Singer-flutist Celia Wa unveils a bold and introspective debut album.
Her “karibfutursound” fuses traditional Gwoka rhythms with rich influences of soul, jazz, amapiano, and electronic music feat. Roger Raspail, with arrangements by David Walters.

In the ever-evolving musical universe, a voice emerges, carrying echoes of a rich past and the promises of a bold future. Célia Wa, the talented Guadeloupean artist, offers us "Fasadé," her debut album, a sonic odyssey transcending borders and eras.
The path to "Fasadé" was not without obstacles. Three EPs marked this journey, like a challenging expedition through the mountainous islands of the Caribbean. Yet, nothing could shake the determination of this artist driven by a powerful and unwavering Creole identity; indelible marks left in the collective memory of a people, told in Creole tales.
Even without fully mastering its nuances, Célia's interpretive strength, accompanied by her music and all that embellishes it, make the intention impossible to miss. You cannot help but be swept away by the emotions guiding each of the nine tracks. This energy transcends anger and the thirst for vengeance born from moments where life opened fault lines beneath her feet, from which she had to ascend, sometimes with difficulty.
However, from all this emerged an unyielding resilience. Guided by love, faith, and passion, she continues to move forward with assured steps. Ideas for tracks are born, foundations sketched, before gathering around those who have become a steadfast core for ten years: Xavier Belin's keyboards and Kristof Négrit's drums. Adding to the trio is David Walters, whom Célia accompanied on the concert circuit for a long time, contributing with his compositions and arrangements. Together, they create a sound that travels far beyond the Caribbean borders.
Infused with all that musically nourishes her Guadeloupe, her heart beating like a gwoka drum, invigorated by Roger Raspail's thunderous percussion, and rocked by Kingston's laid-back reggae, Celia surpasses the limits of the Caribbean arc alone. She braves an ocean of irreversible journeys to connect with Senegal and Ousmane Kouyaté's kora, and further east to Nigeria and Owomide's song. Reconnecting with common roots and pasts, blending differences into a formula that fosters natural exchange and mutual contribution.
Above all, music must liberate bodies and minds, even the most marked. It serves as an outlet for the darkest moments, leaving them far behind. And it makes us dance Welcome to the KARIBFUTURSOUND.

FASADÉ
Arranged by David Walters OUT MARCH 8TH 2025

Poet, novelist, musician and academic, Anthony Joseph teams up with legendary UK producer Dave Okumu for forthcoming album, ‘Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back’

Dave Okumu, known perhaps best as frontman for The Invisible, though digging deeper into his production credits, huge names emerge such as; Grace Jones, Amy Winehouse, Jesse Ware, Rosie Lowe and Eska. On this album, the magic and alchemy of Dave’s production style showcase subtle sonics and deep layering resulting in a contemporary sound to carry Anthony’s afrofuturistic metrical
meanings.
Anthony and Dave first came across each other when working with Shabaka Hutchings during Covid broadcasts, and then after Anthony performed some poems on Dave’s 2023 album ‘I Came From Love’, the seeds of collaboration were sown. With a little more psychedelia, a little more experimentation, Dave’s eclectic vision focuses on the actual sounds on these pieces. Anthony stated that “The best producers guide you, not push you” now add to that the fact that both these humans were born on the same day, a concoction of laid back attitudes in people with strong purpose, some real magic can happen, naturally.
Early writing sessions for this record took place in 2022, around Mount Blanc in France. Anthony was away touring with long-time collaborator, Jason Yarde. Ideas were a little thin and they found themselves
somewhat repeating previous work resulting in Anthony rethinking things a little, and so entered Dave Okumu.
LP opener ‘Satellite’ is a fine example of how this new partnership pans out. New musicians have been enlisted; Dan See (Drums), Aviram Barath (Synths), Nick Ramm on Fender Rhodes and Byron Wallen (Trumpet). Add to that the mighty vocal power house of Eska and we have a whole new dimension of soul and depth, to carry Anthony’s statements. “You build a wall, we go under, you build it
higher, we go higher, like a satellite” . On the album's second single, ‘Tony’ - there’s a nod to all drummers and creators of African rhythms, from the point of view of Afrobeat legend Tony Allen. Highlighting this is drummer’s drummer Richard Spaven as Dave’s choice of skin beater. He successfully reminds us that Tony was someone who understood the real power of rhythm and how it is used to unite people.
As well as the new musicians on this LP, Dave Okumu played all the guitars and used the studio as his tool. On ‘A Juba for Janet’ - a poem to Joseph’s mother, and a track so bass heavy that it feels as though
it could sit in a deep dubstep set in Plastic People days, - Anthony’s voice reaches straight down your ear canals next to dark drums, huge synths and delayed saxophone stabs from Colin Webster. Slightly more introspective verses on ‘An Afrofuturist Poem’ see Dave’s beats show off the real future sound of
this record, kalimba, moog bass and guitars all played by the man himself.
Mellower and deeper moments are also present, Anthony’s cryptic yet informative storytelling is at its absolute best on ‘Churches Of Sound (The Benetiz-Rojo)’ - Caribbean and Windrush history reeled off alongside a linear musical timeline of Black music in the diaspora.
A reminder that this body of work is first of 2 volumes, ‘Rowing Up River To Get Our

Names Back’ is not a follow up to Anthony’s previous album, but more a development of his 2006 novel, ‘The African Origins of UFOs’ a book where experimental elements of afrofuturism, metafiction, science fiction, surrealism, mythology are rewritten in Anthony’s innovative language.
Look out for Volume 2 also coming in 2025.
Anthony Joseph releases, ‘Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back’ (Vol. 1) via Heavenly Sweetness 7th February 2025 and he will play live at Ronnie Scotts in London on 14th March 2025,
with Dave Okumu as a special guest.
CREDITS:
Vocals - Anthony Joseph
Additional vocals, vocal arrangements - Eska Mtungwazi
Producer - Guitars, Bass, Moog, Synthesisers, Programming, Percussion - Dave Okumu
Drums - Dan See
Drums on ‘Tony’ - Richard Spaven
Synthesiser - Aviram Barath
Fender Rhodes, Synthesisers, Nick Ramm
Trumpet - Byron Wallen
Saxophones - Colin Webster
Trombones - James Wade Sired

Because it's the passion for music that drives the person behind the decks, a dj's debut is bound to exude authenticity. It's often themselves they're recounting in music, posing on the slip mats their DNA and what makes them who they are.
When you're just starting out, you're faced with a multitude of routes to take and styles to play. When you know just how devastating it can be to step out of line and empty the dance floor even faster than it filled up, it often takes a lot of audacity to break the unity of a funk evening with a punk track.
Over time, to evolve is to find oneself facing only two roads.

On the first one, to satisfy the greatest number of people and not lose the credit for his fees, the dj adapts to the trend. Whether he likes what he's playing or not, the road has become a freeway and, indeed, a very comfortable one. The audience already knows everything there is to hear and doesn't come to hear anything else. Thirty seconds, or even a minute of each track, is more than enough. Everything has to flow quickly. Everything is marked out and secured. Those who respect the regulations will (normally) make the journey without accident. Several times a week, several times a month, several times a year. Curiosity disappears altogether.
And then there's the other road. Where nothing is expected nor sometimes even ever heard. The road of an unquenchable passion for diggin' and the desire to always know more and more. A passion billed at the price of hours of research-finding spent in the discomfort and possible disappointment of never coming across anything exciting, as well as nights exploring platforms and multiplying clicks resulting in a good old headache. Until that moment of grace happens when, after thousands of fruitless shakes, the nugget stands alone in the sieve, without the slightest doubt as to its quality.
Coming from places never mentioned for their music, sometimes classics of their genre, they are also rarities miraculously saved from total disappearance, as much as current marvels, but threatened to never leave the immensity of the web. Even if the possibility of a text with substance is never excluded, they can tell long stories or be destined solely to make you dance till you're dehydrated. Scintillating with spirituality, some can also vaporize energy and replace it with a pure emotion capable of touching hearts in the bareness of simple percussions.
This road is marked by sincerity, singularity and surprises, but always in a communion between the dj and the audience, who embark on it together, with mutual confidence in the promise of hours of sharing and discovering.

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- Thousands of fans have been waiting for the return of the compilation!
- Deluxe packaging ! Double Vinyl LP Gatefold, Track by Track Notes
(English, French) + CD Digisleeve
- Artwork by the international artist MAMBO!
- Airplay on BBC6 (UK), FIP, France Inter, RFI (FRANCE), Cosmo Radio
(Germany) Radio 3 (Spain)
- Songlines review, Pitchfork review, Rolling Stones review
- Strong support from Gilles Peterson, Andrew Jervis, Craig Charles,
Laurent Garnier, ...

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Tracklisting
1. JacoboVelez&LaMambanegraft.NidiaGongora-Mañana
2. Tonada-Manezco
3. ElHijodelBúhoft.LosGaiterosdePuebloSanto-LaDanzadelEspíritu 4. DeMarYRio-BailenyGocen
5. UmuObiligbo-Udemba
6. AmadouBalaké-MassaKamba
7. JoiN'Juno-Samemala
8. AvilaSanto-Wole
9. OliverN’Goma-Icole
10.Patrick Saint-Eloi - Ay Pwan Van
11. Timothée Et Pot & Co - Rentre Dans Ton HLM
12.Adelásio Muangolé - Não Fatiga Muangolé
13.Locobeach - Idea Desesperada

Since Outlaws in 2020, Ludivine Issambourg's flute has not cooled down. How could it have, when with that album of Hubert Laws covers, it had reached incandescence? Still panting, burning despite the lid of its case left wide open, it awaited the opportunity to continue the adventures that Master Laws himself had praised.


A continuation? Above The Laws isn't quite that.


Although his name still appears, Hubert L. is no longer the sole guide in exploring the vast galaxies of jazz-funk. Through covers but especially as an enhancer of her own compositions, Ludivine has invoked the spirit and intangible presence of Jeremy Steig, Ronald Sneijder, and Bobby Humphrey—the legends of the flute.


Guided by an unescapable groove, with a musical dial set to the late 70s and early 80s, Ludivine has enlisted the help of a brass section this time, a true propulsion engine for funk that can also shift to a soulful breath if the moment calls for it. Supporting the keyboards, there's a Moog laying down its rich layers or twisting tones.


The flutes are used like levers to stabilize the flight or, conversely, to make it soar even faster through the measures. The alto version, which Ludivine had previously used sparingly, adds the necessary velvety note when it’s time to embark on smoother destinations. Speeding up the tempo to make passengers rise from their seats as if danger were imminent; calming the atmosphere to put them in a reassuring cocoon where they can let their thoughts and spirits wander, the improvisations find their place in the compositions observed from the porthole. Detached from gravity, yet still very much in tune with the vibe of cities marked as hot spots on the current jazz scene radar, it's the scent of these streets that permeates some tracks of Above The Laws.


Directed from the control tower by Eric Legnini, Chassol, Alex Finkin, and Michaël Lecoq, Above The Laws benefits from a few stops along the way where precious connections are established. Nils Landgren and his trombone in the colors of the Swedish flag, Laurent De Wilde for a chase between flute and Fender Rhodes, Céline Bonacina’s saxophone for an Afrobeat detour.


But it's at the edge of a journey where organic intensity has continued to assert itself without losing power that Ludivine connected with Brian Jackson for a cover of "Angel Dust," a track from the era when he and his partner Gil Scott-Heron were creating soul masterpieces. One of them featured a flutist by the name of Hubert Laws.


The starting point of Ludivine's latest jazz-funk explorations also becomes the endpoint. Elevated by the ten tracks of Above The Laws, Ludivine Issambourg closes a loop where she has placed her flute and its flourishes in an undeniably leading role. Opening the doors to ambitious orchestrations, unexplored horizons, she weaves into her compositions the experiences, places, and encounters that have shaped her.



Line Up: Ludivine Issambourg: flutes / Swaeli Mbappe : bass / Michael Lecoq : keys / Yoann Serra: Drums / Vincent Aubert: Trombone / Lucas St Cricq, Sylvain Fetis : Saxophones

feat: Brian Jackson, Nils Landgren, Wolfgang Valbrun, Laurent de Wilde, Chassol, Eric Legnini, Céline Bonacina.

Etienne and Laurent have fun making music together ...

The saxophonist and composer Laurent Bardainne meets the experimenter Etienne Jaumet another saxophonist but also master of keyboards. Both passionate about electronic music and jazz. They decide to gather their ideas to make a 4 tracks EP. An electronic reinterpretation with analog keyboards of the Latin music of the 50s, the Cha cha, the Mambo, the Latin jazz !

Getatchew Mekurya is probably the most revered veteran of Ethiopian saxophone. A real giant, both physically and musically. Not only is he at the very top level of Ethiopian saxophonists, but he is the 'inventor' of an extremely distinctive musical 'style