Ago

Brought together by Peter Solo of Togolese funk band Vaudou Game, the five members of Nana Benz grew up in Togo steeped in the power of vodoun. It was “not just a question of dolls and all that,” they explain, but an understanding that vodoun is “life itself” – and more to the point, that it comes with an enviable soundtrack of “incredible rhythms and… wonderful melodies.” The songs on their debut were mostly composed by Solo while the polyrhythms are supplied by DIY instruments, with David Kasanku's bass lines created on lengths of recycled PVC tubing and Toto Tchilatchi's drum kit comprising an old suitcase and a bunch of ceremonial cooking pots. Over this organic groove, the three female voices of Lady Apoc, Izealedu and Parus Kekeli chant soulfully, sometimes solo and other times in harmony, in French, in Mina and, on ‘Liberty’, in pidgin English. Solo's synth-pop production is minimalist but powerful, emphasising the trance elements but foregrounding the idiosyncratic charm of the vocals to create an electro-vodoun-soul effect that sounds like a mash-up between Zap Mama and the reggae duo Althea & Donna.