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 Caught in the Carousel "There will be music despite everything"
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Jean-Pierre Simons
Sentimentally...To Africa
Independent
Sentimentally...To Africa is exuberant and ebullient, almost a religious devotional to life, friends, loves and a country. It's an AfroPop French-Caribbean beach party from Cameroon-born Jean-Pierre Simons. Bring your own boat drink. Simons, and drummer-producer Jojo Kuo (Peter Gabriel, Harry Belafonte), pair African melodies and rhythms with Continental arrangements for a bright, brassy and accessible World Music album. Simons, who now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, draws from Makossa, which is a vibrant style blending funk, jazz, Latin, Cameroon folk (ambasse bey), and African rumba (soukous). More than half the songs are in French, but you don't need to know the language to translate the emotional energy—even a eulogy like "Mes Adieux" is more of a celebration than a lament. One challenge—my copy of Sentimentally...To Africa lists the tracks out of order, though I see it has been mostly fixed on Amazon. There's plenty to enjoy on Sentimentally, starting with the title track. "Change in My Life" celebrates the possibilities for change; "Like A Friend" entertains the dream of universal love; "Baobab-Tree" celebrates the land. "Un Amour Impossible" sounds terrifically upbeat, even though my Frenglish interprets an opposing possibility. "Laisse-Moi T'Aimer" is a joy, though it could be about buying a magical washing machine for all I know. "On Danse" is a bit formal, but "Aime-Moi" and "Candlelight" are soothing. Sentimentally...To Africa is a mini-vacation, a temporary tonic to office politics.
—Lyn Dunagan
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