Extra Musica - Live in New York for the First Time!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW TO AFRICASOUNDS

Interview by Hortense Fuller

July 14, 1999

Three nights after a triumphant concert at New York’s Irving Plaza, the Congolese group Extra Musica granted AfricaSounds Website a feature interview to inform the English speaking public about this groups’ rise to fame. The interview took place in the private dining room to the rear of the Kilimajaro Restaurant, located at West 116th street in Manhattan. Arriving several moments before the group, I was eager to know who in the large group might show up to inform the readers of AfricaSounds.

Within several minutes, the group manager Ferreol P. Gassackys, arrived. Then, like clockwork, each of the band members from the group came in, one after another. I was very happily surprised to see the entire group there, it was really a sign of professionalism and committment to promoting their image in the U.S.A.

Besides for being the chef d’orchestre, lead guitarist Roga-Roga was also the spokesman for the group that evening. Taking a seat with the manager and Roga-Roga on either side, I began my series of questions to learn about the groups' unique history.

Roga-Roga explained that Extra Musica was formed in 1993 in the Ouenze quartier of Brazzaville. At that time, the musicians were very young and used their youthful optimism to their advantage. In the beginning, there were only a few musicians which comprised Extra Musica; Espe Bass and Roga-Roga were two of the founders of the earliest group line-up. The group actually began as entertainers for the local funerals in the Ouenze quartier. When someone passed away, musicians were needed to play uplifting music that would bring everyone together. The band became a group in demand for such events, and when scheduled they would use the advanced procedes to rent the necessary instruments for them to play.

Obviously, their vision and optimism was present even from the beginning. In 1995, two years later, the group gathered in a local studio and recorded 6 original songs, with the title "Les Nouvelles Missiles." The album, which was recorded in Brazzaville, was then taken to Europe for mixing. It appeared in Paris on the markets on December 15, 1995 and literally shocked the fans of Congolese music. Who were these youths, with such a delectible sound and commercial appeal? Why hadn’t anyone heard of them before? Gossip and rumors circulated about the youthful excellence of this new group entitled Extra Musica.

By April 1996, over 50,000 copies of "Les Nouvelles Missilles," had been officially sold, not counting the thousands and thousands of pirated copies which as Roga-Roga explained taint and help ruin the African music market. In Congo-Brazzaville, Extra Musica received the honor of being the "Meilleure Group Nationale." Speaking to the group, one of their early highlights and fondest memories was the televised special emission on then Zairian television featuring the group and their new compositions. According to Roga-Roga, it was the first time that Zairian television had left Zaire to film a group from Brazzaville for such a special feature. The show, filmed live in concert, only went to fortify the groups growing image abroad. Despite massive pirating, the European count for total copies sold of their first album was 65,000 sold.

However, rumors and critics were abundant. The worst problem for the group was trying to dispell the image that they weren’t who they claimed to be. People even questioned how a previously unknown group could turn out such an impressive first release. Hence, the group sought to dispell all critics with their second album release. They aptly named it "Confirmation," in order to confirm that yes, it was these youths, that could drop this musical bomb on the unsuspecting general public. And "Confirmation" also served the point to prove that there was many other original songs to come from this group called Extra Musica.

Extra Musica received awards for Best Group after that album. They began to tour in support of their growing fame; including visits to Europe and Africa. According to Roga-Roga, Belgium and Gabon were highlites. And in France especially, the group staged a triumphant concert at the renouned BATACLAN concert hall, where more than 5,000 people showed up to witness Extra Musica. After the second album, "Confirmation," the group was able to remain in Europe to record their first album away from home, entitled "Ouragon." It was recorded in Studio Ferber and represented a different recording quality for the group. Studio Ferber is the renouned studio of many greats, including Johnny Hallyday, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Passy and MC Solar. On December 15, 1997, their third album "Ouragon" was released. At this point the group was able to tour the entire country of France, touching base at all the major cities on the French concert circuit. The group was then on to East Africa, including stops in Tanzania, Namibia and Kenya. They then returned to Europe once again to, as Roga-Roga stated, "Take control of African music."

Their most professional album yet, and the most recent, is entitled "ETAT MAJEUR." With the release of this album, the group was able to tour Canada and had even made plans to perform in New York and selected cities of the USA during the Fall of 1998. However, the USA leg of the tour was cancelled due to visa delays. The group toured London and Canada further spreading their name. It was only in July of 1999 that the group finally realized their dream of playing to a very receptive American audience.

I was very curious to learn more about how Extra Musica comes up with their songs. Roga-Roga explained that the process was very democratic. Any person in the group can propose a song to the group members. The group gathers, they all listen to the song, they examine its elements, and finally it is arranged by Roga-Roga and the rest of the group. They tweak the song until it is extremely pleasant to listen to. This intense reworking and discipline is perhaps what makes the music of Extra Musica so special. Their music has a very pleasing tonal quality to it. It is super arranged, almost overworked to an intense commercial quality. That is why when you throw on one of their tracks, the entire dance floor will smile and start to move.

At the September KORA awards in South Africa, Extra Musica was rewarded with the awards for "Best Group." And at the Abidjan African Music Awards, they received two awards: "Best Group from Africa," and "Best Afro-Carribean Group." Roga-Roga stressed that the group was most proud of this second award, as it stressed that Extra Musica had made its mark not only in Africa, but in the Carribean as well.

In September, the group played the Envers Swing Festival, in front of a 40,000 person strong, predominantly white European audience. This was a dramatic success because Extra Musica was able to take the audience and win them over during their show. The group was even called back to do an encore. Roga-Roga stated that the group was conquering Africa and Europe. Now it is time for the group to begin to conquer America.

I urged Roga-Roga to talk about their plans for a sequal album to the Stellar ETAT MAJEUR. Roga-Roga smiled, and looked directly at me. The enxt album, he explained, would be something entirely different. It would still be Extra Musica, but it would be the bomb that they were waiting to drop on the music world. Although the majority of songs have already been written by the group, they will record in in October and we are most likely to see it on the music store shelves by mide December. Instead of resting on their laurels, Extra Musica is going to add some new and different elements to their music for their fifth album. Having worked on the albums theme for seven months, they believe that the new mixture of sounds will take the industry by storm. The new principal for their music will be a symbiosis of world music. Extra Musica will mix more latin flavored styles into their already rich sound. There will be elements of Charanga music from Cuba, which would be the most remarkabe difference. Also, there will be a little R&B and some Ndombolo style mixed into the mixture. It is, what Roga-Roga believes, the next cocktail that will take music fans by storm.

I asked the group about their mentors, and about how the legends of Congolese music treat them. Roga-Roga replied: Papa Wemba is a parrallel of sorts, Koffi and Defao are our grand-freres. There is absolutely no jealousy between us as musicians. Roga-Roga lamented that the level of professionalism amongst promoters, however, was not serious and that African musicians must start demanding high quality professional promoters. There is a lot left to be desired in the realm of promoters. They start their promoting too late, and are not organized to begin to apply for visas and paperworks on time.

I then asked Roga-Roga about his delirious guitar playing, and just how he did it. He prefers the American guitar by Steinberger, which is headless. Special strings are required and it emits a sweet sound which accentuates the groups music.

The group’s tour was to take them to Boston, Washington DC, Texas and then finally return them to New York where hopefully a second concert was to be held on the first of August. One venue being considered is the chic nightspot LIFE in the heart of Greenwich Village. The group was hoping to draw not only their own music crowd, but surprise a crowd of club goers who had possibly never heard of Congolese music before. Only by expanding the music’s exposure, Extra Musica believes, can the music further develop. Roga-Roga finished the interview by stating that Congolese musicians need promoters and record companies who believe in them and their concept of music. We need the same chance given to us as Kassav had and as Brazilian music had. Extra Musica has one goal, one vision and one prayer: to have African music heard, known and appreciated throughout the world.