Les Nubians
SISTER ACT
Les Nubians Take Hip-Hop One Step Forward with African Roots and Neo-Soul
As Les Nubians, French-Cameroonian sisters Helene and Celia Faussart were well ahead of music trends when they released their debut album, Princesses Nubiennes -- a blend of African rhythms, hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and reggae -- in 1998. With their richly textured sophomore disc, One Step Forward, the lovely ladies continue to mix things up, singing in both French and English. Barnes & Noble.com's R&B/Hip-Hop editor Tracy E. Hopkins spoke with the duo's elder half, Helene, about music, culture, the political climate in France, and more.
Barnes & Noble.com: I read that you recorded One Step Forward in several locations, including Jamaica, Paris, Cameroon, and London. How did that shape the record?
Helene Faussart: When you get to a country, you soak in the culture and you listen [to] and create [music] differently. So it's not only having an exotic view of music, but you're living with the people. For example, we experienced reggae music in Jamaica from 8 a.m. [one day] until 8 a.m. the next day. So you live with the music to a different rhythm, and it really [takes] your inspiration somewhere else. That's what we like about traveling [and recording] in all those different countries.
B&N.com: How did the process of recording this disc differ from recording your debut, Princesses Nubiennes?
HF: We mainly recorded the first album in London. But the writing process was completely different. [With the first album], we already had all the songs when we went in the studio. But with One Step Forward, there were songs that we composed in the studio.
B&N.com: What I like about your music is the sense of cultural pride that shines through. Most African Americans have been cut off from our ancestral roots, and your music introduces us to different sounds and brings us closer to those roots. Is that your goal?
HF: Yes, I think so. This is what we did from the time we began to sing ten years ago. At that time, we were doing an a cappella show presenting the whole diaspora of black music. If we consider black music as a tree: We used to cover from the roots to the leaves, from traditional African songs, gospel, blues, jazz, soul, reggae, samba, and bossa nova. So it was a way to present black music in all of its diversity and consider it as one. One creation. One people. And I think we are doing the same with our albums.
B&N.com: A lot of your American fans don't speak French. Were you surprised with how well your debut was received?
HF: Of course. [laughs] When we did the first album, our idea was to put [our] message into French music. At that time, in 1998, there weren't that many different types of music being played on the radio. And mainly, black people were expected to either rap or sing world music. There was no room for other types of artists. We were like, We love soul and different types of music, and we want to do that. When we heard the album was doing well in America, we were so surprised. At one point, we thought it was Francophone people, but we discovered it was wider than that. But years later we understood. When I hear a song, even if it's in Swahili, I don't understand it but I get the feeling of it. This is how we've enjoyed music since we were kids. With our music, we are trying to give that same type of feeling. Music has its own language above and beyond words.
B&N.com: Growing up, what music or artists were you inspired by?
HF: Fela, Miriam Makeba, Ella Fitzgerald, Prince, Aretha Franklin, Gilberto Gil, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Zap Mama, Vinx -- those types of artists. Also, French artists like Jacques Brel.
B&N.com: Do you think your music helped pave the way for the American neo-soul movement?
HF: I think the success of Princesses Nubiennes showed that it is possible to do different types of music. But I really regret that neo-soul is becoming a new format, when all those artists wanted to get out of a format.
B&N.com: What are you currently listening to?
HF: Common's Electric Circus, the Roots' Phrenology, Donnie's The Colored Section, Talib Kweli's Quality, and Julie Dexter's Dexterity. And I bought 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
B&N.com: Your single, "Temperature Rising," features Talib Kweli. Have you always been a fan?
HF: There are a lot of artists who claim to be activists. But it's only in words. What I appreciate about Kweli and Mos Def's attitude is that it's not only words. They are action men. They took the money from their first album, Black Star, and bought a bookstore in Brooklyn [Nkiru Books] to give culture to people and feed their souls. I respect that. Also, Kweli is an amazing lyricist, and working with him is always a pleasure. So it was great to have our brother with us on the album.
B&N.com: You started your own record label. Do you plan to collaborate with any of the progressive artists you mentioned?
HF: We have a few ideas, but I am very superstitious. Because I know once [an idea] is out of your mouth, it doesn't belong to you anymore. But yes, we have plans to collaborate either with singers from the neo-soul scene or with African singers, or with rap artists from the U.S. and abroad. The label we created, Nubiatic Productions, [was designed] to reveal talent and most of all to [defy categorization]. [Our first release] is a spoken-word project called Echoes, with French and American poets. It's bilingual and comes with a book with translations. We worked on it over the past three years and I think it will be ready for fall 2003.
B&N.com: You mentioned that you bought 50 Cent's album. What made you curious about his album?
HF: I really think his music is dope, and the single ["In Da Club"] is hot. And I'm sure that if I go back to France without the album, people will kill me. [laughs] It's still popular music that's [touching] people's hearts and feet. Buying that album was also my way to show support. There's room for everyone in [this] business.
B&N.com: You live in Paris. On a more political note, would you say that there is a growing anti-American sentiment there?
HF: We're not anti-American. We're antiwar. People are sick of war. We had war on the soil of our country 50 years ago. That's not long ago. People who lived through World War II don't want to live [through it again]. We've lived with terrorism for 25 years. The [biggest] immigration population in France is Arabic people. We can't go to war. If we go to war, there's going to be war in France, too. I don't know if people understand that. I react just as a human being, not even as a French one. I lived in Chad, where there was war against Libya. I saw bombs falling. I saw flesh and blood. I saw kids losing their limbs. My father used to work for a nonprofit organization that helped provide prosthetic limbs. My father was a victim of terrorism in the early '80s -- he lost his ears. So my position is for no war. I've been too close to it.
April 7, 2003
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