Zap Mama

Zap Mama originated as an all-female a cappella quintet established by Marie Daulne, a native of Zaire. During the 1960 revolution her father lost his life while her mother carried her in utero, prompting the surviving family to escape into the forests where a pygmy tribe offered them shelter. Although Daulne grew up chiefly in Europe, a recording of traditional pygmy music she encountered at twenty prompted her to travel back to Africa and explore her roots. There she mastered pygmy onomatopoeic vocal methods, after which she came back to the West and created Zap Mama. The ensemble fuses worldwide musical traditions with almost no instruments or percussion beyond the sounds members produce vocally and physically. Its 1993 debut Adventures in Afropea achieved the highest sales of any non-compilation release on Luaka Bop Records, aided by the group’s support slot on that summer’s 10,000 Maniacs tour. Sabsylma followed a year later, succeeded by 7 in 1997 and A Ma Zone in 1999. Zap Mama rejoined Luaka Bop for Ancestry in Progress in 2004, then issued Supermoon on Heads Up in 2007. Over time the lineup centered on Daulne shifted toward a more pop-oriented world-beat format; while this change cost the ensemble some listeners drawn to its earlier traditional emphasis, the later incarnation’s catchy appeal and rhythmic energy attracted an equal number of new followers. ReCreation, which exemplified the global urban sensibility Daulne had woven into the group’s core identity, surfaced in 2009.