Nouvelle Ambiance !!!

Margaret Thatcher won election in 1979, Ronald Reagan was elected in the US the next year, both countries lurching further to the right. Meanwhile, France moved to the left under a new government led by François Mitterrand and embraced the nation’s postcolonial multiculturalism, resulting in an influx of African and Caribbean immigrants. Ever so briefly, a cultural axis of Paris, Brazzaville, Kinshasa, Abidjan and Douala emerged. The sleek, early ‘80s African music that soundtracked the hottest Parisian nightclubs is captured on Nouvelle Ambiance, a compilation that wisely pairs 12 boogie cuts with a booklet featuring nightclub fashion from the era. Such stylishness carries over to the music itself. Where else can you hear the sound of a bow-shaped wind instrument from the Bantou people paired with DX-7 beats on John Johngos’s “Djandè” or how Antoinette Konan’s traditional Baoulé gets paired to canned handclaps and synth bass? Congolese soukous dominates the set, but other distinct styles are present: zouk, m’balax, disco, R&B, salsa, and reggae.