Search - Papa Noel :: Cafe Noir

Papa Noël (born Antoine Nedule Monswet on Christmas Day, 1940, hence the affectionate nickname) is one of the greatest African guitarists of all time. His bell-like, rounded, tone, shimmering quicksilver runs and ability to pull ecstatic melodies out of the air -- he never plays any tune the same way twice -- have made him a national treasure with an international fan base. Noël has sat in innumerable seminal bands, from Franco's legendary Kinshasa-based OK Jazz and to the very popular modern Afro-Cuban outfit, Kékélé; in fact, his biography reads like a history of rumba Congolaise from its inception to the present day. And he is equally celebrated as a composer. His gloriously upbeat anthem, "Africa Mokili Mobimba" is known and loved throughout the Continent and a festive, large-scale version of it, complete with a playfully extroverted call-and-response chorus and tasty sax riffs from Noël's contemporary, Cameroonian superstar Manu Dibango (of "Soul Makossa" fame), opens the album. Accompanied by a stellar team that includes Abby Surya and Pierre Belkos (vocals) plus Rey Crespo (arrangements) and host of journeyman Cuban instrumentalists, Noël has fashioned a valentine to the re-Africanization of Cuban rumba. In his hands, both traditions are ineffably enriched and strengthened, as the circle is resealed, source-to-source. --Christina Roden