Zazou Bikaye

An inspired collaboration between French producer/composer Hector Zazou and Congolese vocalist Bony Bikaye, Zazou Bikaye released a series of highly inventive and critically acclaimed albums in the mid-'80s that combined Afro-beat, funk, and bright electronic experimentation. Released by European label Crammed Discs, Zazou Bikaye's 1983 influential debut, Noir et Blanc, also featured synth duo CY1 and over the coming decades gathered luster as a bona fide cult classic admired by DJs and producers around the world. The partnership between Zazou and Bikaye lasted for two more releases, Mr. Manager and Guilty!, before dissolving at the end of the '80s. Having relocated to Belgium from the Congo in the early part of the decade, Bikaye was working on an African soukous record when he met up with experimental French composer Hector Zazou. Bonding over a shared passion German Krautrock, the duo then teamed up with Claude Micheli and Guillaume Loizillon, an analog synth electronic duo known as CY1. Combining their individual strengths into a unique multicultural composite, the collective recorded 1983's innovative Noir et Blanc for the Belgian label Crammed Discs. Hailed by critics as a milestone of Afro-electronic music, Zazou Bikaye continued their partnership and began sessions for a follow-up. Of the numerous tracks recorded for their sophomore album, five were chosen to comprise the 1985 mini-album Mr. Manager. It too enjoyed critical praise and found a wider audience with releases in Japan and the U.S. Zazou Bikaye even did a bit of touring in Europe as well as a handful of shows in New York. A third album, Guilty!, appeared in 1988, after which the musicians went their separate ways. In 2017, Crammed Discs helped revive interest in the Zazou Bikaye project with a deluxe reissue of Noir et Blanc, giving Mr. Manager a similar treatment three years later.
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