Could this be the manifestation of the ultimate stage of globalization as far as music is concerned? The Dutch, from Amsterdam or Maastricht, play Anatolian psychedelic rock (Altin Gün) or Thai funk (Yin Yin), while Bretons (Badume’s Band) take over the ethio-jazz of Addis Ababa. People from Marseilles (Deli Teli) remember the Marseille origins of their city by reviving the golden age of Hellenic laïko, while Parisians (Hey Djan) prefer to explore the Armenian folk heritage. Babel no longer finds himself there with these groups from Western Europe in search of sounds from elsewhere, forgotten, if not lost. The obsolete and problematic term “world music” has been replaced by that of “outernational”: music still without borders but more respectful of its sources.
The European epicenter of this niche phenomenon has been located in the heart of Geneva. This is where Bongo Joe is located, a name given in homage to Bongo Joe Coleman (1923-1999), an obscure Texan street jazzman. “Association-label-store of vinyl records, cassettes, CDs, bar, concerts, conferences, DJ sets, performances”, is it indicated, in bulk, on the windows of this cave of Ali Baba to diggers, these miners hunt for the curiosity that will join their phonographic treasure. At Bongo Joe, arrivals come from all sources and from all eras, “new and second hand mixed, around 5,000 references in store and tens of thousands sleeping in reserve”, specifies Cyril Yétérian, the founder of this strange complex.
Cyril Yétérian, founder of the label: “The renewed interest in vinyl has developed this type of curiosity”
At the moment, the island of Sao Tome and Principe is highlighted with the publication on 1is April of an anthology by Africa Negra, a group from the Portuguese-speaking archipelago in the Gulf of Guinea. Here is revealed “the B side of music history”, the label offering Mauritian séga and raï lyonnais, electric guitar from Azerbaijan and Swiss electronic experiments. “The renewed interest in vinyl has developed this type of curiosity”, as much as the rise of the Internet which makes it possible to unearth in a few clicks of the mouse sounds that we once brought back from travels.
Is the recycling of sure values of Anglo-Saxon pop and rock being exhausted? Opened in 2013 in 32 square meters occupied by five employees, Bongo Joe moved in March 2021 to quintuple its surface and triple its staff. This “Independent autonomous place today has a lease with the city, because it contributes to the revitalization of the city center” in the Halles de l’Ile sector, long neglected, explains Cyril Yétérian. He notices that on the terrace overlooking the Rhone “we can have a table with bankers, another with dog punks”. His partner, Quentin Pilet, bongo player in the group L’Eclair, adds that it is no coincidence that this is happening in Geneva, “Cosmopolitan, with many communities due to the asylum policy: as you stroll along the quays, you will hear Eritreans playing the guitar. Or Colombians: everyone here knows what cumbia is”.
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