TRADITIONS DU MONDE
The intention behind TRADITIONS DU MONDE is to provide a musical reflection not only of cultures that are in danger of extinction, but also of current cultural forms that are rooted in secular activities and that are transmitted verbally; at the same time we must avoid falling into the trap of merely creating exotic entertainment. It is for this reason that in this collection a former singer at the court of the last king of Rwanda rubs shoulders with young Hungarian musicians who are revisiting the music of their peasant forbears. This is a deliberate choice on our part that is intended to display the vitality still exists in traditional folk music as well that of its performers.

MAMADY KEITA
Mamady Keïta, considered by connoisseurs of West-African percussion music to be one of the great masters of the djembe, only made his first recording after he had taken up residence in Europe. Even though his fate has led him to play more often on stage than in his own village, he is no less a bearer of the strong Malinke tradition. One phrase that he likes to say and often repeats is "You do not leave your village, you bear it within you"; it is the perfect expression of his wish always to be a vigilant ambassador for his culture. Wherever Mamady's drum sounds, you will hear Africa's voice singing.

ARCHIVES
Our first collaboration in this field was with the Musée Royal d'Afrique Centrale in Brussels and was for the CD release of recordings that the museum had produced in LP format. The Musée Dapper in Paris asked us to provide sound recordings that would complement the catalogs of two of their exhibitions. The Institut des Musées Nationaux in Kinshasa then took a decision to make the best use possible of their archives. Almost nine hundred hours of recordings had been made between 1971 and 1992 by researchers who had worked for the museum. Benoît Quersin (1927-1993) had masterminded this collection and headed the Department of Ethnomus icology until the Congolese were able to assume this responsibility. The first CD releases from these archives made use of recordings that he himself had made; they are our homage to him and to the exemplary work that he left for us to hear.

ATELIER DANSE
The object of this collection is to offer performances of music composed for dances from earlier times that are not only in line with modern musicological research into instrumentation and the correct application of diminutions and variations, but that also provide for the performance of these dances with their formal constraints of tempo, number of repeats and dynamics. All of this we owe to the enlightenment and the understanding that dance researchers, Francine Lancelot amongst others, have brought to texts dealing with early choreographic practice. In short, our intention is to please both the music lover and the dancer; this difficult task means that we have had to abandon certain effects in order to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between music and movement.

EARLY MUSIC
These recordings are the fruits of our encounters and our friendships with musicians whose curiosity is one of the hallmarks of their work. All that these recordings have in common is the pleasure that we experienced in their creation, a pleasure that we trust will be widely shared.;.

JAZZ
We were in Guinea to record Mamady Keïta in Balandugu when a chance meeting with Momo Wandel introduced us to a new style of jazz, one that had returned to its roots. This generous musician would be at the centre of many fascinating encounters; his work with jazz saxophonist Pierre Vaiana led to many musical adventures, the concert Anye ben kafö (let’s play together) was one of the greatest of these and will remain long in the memories of those who took part. Momo was unfortunately to die shortly afterwards, putting an end to his dreams and to ours. Our wish to work further with Pierre Vaiana has resulted in AZ Productions, his new recording company, being linked to ours..