Four musicians arrived earlier this morning; but Fabrice Rouzier and Clément "Kéké" Bélizaire, stars of the Haitian music scene and the "daddies" of Bélo’s first album, will not be coming. During the Miami transfer, in Saint Domingo, their car was involved in a bad accident. Although they were both unhurt, they were deeply shocked by the death of a nephew in their car, and returned to Haiti. Thoughts will be with them during the concert, but Bélo claims he is happy to have arrived in Paris and impatient to play at the Réservoir.

Thermal shock

Right from the start, the week in Paris promises to be a marathon. With next to no time to get over his six-hour jet lag, Bélo jumps into a taxi bound for the Maison de la Radio, where RFI’s cultural service is waiting for him. Once the interview is finished, including a very nice unaccompanied improvisation for Bérénice Balta and Valérie Lehoux, Bélo has the evening free to relax with his big brother and manager, Charlot, as well as a sister living in Paris.

It is imperative for the singer to keep warm and look after his vocal chords up until the concert. In Miami it was a sweltering 35°C ; in Paris it is snowing!

The next day, the group is up on stage at the Réservoir, getting a feel for things. Bélo sports his brand-new guitar, "Bijou", which he bought in December. "Bijou" seems to be protesting about the cold, and as he starts tuning her, the neck splits in two. While a solution is quickly found, Bélo laughingly tells the tale of Fabrice Rouzier’s keyboard "flying off" in Cameroon at the finals of the RFI "Découvertes" Award. Fabrice had to improvise with a rented keyboard, but it certainly didn’t stop them winning! Bélo, a smile always near at hand, is an eternal optimist with a "solid mind", as his manager-brother points out. Equalizing the instruments turns into a kind of rehearsal, with the musicians in upbeat mood, spicing up the bass notes on the tracks from Lakou Trankil, and slipping into incredible keyboard and electric guitar solos.

After a quick break at the hotel, Bélo is quickly called back to the Réservoir. Tiken Jah Fakoly, the Ivorian winner of the 2000 RFI "Découvertes" Award, has come to say hello. The meeting is warm but quickly over : Tiken Jah is due to play with others in a concert at the Olympia the very same evening in aid of an AIDS fund for Africa. 

Hot evening

Before the concert starts, Claudy Siar has come to record a "Couleurs Tropicales Show" with Bélo on the Réservoir stage. It is a tall order to create the kind of hot atmosphere you find in Douala in the middle of Paris, but Claudy and Bélo are good at warming the mood, and by the time Meiway, the Ivorian president of the 2006 RFI "Découvertes" A

ward, makes a surprise appearance on stage, the Parisian atmosphere is heating up nicely. Bélo plays Lakou Trankil, Tenza and Istwa Dwol, 90% of it translated into French, and even finds himself with the first instrument he ever learned to play, a bass, in his hands. 

The audience seduced, the concert can begin. Now that Bélo and his musicians have found their stride, they launch into improvisations, completely changing some of the album’s tracks, and moving into tones of funk, rock and reggae. Bélo’s voice is like an instrument adapting to each track’s melody. We even get to hear an exclusive title from his next album, due to appear next year. Such an exciting first Parisian show is proof enough both of Bélo’s talent and of what a happy discovery this RFI "découverte" has turned out to be.

Eglantine Chabasseur

Translation : Anne Marie Harper