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In bed with Nuits d'Afrique >> Hybrids, cross-pollination and screwing with traditional musics. Sounds like some hot nights to us. by CHRIS YURKIW As soon as you start poking around the vast world of, er, world music, you can't help but glean one glaring thing: it's all about hybrid. Whether it's Baaba Maal hooking up with Brian Eno on the former's new album, or the perpetual cross-pollination of Afro-Caribbean rhythms as they bounce back and forth across the Atlantic, nothing is pure--and everything is sacred. It's like Warren Beatty's Bulworth says in the flick: "Everyone's got to keep fucking everyone until they're all the same colour." So here are a few personal ads for you, taken from the line-up of this year's Festival International Nuits d'Afrique de Montréal. Go have a good time. And play safe!
This is Hamid Baroudi. I'm 5'9", thin and Algerian--although I have much more and curlier hair than Zidane. I'm very artistic (I used to sing with a group called Dissidenten) and love going to museums and listening to music. I'm most proud of my long career in raï. I've lived in Paris and Germany and am very into all women of the world. If you're white and like heavy metal, or black and like rap, or Japanese and like techno, I'd like you! Please leave a message at Box: Club Balattou, Thursday July 16, 10 p.m. $15
Our name is Amampondo. We're a group of black South Africans who are trying to meet other Africans for an intimate exchange. No Americans please! We love dancing and drumming and dressing up, and we don't mind if you watch! If you are black and proud and know how to carry yourself, then come and help us unite Africans--if you know what we mean. We think that Nelson Mandela is the sexiest man in the world, not Sean Connery. If you think so too, leave a message at Box: Place Berri (Emilie-Gamelin), Friday, July 24, 6 p.m. Free
Our names are Assar Santana and Geneviève Paris. We are mixed-race lesbian partners from Brazil and Quebec who like to perform on stage together--for men, women, anyone! We want to re-examine standard sexual fantasies outside the realm of rigid feminist analysis. We believe that a willingness to participate in the realization/re-enactment of fantasy redefines power. Are you powerful? Are you willing? Do you believe? If so, get ready to rumble and leave a message at Box: Café Campus, Saturday July 18, 9 p.m. $15 Tickets for the 12th Festival International Nuits d'Afrique are available through Admission outlets (790-1245). Information at 499-9239
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My name's Baaba Maal. I'm a slim, attractive black man from Senegal who's very into music, dancing and world travel. People often mistake me for Youssou N'Dour. If you're looking for a guy who only plays kora and sings traditional Yela music, then please move on. I'd like to meet someone funky, of any race--but of the Islamic faith preferred--who would like to hang out in my studio apartment and make beautiful music together! I'm also into groups--I have one called Daanda Lenol. Box: Medley, Thursday July 16, 10 p.m. $25
My name's Ricardo Lemvo, and I'm confused! Shopping lists aren't the way to meet someone! Me, I'm just a 45-year-old man who they call the king of swinging Afro-Cuban music, but is it soukous or son? Am I from Kinshasa or Havana? I prefer to say Mambo Yo Yo ("I am mambo"), but I do like mysteries. And I'm looking for a mysterious lady (2022 years old) who is a California girl at heart and likes the ocean. Life's a beach! Box: La Playa, Sunday July 19, 10 p.m. $15
My name's Éméline Michel. Me and my special friend Harold Faustin are a young, black, above-average-looking Haitian couple who are looking for a second black man to add something new to our rara. It could be compa, it could be jazzy, it could be funky--or you could be a "militant" singer-songwriter named Beethova Obas. If you are not inhibited or just like to take pictures, please leave a message at Box: Medley, Friday July 17, 10 p.m. $20