Ask Koffi Olomide why he chose to call his new album Monde arabe (The Arab World) and you’ll get a strangely disconcerting answer. "It’s a ‘Koffian’ expression meaning snake in the grass", says the singer, "But it’s got nothing whatsoever to do with Saddam Hussein or Bin Laden. Talking about the Arab world is part of the general zeitgeist right now. Thione Seck and Youssou N'Dour have both just brought out albums about the Middle East. But my take on the whole thing’s a bit different. My songs are about women and love. It’s very much my personal universe."

It comes as no surprise then to find that Monde arabe revolves around Koffi’s habitual ‘ndombolo’ and famous rumba. And yet Koffi’s 17th album does find him branching out in a slightly different direction, experimenting with a couple of acoustic tracks. Alone in front of the mike with a simple acoustic guitar, just as he was at recent concerts at the Olympia and Bercy stadium in Paris, Koffi’s velvet crooning style comes firmly to the fore. But for the time being Koffi has no plans to move away from his usual register. "I’m not going to start playing jazz or rap,” he quips, “OK, so I did actually do a bit of rap with Passi at one point, but I’d never dream of doing it solo. What I sing in life is rumba-love. I have to admit, I did meet Julio Iglesias in Angola a few months ago. Now in my eyes, Iglesias is the greatest singing star out there. I’d love to do a duet with him one day, but it’s not that easy to organise given that we’ve both got extremely hectic schedules."

Back to Acting as his own Producer

Koffi may be aiming big these days, but the Congolese star has actually just clawed himself back from the edge after major hassles with his record company. Koffi had announced the arrival of this new album on the back of his last album, Affaire d’État, telling fans it was due for release in December 2003. At the time, Koffi made it quite clear he was eager to leave the label he was signed to (despite the fact his contract bound him for another album). Trapped by the fact that his producer was in financial difficulties and he could not get out of his contract, Koffi had no other choice than to keep fans waiting.

"I’ve got a record label problem," Koffi told fans last spring when he embarked upon a mini-tour of Europe, taking advantage of his presence in the French capital to nip in for a few quick sessions at Studio Davout in Paris with his musicians from Quartier Latin. "I couldn’t have recorded the album anywhere other than Paris,” he says. “And it would have cost too much to bring the musicians over specially for the studio sessions. It’s a major investment flying twenty people over from Kinshasa to Paris, you know!"

A few years back, Koffi may have established himself as one of the best-selling African artists in France, but a close analysis of his sales figures reveals that his core fanbase remains within the African community. Despite the fact he racks up an average of 100,000 copies in sales per album, the Congolese singer is the only African star not to have scored a contract with a major multinational label (thus missing out on the big international breaks accorded to the likes of Youssou N’Dour, Salif Keïta and Papa Wemba). Owing to the recent downturn in the record industry, sales of Koffi’s last album, Affaire d’État, failed to top the 40,000 mark. And this time round he was forced to act as his own producer, selling the recordings he had made (and produced himself) for Monde arabe to an Indian dealer specialising in African music. "I’m putting my own savings into this,” Koffi points out, adding that it has “become common practice to work this way these days. Even over in the States there are plenty of artists who produce their own work and then hunt round for a distributor. All I knew was, I couldn’t wait any longer. But this isn’t the first time I’ve gone about things this way!"

Koffi was, in fact, helped in the making of his new album by a number of generous donations from people whose names he cites on the 18 songs on Monde arabe. With this original form of music sponsorship, the Congolese singer could have found an efficient way of continuing to produce his homemade albums - so long as fans follow, of course! For right now a new craze for ‘coupé-décalé’ (a music style based on the zouglou rhythm) is taking off amongst the African community in Paris. Only time will tell whether Congolese crooning will survive the day!

Koffi Olomide Monde arabe (Sonima Music) 2004