Ancestry in Progress

Amazon.com
Longtime Zap Mama fans may take issue with the direction Marie Daulne has taken the band. After starting out as a women’s a capella group, Daulne started integrating instruments, rappers and programming on Seven, taking it even further on A Ma Zone. Now on Ancestry In Progress, the first ZM album in five years, it's Daulne with help from the Roots, Common, Erykah Badu, Taleb Kweli and others from the hip-hop and R&B community. Nonetheless, the band was always Daulne's, and she's in complete command here again. You still get to wonder at her ability to create weird vocal sounds. Her high raspy cat-like voice is as playful and rhythmic as ever, and her sense of harmony stills draws upon her African roots even if she chooses to put samples over the top. No doubt "Sweet Melody" is one of Daulne's catchiest songs, but other standouts include "Vivre" and "Bandy Bandy." Instead of the African jungle we get the urban jungle, but it's still beautiful music. –-Tad Hendrickson

Product Description
The initial run of "Ancestry in Progress" will feature a bonus disc with four exclusive tracks!

Tracks:

Intro
Sweet Melody
Vivre
Bandy Bandy featuring Erykah Badu
Yelling Away featuring Talib Kweli, Common and "?uestlove"
Show Me the Way featuring Bahamadia, Lady Alma and "?uestlove"
Follow Me
Miss QN
Yaku
Ca Varie Varie
Alright
Cache Cache
Len n 5
Wadidyusay? featuring Scratch
Zap Bs

Amazon.com

Longtime Zap Mama fans may take issue with the direction Marie Daulne has taken the band. After starting out as a women's a capella group, Daulne started integrating instruments, rappers and programming on Seven, taking it even further on A Ma Zone. Now on Ancestry In Progress, the first ZM album in five years, it's Daulne with help from the Roots, Common, Erykah Badu, Taleb Kweli and others from the hip-hop and R&B community. Nonetheless, the band was always Daulne's, and she's in complete command here again. You still get to wonder at her ability to create weird vocal sounds. Her high raspy cat-like voice is as playful and rhythmic as ever, and her sense of harmony stills draws upon her African roots even if she chooses to put samples over the top. No doubt "Sweet Melody" is one of Daulne's catchiest songs, but other standouts include "Vivre" and "Bandy Bandy." Instead of the African jungle we get the urban jungle, but it's still beautiful music. --Tad Hendrickson

Album Description

The initial run of "Ancestry in Progress" will feature a bonus disc with four exclusive tracks!

Customer Reviews:

Another Masterpeice.......2007-07-02

I became a fan of Zap Mama after I heard the A Ma Zone album several years ago. I went back and bought all of their CD's and I like the fact that they all have their own vibe. Each one has it own musical style, that is not similar to the previous. So then I found Ancestry and Progress and once again Zap Mama has made another masterpiece again.

My favorite songs are Sweet Melody, Bandy Bandy, Miss Q-N, and Yaku. Yet, I like the entire album. I feel that this album really hits a different mark so that it can't really be called World and at the same time it is not R&B, it is somewhere in between. I really use the use of vocals, but also good instrumentation in the songs. After hearing A Ma Zone then hearing this album I would have never expected an album like Ancestry in Progress and I really appreciate that. I can't wait until the next album comes out.

flawed but quite good.......2006-02-02

Skillful yet seemingly effortless tapestries of sounds and voices. Male rapping that actually works as an effective counterpoint to the abundance of "sister energy". Songs that are ephemeral yet anchored in subtle ways, this is a daring yet confident step forward for a project that is, essentially, "The Marie Show" now. Not that that's a bad thing. The male vocals off-set the more cloying aspects which until now popped up far too often. While I admire the manner in which discordant sounds are thrown into the mix, I do wish Marie would be a BIT less self-indulgent with the spoken word parts (as in SHOW ME THE WAY) and (seemingly) affected pigeon English. Oh, well, at least she's shown more decisiveness on when to actually end a song. Overall; breathtaking and unclassifiable. This may sound like over-thinking things, but, I truly enjoy the songs, just hope to see Marie continue to grow up and out of herself. She is SO talented.

this beauty in progress.......2005-09-09

You know how you feel when you sitting on the beach in front of the sea, with the fresh clean breeze gently blowing through your hair. You know how it feels to have that piece of milk chocolate melt gently in your mouth as it mesmerizes all the taste buds on your tongue.
That is what this lady does to you ear drum. Her music is sweeter that honey. And who better to colab with than with Miss Badu herself.
This lady has got magic in her vocal cords and tranquility in her lyrics. My poor soul was starved of good and original sound and she fed my soul. That is the way it should be after all music is intended to be food for the soul

AN UNDERCOVER 'THRILLER'(michael jackson).......2005-04-28

I havent loved this many songs on one cd since Michael Jackson's Thriller. No joke or exaggeration. The only difference iS that this isn't sugercoated pop music for the masses...that's why it's an "undercover Thriller".. It's different, but absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Buy it, love it, live it..Read all of the other perfect reviews. They are true... Peace.

All the Funk Without the Filth.......2005-04-02

It's been a long dry spell since Amazone and this is worth the wait. The album is clearly a follow-up to Amazone, yet the style is refined a little more, so it is not simply Amazone II, the Sequel.

Each composition here is like a little window opening on a slice of life. The blending of the languages brings home, yet again, the universality of music. There are differences between peoples, but this difference is something to share and enjoy, not to separate us into disparate spaces. Whatever your background, you can feel a part of the scenes presented.

The spoken words take me back to the beginning of what is now called rap, to true street corner poetry. Unlike most of today's rap, there are no words you don't want young kids to hear. Instead of degrading women and reducing them to objects to be abused, we are instead reminded that "She is someone's daughter" and to be revered as she is made of "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water". No malice, no hatred, only love of the highest order. Pure poetry, not gutter rap.

The vocals are perfectly blended and the harmonies are tight. These women blend together a vocal synergy that must be heard to be experienced. The rhythms, capable of standing alone, reinforce the musical magic woven into the tapestry of their sound.

If you truly believe we are one people spread across a small planet, this album will speak to your soul. If you've never been exposed to music like this, you'll be amazed. If you're already a fan of Zap Mama, you won't be disappointed.