ago gazo

FRANCE | Live

AGO GAZO is the fruit of several years’ reflection between Vidock and Ametek. It draws its inspiration from experiences and musical encounters during the 3 editions of the Good Morning Africa Festival in Togo, in Ametek’s native village: Alawogbe. A multi-disciplinary and international artistic festival that was supported by the Abstrack and Distant Relative association and was the fruit of authentic recordings and the production of two Cd’s by the “Femmes chanteuses” of Alawogbé.
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This experience would not have been possible without the musical background and experience of Ametek, a complete artist and founding member of the legendary Togolese hip-hop group “Djanta Kan”, with whom he represents Togo at the biggest international festivals in Europe and Africa.
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The heady rhythms of GAZO music at the heart of GMAF, and its songs carried by the voices of elders during spontaneous village ceremonies, have remained ingrained throughout the various editions of the festival as tried and tested music that speaks to the body. Vidock and Ametek’s shared vision of Gazo led the two friends and musicians, with their own musical roots, to create a project in which their visions and aspirations would meet. Accustomed to working together, notably with their collaboration on the track “Sankabeat”, the coming together of their musical influences was seen as necessary and musical hybridization as a matter of course. It’s in the constant back-and-forth between Ametek’s and Valentin’s culture that this project draws all its sincerity.
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For them, encounters and exchanges are inseparable from their artistic production. These exchanges are the focal point of the Ago Gazo project. The project intrinsically questions the place of rituals and traditions in music, but also more broadly, in our modern societies.