Muziq Magazine – July/August 2009
By Loïc Buissières
While the so-called soul heavy-weights are still recycling the 60’s heritage, the French lady reminds us, with her singular “Meaning of Life”, that one can embrace a genre in a fresh and unique way.
“Character” is what, more than anything else, defines Dajla. And it puts her above the so called debate about whether or not French musicians can offer anything else than a pale copy of the US original sound. For sure, the lady’s heart beats for the music of the soul, but she instead of the french nu soul clichés, brings a very healthy sense of stylistic prowess.
“Age 16, I was at the jazz conservatory, but I would go crowd surfing with bands such as “Parabellum” or “La Souris Deglinguée” explains this unconditional fan of US band Fishbone. “Once I got my music degree, I left the conservatory and started playing bass in local punk rock bands. I chose to free myself from the limitations of music charts”. From then on, Dajla’s journey is a reflection of her will to groove “out of the box”. After leaving her home town of Saint-Nazaire, France, age 17, to “roam here and there” the young lady stayed away from her roots in order to quench her thirst for Afro American music. First stop : London in the early 90s, where Dajla flirts with the ska and rock steady scenes for a year. Just enough to adjust to this artistic jetlag and come back to settle in France. “I already wanted to play that soul and hip-hop mix” she recalls, “but I was a bassplayer, not a singer, and that didn’t fit with the current parisian vibe which was all about gangsta rap. In London, on the contrary, the guys were super open and very creative. It was the boom of Acid Jazz, there was a lot of dub, soaring drum ‘n bass, teenagers were into garage, and the jungle explosion that hadn’t reached France yet…”.
Something clicked. There was too much of a gap. And so she moved back to the funky hereditary enemy, but for 6 solid years this time. 6 years during which Dajla will sharpen her pencil in English, find her voice, and design a soul music from an authentic source of inspiration. “We all grew up with Coca Cola and Starsky and Hutch, but it doesn’t stop you from offering something really original and personal, without trying to sound like Erykah Badu or anyone else”. And this is what “the Meaning of Life” is all about, which by the way, mixes hip hop and soul as skilfully as the Diva from Philadelphia. “Both genres are complementary. Besides, many good US rappers often can sing”, she notes.
When it comes to comparisons, this record is perhaps closer to the style of Meshell Ndegeocello than Eryka Badu’s clique, in a sense that it affirms its identity and makes the soul and the meaning rime. Dajla is utterly unique. The way she describes her music, “Afrodelic Soul”, is a shout out to the motherland of Black Music and the genesis of her album. “It was written, amongst other places, during a trip to Gabon that Benji and I did last year (Benji Blow, co-producer of her album). We were introduced to the pygmies and their ancestral traditions, and while taking part in the dances and trances, we realised that as they started pounding their sacred roots and plants, we could hear house music, drum and bass…It was a shock, an awakening. My teenage years were spent listening to Fishbone, or the Beastie Boys, then 90s hip hop and nu soul. By going to Gabon, I felt I had gone full circle, as much as an individual as in the understanding of music”.
“The Meaning of Life”reflects this maturity. It reminds us that Soul Music is a tense that is used in the present. That even in 2009, Soul Music can not only be played but also incarnated. And confirms that Dajla is an authentic artist with a Soul Attitude. ”
