Les Nubians have carved out a name for themselves as the sexy soul sisters with a thirst for jazz grooves and hip-hop beats. But the Faussart girls are switching gears on their third album, creating a 21-track aural excursion filled with rich array of guest poets reading, rapping and slamming in English and French. The verbosity means there is less focus on Helene and Celia's beautiful Afro-pean voices and harmonies, not to mention their bumpin' grooves, but the poets¹ stories are vivid. Tracks like "Fire" and "NYC" highlight the new sound, while songs like "Rendez-vous New York" and the French language "Les Entrailes du Monde" are a musical reveries equal to past glories. Echos isn't really follow up to the two previous albums. It's more of a response to HBO' s Mos Def-hosted Def Poetry Jam and the countless other poets out there performing. Here it's simply channeled through the unique and musical aesthetic of the French-Cameroonian sisters. --Tad Hendrickson
Album Description
The singing sisters and "modern day Nubian griots" of LES NUBIANS, Helene and Celia Faussart, have returned from yet another fantastic voyage, and have many poetic tales to share on their new album LES NUBIANS PRESENTS: ECHOS-CHAPTER ONE-NUBIAN VOYAGER. A musical expedition of poetry and song featuring 4 new Les Nubians tracks, the conception of this album came to Helene Faussart on a memorable Feluqua boat trip while traveling with her sister Celia in Aswan, Nubia in 2000. This chic, multi-part album showcases Les Nubians' lifelong affinity for poetry, be it their own words, or those of other poets they have met along their many tours and travels since 1999, mingled with sultry Afro-soul and hip hop grooves. They have also included three new tracks- "I Disagree," "Rendez-vous New York" (a duet with John Banzai) and 'Solide'. Recorded in NY, Paris, Bordeaux, London, Marseilles and San Francisco, Echos is divided into four parts: La Terre/The Motherland, Dans Le Ville/Urban City Life, Des Hommes et Des Femmes/Love Stories, and Les Elements/Spiritual Human Nature. Each chapter is introduced by Les Nubians and features an array of gifted French, African and American word craftsmen, such as Souleymane Diamanka, Queen GodIs, John Banzaï & C.Lia, Jamarhl Crawford and Nazeelah Jameson.
Their previous two acclaimed albums charted impressively in the Billboard Top 200, each respectively the highest debut for a French language album in the past 20 years.
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