'From Africa with Energy'- Ivory Coast dancer, singer takes rhythm to Jamaica

Sitting next to the young mother, who speaks softly, graciously, almost shyly, one could hardly imagine how her face jumps out of a photograph, or the explosion which takes place once she's on stage. Her eyes are slanted, almond-shaped. She looks at you and you'll remember her beauty forever. Just 29 and she's on tour with her band, sound engineer and tour manager, thanks to the Foundation of the Alliance Francaise in Paris sending them to the Caribbean.

Dobet Gnahoré was raised in the Ivory Coast and has been performing from the age of 12. It's only since last year, when she won a Grammy award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance with India Arie, that she's gained greater recognition as a rising star. It was a crime, though, the way the announcer pronounced her name that night of the Grammy award ceremony. It's supposed to sound something like Doe-bay Na-or-ey, with the 'T' in her first name silent and the 'G' in the last name silent. Not having been coached, the poor announcer butchered it so that it sounded like Dobett Gawhore. Hopefully, that won't happen again.

Artistic education

A member of the Mandinka ethnic group, Dobet's maternal language is Bete, though she sings in a score of African languages and French. French guitarist Colin Larouche de Feline, Dobet's husband, met her in 1996 when he was just 19 and went to study music in the West African village where Were Were Liking, the Cameroonian writer, playwright and performer had created the Ki-Yi Mbock theatre troupe in 1980, based in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast. Dobet's father, Boni Gnahoré, was a master drummer with the group, and Dobet studied theatre, dance, music and singing in this place created for the artistic education of young people, as Were Were Liking sought to create a movement for the birth of Pan-African culture.

It seems that Dobet has taken that concept global. She is from Ivory Coast, Colin from France, the bass-guitar player, Clive Govinder, from Mauritius, drummer Yves William Ombe Monkama (Willy) from Cameroon, their sound engineer, Marc Gudanski, a former musician from Belgium of Polish ancestry, all led by tour manager Benjamin Blanpain Montresor from Guadeloupe. This was the group that rocked the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts on Sunday, October 23, in what Michael Reckord called a performance "from Africa with energy".

Yes, it took energy to perform some of the dances, almost gymnastics. At one point, Dobet lay flat on her back, then flipped up from that position - try it. It's impossible. But her voice was amazing, both rebellious and evocative, especially at the end when she sat quietly with a simple Indian ceramic 'hudu', like a gourd with an opening on top and on the side which she controlled with her hands to accompany one of her more haunting songs. This, after the group was given a standing ovation with continuous clapping for minutes until the demand for encores was met.

Fascinating movements

What was fascinating throughout the performance, however, was not only her vocal range, as volatile as her physical movements, but how the other musicians had their eyes riveted upon her, with almost joy on their faces, though of course each had his moment of solo splendour. The president of the Alliance Française de la Jamaïque, Dr Françoise Cevaer, said on stage: "These are nice people!" And they are.

Both before and after, I was able to speak with them, individually. Colin explained that he arrived just when the Ki-Yi Mbock guitarist left the group with a performance pending. Colin knew the music, filled in for one performance and played guitar for three years with the Ki-Yi Mbock troupe. Dobet and he married in 1999, moved to Marseilles and started working together, just the two of them. Their first CD, produced in 2004, bears the name of their duo: Ano Neko, Let's Create Together. They've worked together for 14 years now, adding other musicians to form the ensemble: Dobet Gnahoré. They have two children, an 11-year-old and a 10-month-old, Kimia which means 'peace', and Maeva, meaning 'welcome'. Dobet's three CDs have done well, though she wishes their distributor were large enough for them to earn enough money for a tutor to be employed so the children could be with them. They remain with Colin's family. Warfare in the Ivory Coast over the last disputed election means they haven't been there since April 2010, though they plan to return in December. She says her mother was well protected during the fighting, but, emotionally, such destruction hurts, giving impetus to her lyrics calling for peace, hope and love of which she sings.

Dobet was thrilled with the two master classes, in dance and voice, which she and the band gave at the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts the day after the concert, attended by at least 200 people. She said: "I was really surprised and happy to experience so much dynamism and enthusiasm shared by young students and to know that a centre like the Edna Manley school exists here." But the greatest thrill of all was to be in the land of "Bob Marley, Bob Marley, Bob Marley!"

They headed to Tuff Gong Studios and Trench town on their afternoon off, then to Frenchman's Cove to see something of Jamaica after having come from concerts in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, and British Virgin Islands before heading off to Dominica and a seven-city tour of the United States. They want to return for a big concert next year, perhaps in Emancipation Park, if funds can be found. One had a sense of family about the Dobet Gnahoré ensemble and a wrenching sadness to see them leave, for meeting them was something good in my life.