Gangbé Brass Band

The Gangbé Brass Band was created in 1994 when eight musicians from Cotonou, Benin came together. These young jazz musicians formed to create an unusual fusion of traditional styles and promote the originality of the music of Benin. The result is definitely both modern and traditional, as it mixes jazz and time-honored Benin idioms. Using traditional rhythms while invigorating them with jazz harmonies, the fusion reveals as much as possible of the musical tradition while setting a western tone to link the past and future. They sing in vernacular language about life in general, political injustices and the tribulations of women.

"The first few notes from the Gangbé Brass Band ring out like a clarion call: These musicians will celebrate anything that gets them drunk on sound. In the band's dizzyingly gorgeous horn lines, rolling vamps carry sunny African Chorales, and polyrhythmic voodoo grooves host harmonies that slide in all directions at once. The music just plain sings."
- The New York Times