I had the great pleasure of attending the concert and spending some quality time this week with my beautiful and inspiring French-Camaroonian sisters of soul, Helene and Celia (AKA: Les Nubians).  Since our first meeting in Paris nearly 10 years ago, these two amazing artists have become dear friends and a continued source of inspiration – through both their music and their spirits.  They performed a great show, as they always do, at the Nokia Live in Los Angeles, to launch their West Coast tour. They have also both recently relocated from Paris to New York, so I hope we will get to see and hear more from them.

Having coined the phrase Afropean Hip Hop, Les Nubians is an R&B Grammy-nominated duo composed of sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart originally from Paris, and having lived between Carmaroon, Paris and Bordeaux, where they became known for their soulful vocal stylings and their commitment to poetry, music and the arts. Their debut album Princesses Nubiennes was released through Virgin records and went Gold in the US when it crossed over to urban radio.

Les Nubians became one of the most successful French--language musical groups in the U.S. Best known for their Billboard R&B Top Ten Single “Makeda“, their remake of Sade’s Taboo, and their Grammy nominated song “Je Veux D’la Musique” from their second album One Step Forward. Les Nubians were the 1999 Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards winners for Best New Artist, Group or Duo and received two NAACP Image Awards nominations in 2000.

My own musical collaborations with the girls began when I traveled to Paris in 2001 to record them for my Jungle Jazz multi-media project, along with French rapper John Bonzai. It was a week of good fortune in many ways, since I was surprizingly called back to Berlin immediately after the session to accept the Silver Bear Award for Best Short Film for Jungle Jazz from the Berlin International Film Festival.

Celia recently took a journey with me into the world of more traditional jazz by recording a French rendition of my song In Your Eyes at my studio in Los Angeles for my forthcoming Scenes in Jazz project, which features a collection of female vocalists on original jazz songs in an effort to raise money for music education programs for youth through the Thelonious Monk Institute.

As part of their continued commitment to the arts and culture, Helene and Celia have continued to work as creative directors for the Bordeaux summer arts festival, and created Echos, Chapter One in 2005, a CD and companion book featuring artists from France, and the U.S. performing poetry and music from the urban edge. In addition to inspiring their audiences with great music and dance, these divas of Afropean R&B and Hip Hop also use their stage as a platform speak about matters of social concern and raise global consciousness.

I just returned from a 10 days in Brazil, one of my favorite countries, and I am convinced Brazilians are born with music in their blood. It is as much a staple in their daily diet as protein is to Americans.  I remember a story Milton Nascimento told me a few years ago about a choir of young kids he pieced together from different poor villages of Bahia.  None of them had been out of their village, sang in front of an audience, been in a choir or even knew who Milton was before the national tour he took them on with him and his band.  Still, he said they were incredible and never once even sang out of tune.

In my short visit, I experienced music in many areas of Brazilian life, from the great icons of Brazilian music to the casual gatherings of everyday people.  I started my journey in Bahia, where Samba was in the streets, as well as the backbone behind capoeira demonstrations and percussion schools I visited.  Then there were the traditional chants of the Candomble tradition Yemaya ritual we performed in the ocean and the community party featuring group/couples folk dance of the north known as Forro (derived from english “for everyone”).

In Rio I had the honor of meeting amazing artists to discuss the film I am making – Music: The Healer, including the legendary singer and cultural leader Gilberto Gil, the incomparable and undefinable Milton Nascimento and the “queen of the Forro” herself, Elba Ramalho (sometimes referred to as the Tina Turner of Brazil).  Then then there was the new generation’s “Messenger of Truth”, Hip Hop artist and social leader MV Bill, who is doing more than anyone I know to help the young people growing up in the favelas throughout Rio, all though music, dance and the arts.  I could dedicate pages to each of these musical and social heroes, and will try to talk more about each in my upcoming blogs.

Obviously, it is hard not to be humbled by the accomplishment and talents of these artists and others that have given their lives and talent to transform and uplift the people of Brazil for the past several decades.  But what touched me even more on this trip to Brazil was the totally unexpected level of music emanating from everyday Brazilians and musicians the world at large will never hear about.  Wednesday evening, I returned to the tiny apartment I was staying in Copacabana to discover Marilena, my elderly host, and two of her friends singing and playing through dozens of Bossa Nova and Samba classics in a fashion as impressive as you would expect to hear in any local club, but simply as part of their weekly ritual sharing in the way that my parents and many American seniors might gather for a weekly game of bridge or poker.  The 70 year old retired engineer playing his 1963 custom nylon guitar was incredible.  I named a Brazilian artist – Caetano, Jobim, Chico Buarque…whomever, and he played through one of their classics with the virtuosity of Joe Pass while one of the women, if not both, sang the lyrics with flawless passion. The evening was a virtual history of Brazilian music.  The following evening I attended a closing party for the making of a documentary film by 5 young directors high up in one of the favelas where we filmed part of Beat the World.  There were 4 bands of locals that again could have rocked the Troubador or Roxy on the Sunset Strip, hundreds of young people dancing, cheering and often singing along.  Music and living were synonymous.

Even in the day I spent in Sao Paulo before returning to LA last night, there was no escaping music (not that I would ever try in a place where it is as rich and inspiring as Brazil).  My day started with a the choir and a chanting Indian swami leading sessions at my host’s spiritual center, then a classical concert outside for the christening of a new park, lunch with my friend, the beautiful singer and actress Thalma Freitas and a concert (in route to catch my red-eye back to LA) by the the most famous, if not the original, samba drummer (a great composer and singer in his own right), Wilson Das Neves.

Aside from the music flowing along my path this time, there were some other great musical events taking place that I could not attend but are worth mentioning.  One is the Back to Black Festival that gathered amazing artists from around the world to celebrate their African heritage, including Erykah Badu, Seun Kuti, Carlinhos Brown, Nadriah X, Elza Soares, Taj Mahal and many more.  Another fascinating, but undocumented show, was a concert honoring Milton Nascimento and featuring the maestro with a choir of 1,000 (yes – ONE THOUSAND) children and an orchestra in one of the smaller cities in Brazil’s interior.

While there are many poor and hungry people in the great country of Brazil- when it comes to music: everyone’s plate is full.