasy” and who had died prematurely at the age of 51 in 1974.“I only received my own copy of the album in 1981 when I came to live in France definitively”, a still-moved Serge Rahoerson told us in 2013. “I was playing in a club one night and Jef turned up by surprise with a copy of the album for me, I was so pleased to see him again. When I arrived in France, I told everyone that I had played with Jef Gilson a few years previously, and I was surprised to learn that so few people knew of him. For us, he was of one of the great jazz visionaries.”Jérôme “Kalcha” Simonneau