Da Lata – Behind the wonderful ‘This In Not Your Job’ track with Diabel Cissokho on Papa Records.
First off, let me introduce the DMC World to the set up. Key London dudes Patrick Forge and Chris Franck joined by Senegalese singer and Kora player Diabel Cissokho. So Patrick and Chris, your duo is renowned for a very cool Afro-Latin-Funk sound… how did you get into this groove and sound, parents playing their music, early clubbing, sound systems around London?
Chris – “Yes, my introduction to African and Latin music really came through my parents. They used to play a lot of these flavours in the house when I was growing up. These influences stayed with me and then when I went to live in Paris when I was 18, I was able to see a whole lot of African and Brasilian artists play live. This was very inspirational for me at the time.”
Patrick – “Afro and Latin sounds have fascinated me from way back when I started collecting music of these flavours in the early Eighties. Initially artists like Fela Kuti, Ray Barreto and Airto.”
You have known each other for over a decade, where did you first meet?
Chris – “We met at Patrick’s flat. A mutual friend of ours called Billy had sent over a demo of my band called Batu to Patrick. Patrick really liked it so myself and friend Carl Smith (from Stomp) made the trip up to Patrick’s flat to meet and chat about music. The rest is history…”
So, your new tune ‘This Is Not Your Job’ – remixes from Faze Action, The Layabouts and Yass spanning disco and deep house turns on your original. What are your thoughts on each mix up of this steely dancefloor cracker?
Chris – “Well they all go somewhere completely different with the tune, the Layabouts have that more minimal sound, the Faze mix is a litlle bit more disco flavoured and commercial, the Yass a bit more techy, obviously Patrick tends to play the original!”
Diabel, an African superstar in reality, one time member of Baba Maal and also playing alongside the likes of fellow countrymen Femi Kuti and Manu Dibango. How the hell did that coalition come about?
Chris – “I met Diabel through a mutual friend while I was recording the Zeep album with my partner Nina Miranda. I have collaborated with many African artists from Tony Allen, Baaba Maal and Mamani Keita. Diabel was interested to meet me having heard about my involvement with these artists so when his friend Mamadou Sarr came to do a session for me on the Zeep album, Diabel came along too and a friendship was born.”
Your version of Edu Lobo’s Brazillian classic ‘Ponteio’ was bigged up by the likes of DJs such as Francois K and Joe Claussell which grew into a classic at the amazing ‘Body and Soul’ night in America. Did you ever step onto the dancefloor there, and if so… what were the tunes that rocked it for you and what are your memories?
Patrick – “I wish I had heard it played at ‘Body and Soul’!! I do remember Phil Asher cutting up two copies to great effect at Paul Anderson’s Loft session and I heard a tape of Francois playing at Yellow in Tokyo.”
Chris – “The full Da Lata live band was invited to play at the Body and Soul party at ‘Summer Stage’ in Central Park in New York in the Summer of 2001. It had been raining for three weeks in New York up until that day when the sun came out for the first time. It was scorching hot, 10,000 people turned up in Central Park that day and the party was AMAZING! The line up was Joe Claussell, Francios K, Eddie Palmieri and Da Lata. One of the most exciting events we have ever played at. People went crazy…”
Boys, I know you have a love for Brazil and in particular Rio De Janerio, Patrick, it’s where you met Nina Miranda for instance and once her return to London had the beautiful ‘Underwater Love’ 1996 crackeroonie under your Smoke City guise. Tell us about Rio…
Patrick – “Well I met Nina in Rio in ’95, and she’d just done the first version of ‘Underwater Love’, I’d been working with Chris on the first Da Lata stuff, it seemed like a natural and quite cosmic connection for us all to collaborate. However, apart from some early demos, I haven’t been involved in Smoke City, where as Chris and Nina have gone on to work, live and have kids together. As for Rio that was a very magical trip for me, but Chris knows the city far better…
Chris – “Smoke City became Marc Brown, Nina Miranda and Chris Franck. We wrote some great tunes and influenced a whole generation of Brasilian influenced acts around the world. I try to go to Rio every year either to work or holiday. It is an amazing place. One of those places in the world which takes your breath away. The location of Rio is absolutely awesome, stunning natural beauty. However, the difference between the rich and poor is extreme and there is so much corruption. This is always very hard for me to deal with. I love Brasil but as well as the extreme beauty, there is extreme ugliness. Rio is really the birth place of Samba and there are amazing musicians there. The samba schools are the best in Brasil.”
What clubs have been great to play at over the last twelve months, what tunes have made you spin out and what up and coming DJs have you thought, hmm, this guy or girl could be a major player?
Patrick – “Freedom Time in Osaka is still one of my favourite sessions, and our Inspiration Information sessions at East Village have all been awesome with some (not so young) but nevertheless thrilling guests – particularly Christian Pronovost and Rich Medina from Montreal and Philadelphia respectively. As for tunes, it’s been a bit of a dry 12 months with plenty of quality but very little to truly inspire, Henrik Schwarz has surprised me, and a couple of young guns going from strength to strength – Aaron Jerome and Floating Points. However Vanessa Freeman’s album which should drop in ’09 blows most of the rest out of the water.”
Patrick, your residency at Dingwalls with Gilles Peterson in London. Best nights you had?
“Legendary session back in the day, we were the flipside of the summer of love, same spirit, better music! The best atmosphere and vibe to be found in London”.
