The creation was elaborated in 2004, punctuated by intense sharing times in Mozambique at the  Franco-Mozambican Cultural Centre of Maputo.

In November 2004, the "Urbs", four young musicians of the Seine Saint-Denis and Moz' Urbs (made up of ten Mozambican artists and the singer Sandro Valadas) worked together during three weeks in Maputo to present the musical creation at the FMCC of Maputo on November 19, 2004.

At the end of November, the eleven musicians of the group Moz' Urbs were received in France for workshops and concerts. "Nhanssalà! "was presented within the framework of the Africolor Festival for the opening'sconcert.

A new album "Nhanssalà!" is available under the label of Lutherie Urbaine "Satïn Metal" including a CD and a DVD which recounts this adventure.

The musical Ensemble "Les Urbs" has rejoined  the "Moz'Urbs" for a tour in the french cultural centres and Alliances françaises in Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa and Namibia.

“World music news”

March 06

Daniel Brown 

A “totally crazy” two-year project between gifted musicians from France and Mozambique gives birth to the whacky and ingenious “Nhanssalà

 Lutherie urbaine

The brainchild of percussionist and composer Jean-Louis Mechali, Lutherie Urbaine, has spawned six projects since it began in 2000. The group is composed of five drummers and multi-instrumentalists from diverse horizons who have set up a laboratory of sound and instruments in the Paris suburb of Bagnolet. Often using discarded urban material, their experimentations are at the heart of exchanges with artists from central and southern Africa. In 2006 they released the CD/DVD “Nhanssalá” expressing a “new musical vocabulary” alongside 11 Mozambican musicians.!”.

Nhanssalá!

This album is totally crazy. No, really. That’s exactly what “Nhanssalá” means in one of Mozambique’s numerous local dialects. Its meaning faithfully translates the wild, often unbridled energy of one of the surprise albums of the year. A gripping and dynamic exchange between French and Mozambican musicians who perform on the strangest instruments one is likely to see in a studio or on a stage: cooking pans, water containers, squawking plastic trumpets and xylophones made out of recuperated metal strips or tubes. Fronting the incongruous set straight out of our urban junk yards is the gripping and grating voice of Sandro Valadas. “Out of the metal kiln is born the softness of vocal sensations,” claims the DVD film that accompanies the 11-track album. This is a marriage of sharp-edged steel and booming percussions, with the sand-paper vocals of Valadas and some sweet Zulu-like vocals behind.

In the course of a rehearsal the musical director Braka harangues his musicians: “In order to get some concerts we’ve got to create a demo CD that is explosive.” Yet, he achieves much more than that, producing a slickly-produced album that literally fizzes. At times, we hear the buzzing echo of a Konono N°1 (“Joven inocente”), then there is a plunge into rock and free jazz (“Tino nbonga”), or contemporary percussive drives that defy any categorisation (“Thende tika pereke” or “La feira popular” which ends in a Valadas’ devilish laugh). But however you call it, the urban harmony created between metal waste materials from construction sites, water vats, and Mozambican voices makes for wonderful listening – and watching.

For the DVD faithfully reconstitutes the creative voyage of the five French musicians and the 11 Mozambican counterparts since 2003. That was when Jean-Louis Mechali and his fellow-travellers first met 21 artists from Maputo at the Franco-Mozambican Cultural Centre run by music-lover and miracle-maker François Belorgey. The workshops and rehearsals culminated in the opening concert for the 2004 Africolor festival in the Paris. 15 months later, the Metal & Satin label created by Lutherie Urbaine has brought out a CD/DVD which can just be criticised for its plain cover and lack of sleeve notes. Unfortunately, for the moment it is only available via internet (www.lutherieurbaine.com), by mail (59 avenue du Gl de Gaulle, Bagnolet, France) or after the band’s concerts (they have just completed a tour of southern Africa).

In 2002, Mechali began his first “crazy” project in the DRC capital Kinshasa. It was called “Liboma minghi”, Lingala for - guess what? - “totally insane”. This time round he has gone one step further by bringing out an album that encapsulates the creative and delightful madness stalking Lutherie Urbaine. “The most interesting part” says Sandro Valadas in the accompanying film, “is using material available to us…because instruments are rare and expensive in Mozambique.” “Nhanssalá” reveals a collaboration between two distinct cultures that have indeed created another musical vocabulary. Undoubtedly, Mechali has every reason to believe he can build similar bridges with other cultures.