The story of Wock goes back to the town of Saint-Louis in Senegal where the group's two leaders Pape Abdou Seck and Dimitri Reverchon met. Pape Abdou Seck, a Senegalese poet and singer, living in Saint-Louis, was deeply rooted in his ancestors' homeland. But Dimitri Reverchon is a cultural and musical nomad. Born in Russia but raised in the French town of la Ciotat, Reverchon settled in Saint-Louis in 1996, after falling in love with the town's magical atmosphere.

Throughout their career Wock have also maintained strong ties with Dakar, loving the capital's bustling streets filled with colourful lime-baked facades and horse-drawn carriages (which, according to Reverchon, bring a "small touch of Louisiana" to this corner of Africa). Indeed, the group say they enjoy the idea of sharing Dakar with the legend of Mame Coumba Bang, the goddess of the Senegal river, who casts her protective spell over sailors and riverside dwellers in exchange for a few ritual offerings.

Pape, Wock's 21-year-old singer, comes from a long line of griots, the storytellers/musicians who hand down Senegal's oral history from one generation to the next, accompanying their songs and stories with traditional instruments. Pape, currently the last in his family's line of griots, developed a passion for music at an early age. His father was keen for Pape to break away from family tradition, however, and give up his singing to go to university.

Pape refused to give in to parental pressure and insisted on devoting his life to his first love, music. He started out singing in the school playground and on the local football pitch, but before long he was honing his vocal skills performing at local fetes and family parties. Pape went on to join the regional state-run orchestra in Saint-Louis. But, after meeting Dimitri Reverchon, he threw himself heart and soul into setting up Wock.

Far from being just the group's singer, Pape has played an active role in writing Wock's material, co-writing the music for several tracks on the group's first album as well as most of the lyrics. His stunning vocals are also an integral part of Wock's fusion sound. Indeed, Wock's founding partner, Dimitri Reverchon once said that "Pape's voice alone expresses the richness and abundance of Africa. (His voice) has a sacred function, too, as he comes from a family of griots who are the living encyclopaedias of Senegal and the collective memory of its people."

Reverchon himself, who plays drums in the group, has always had close ties with Africa. In fact, he spent part of his childhood discovering Africa with his father (a professional traveller), before the family moved to La Ciotat, near Marseilles. Reverchon thus spent the rest of his childhood growing up in "the Figuerolles calanque", a magical creek giving onto the blue of the Mediterranean. At the end of his teens, however, Reverchon headed back to Africa, the continent which had adopted him (and vice versa).

Reverchon, who is responsible for composing the majority of Wock's melodies and musical arrangements, headed out to pursue his teenage dream of making a living from his music in Africa in 1996. And he fell instantly in love with the town of Saint-Louis. "When I saw the bridge built by Gustave Eiffel, like a thread running between the African continent and the island of Saint-Louis and I saw the town of Saint-Louis glimmering on the horizon, I knew," he says, "When I saw the mosques, the amazing colours and the colonial-style balconies which could almost have been straight out of New Orleans, I knew I wanted to live there – and that's a feeling I'd never had in my life before."

Dimitri and Pape soon turned to recruiting the first members of Wock and one of the obvious choices was Paul Bossy, who has been a close friend and travelling partner of Dimitri's for 15 years now. Bossy was not only signed up as Wock's guitarist, he also plays an active role in writing the group's musical arrangements. Denys Carcelero, Wock's bass-player, was another member who came on board in Senegal. And the foursome met Vieux Saar, the group's fifth and final member, in a Saint-Louis nightclub one night. The Senegalese musician plays a central role in the group, pounding out infectious rhythms on percussion and joining Pape centre-stage as a dancer at the group's live shows.

Wock soon went on to record a debut album entitled "Kemaan" (meaning "marvel" or "miracle"). The group's colourful fusion sound is, perhaps, something of a miracle when you think about it, born as it was out of the chance encounter between Dimitri Reverchon, self-styled heir of the "independent republic of Figuerolles", and Pape Abdou Seck, a man descended from the ancient griots of Saint Louis. Pape defines the group's unique sound thus: "For me, Senegal is rhythm and I went on to discover melody, then a cord grew between the two, linking them together."

Wock's infectious fusion may seem improbable at first, but listen to it closely and it starts to sound familiar. Words from the Koran and other holy books drift over the sound of traditional African percussion and electric guitars (inspired by British pop legends such as Sting, U2 and Peter Gabriel). Somehow Wock stir these eclectic musical ingredients into a natural mix, aided and abetted by Pape's vocals performed in Wolof which the singer declares is "first and foremost a rhythm before being a language." In fact, Wolof borrows certain sounds from English and Russian not to mention the Spanish pronunciation of "jota" and does appear to have its own inherent swing. In a way, Wolof is a sort of linguistic thread linking Marseilles to Saint-Louis (where the tracks for Wock's debut album were written and recorded).

Wock's first single release, "Sama Amie", opens their album "Kemaan" and sets the general tone with its sumptuous rich tones and its perfect balance between smooth arrangements, the backing choir and Pape's haunting lead vocals.

Wock have kept up a busy and varied schedule over the past five years. In 1996 the fivesome embarked on their first tour, heading out to West Africa to play a series of concerts across Togo, Benin and the Ivory Coast. Beginning to make a name for their infectious fusion sound, the group were soon invited to support Ray Lema and Princess Erika at the "Nuits Métisses" festival. They also supported international world music star Youssou N'Dour in concert.

Following an extensive tour of France, the group headed out to Cologne in Germany, where they recorded a 4-track EP (which they financed themselves). Tracks from the EP scored a hue hit with listeners on the French radio station FIP and when they were played on local Senegalese stations, switchboards were promptly swamped with callers demanding to know who the group were.

By 1997 Wock had taken off in a big way and, besides supporting Cameroonian sax-star Manu Dibango on tour, they also brought the house down at Saint-Louis's International Jazz Festival and completed a major European tour. Wock juggled an impressively full schedule throughout 1998, performing at a number of prestigious music festivals including the Montreux Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague where they were the guests of Joe Zawinul (aka Miles Davis's legendary pianist and founder of the group Weather Report). Later that year, after meeting Phil Collins and Carlos Santana, Wock embarked upon another major tour of Africa, playing dates in Chad, Cameroon, Gabon, Central Africa and Senegal.

Wock's career got another boost in 1999 when they signed to the major French label BMG (a move Dimitri had confidently predicted to his friends before he actually formed the group!)

Wock were back in the music news in 2000 following the release of their album "Kemaan". Later that year Wock went on to triumph at Radio France Internationale's "Découvertes" awards, carrying off the "Prix Découverte 2000". (The following year "Kemaan" would be nominated at the French "Victoires de la Musique" awards in the 'world' album category). Towards the end of 2000, Wock brought the house down when they performed at Le Bataclan in Paris on November 23rd at RFI's "Découvertes" concert.

With over 25 dates lined up for the coming season, Wock now look well on the way to enjoying an international career.

July 2001

(In collaboration with BMG France)