by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

It’s a smallish, narrow, ground-floor showbar on the Main, with its shallow stage placed somewhat awkwardly in its centre. The atmosphere is warm, far closer to a beachfront beer cabana than the slick, somewhat frosty upscale joints that have popped up around it.

Since 1985, Club Balattou has served as a primary platform for the worldbeat scene that blossomed in the late ’80s. Ostensibly an African-music club, Balattou’s bookings reflected an acknowledgement of the wide spread of the African diaspora and the resulting global permutations of the continent’s music.

Over two decades later, Balattou is still there, and most nights see that stage crammed with musical acts from Montreal and abroad, dishing out all manner of rhythms and styles. Zouk, salsa, rai, juju, son, soca, highlife, soukous, rumba—you name it, the Balattou stage has seen it.

It’s also seen itself go from the sole location of the brand-new Festival International Nuits d’Afrique de Montreal, in 1987, to being just one of many clubs, concert halls and outdoor stages that host the festival’s acts. Today, as it celebrates 20 years, Nuits d’Afrique boasts blowouts at the massive Metropolis, an annual compilation CD and a weekend commandeering Place Émilie-Gamelin in the very heart of town—an impressive leap from the first round of free, outdoor shows, a single day in 1990, on Balattou’s doorstep.

An offer you can’t refuse

“What comes to mind are two things,” says the festival’s general manager, Suzanne Rousseau, looking back two decades. “How many more people there are, now, at the event—from a 150-capacity venue, 1,500 for the whole event, we’re now up to 150,000. Also, there was no worldbeat section in record stores. You couldn’t find the music, and had to get imports all the time.”

That soon changed, thanks in no small part to events like Nuits d’Afrique. Global artists outside of the Western genres of rock, pop, soul, jazz and disco, or those who put their own distinctive local spin on those sounds, were making their voices heard louder and louder, and Western audiences were listening.

“Every year there was something special,” recalls Rousseau, “even when it was just at Balattou. Now, we do different venues, but back then, all the big names came through Balattou. Baaba Maal, Ismaël Lo, Mahotella Queens and Mahatini—that one was so full, people had their hands on the ceiling! Papa Wemba, when he first came, we did two shows the same night, which we’d never done before. We emptied the hall and filled it up again.”

“There were discoveries from year one—I’m impressed when I look at the old posters, because we used to put the program on the posters, the whole program! Also, what was interesting was that the public was receptive right away. They were touched by the music. Also, the media. Those two made it clear that we had something going on here.”

There certainly was something going on, and the artists, as much as the Montreal public, noticed. The title of “godfather” for the 20th anniversary has been bestowed on Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour, regarded as Africa’s first and still greatest superstar. This leading proponent of the mbalax sound, a fusion of traditional and modern musical elements, has lent his honeyed vocals to tracks by Peter Gabriel, Neneh Cherry, Paul Simon and Wyclef Jean, and he’ll be sharing it with us at Metropolis next Thursday, July 13.

“He came in 2001 for an anniversary edition,” says Rousseau, “and he’s present again this year. He’s not touring, he’s just coming for us, so that’s a big thing for us. He represents many things, not just musically but socially too.”

20-20 hindsight

That he does, and among those who can attest to this are his fellow Senegalese Daara J. The trio could be seen as leading ambassadors of African hip hop, a scene that’s exploding all over that continent but has its strongest roots in Senegal, thanks to N’Dour having constructed a studio there. Daara J play la Tulipe on July 20, with Montreal’s Kulcha Connection, who’ve just dropped a second disc of their mix of dancehall, R&B and raps in English, French and Creole.

The big two-oh for Nuits d’Afrique has special significance for several artists, some locally based, who fill out the “20 ans” series. South Africa’s Lorraine Klaasen (July 16, Kola Note) and Brazil’s Paulo Ramos (July 18, Lion d’Or) have both made a home here, and can thank the fest for helping them get started. “They’re celebrating their 20th within our 20th,” says Rousseau, “which makes it even more special.”

Some out-of-towners can say the same. “[B.C.-based Guinean] Alpha Yaya Diallo is someone who’s really at home at the festival. He’s part of the family—he comes regularly to the event. [Cuba’s] Sierra Maestra are also part of the 20 ans, they were discovered at the festival.”

There’s another act familiar to followers of Nuits d’Afrique which has a special place in Rousseau’s heart, and that’s the Guinean drumming and dancing troupe Amazones, an offshoot of the storied Ballets Africains who were part of an off-festival soiree the Nuits crew pulled off.

“That wasn’t during the festival, it was when they were celebrating their 50 years—and hadn’t come to Montreal in 40. They had played Montreal in the ’60s, and there were a few pieces they played with no tops on, and the morality squad came and stopped the show at Place des Arts. They’d never set foot in Montreal since that time, and we brought them, 40 years later. Amazones, who are part of this year’s festival [July 20, le National], are a branch of les Ballets, but all women. That kind of show really gets me, because when I first saw it on video, that’s when I was touched by this kind of music. You could see all of Africa represented in those Ballets.”

Nuits d’Afrique runs from Tuesday, July 11 to Sunday, July 23. For more information, go to www.festivalnuitsdafrique.com

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