Music |
10 Remixes
Les Negresses Vertes
By
Published: Jan 01, 2007
Category:
World
Remixes of some of the greater hits of Les Negresses Vertes?
But you’ve never heard the original songs!
Remixes, as you know, are generally done to make music more suitable for dancing. That means the songs will be heavy on percussion, light on subtle lyrics. If you are a delicate soul — or if your partner is a sensitive creature, prone to headaches — read no further: This stuff is not for you.
Okay, so who are Les Négresses Vertes? In the 1980s, these French musicians were clowns and acrobats in the Cirque Zingaro. They got their name in 1987, when they dyed their hair green and went out clubbing. A bouncer threw them out, shouting "Sortez d’ici, les négresses vertes" ("Get out of here, you green niggers"). It was an amusing insult; why not elevate it to the band’s name?
There was also a kind of sense in the name; this group had astonishing range. Spanish and gypsy rhythms, a splash of reggae and rai, a spoonful of medieval harmonies that melted into a hora — add inconsequential lyrics and you had quite the show. The band was hot in Paris, huge in Beirut. [To buy “Les Negresses Vertes” from Amazon, click here.]
These remixes from their golden years — 1987 to 1993 — are destined for nights when you’ve had a tequila too many or are one toke over the line, nights when animal instinct trumps the spiritual connection. Oh, there are quiet moments and subtle effects, but they’re just for texture. Fundamentally, this is about pile-driver percussion. I could go on, but surely you get the drift.
I have field-tested this music and pressed it on friends. Reaction is fairly uniform: In the morning, neither partner can quite look at the other. But that is not to say that Les Negresses Vertes have made anyone unhappy.
