I wrote those words 20 years ago, however they are still very much up to date. My spirit was much younger but I was already very connected to the truth, this is why I like them. It’s like a poem or spoken word. The words recited together with the music resonate better: “I want to make a revolution because I can’t live in this big lie.” This is how I have always felt: I feel that there is something wrong with this system, with this society I was raised into. I have always felt that something was trying to crush my spirit and my spirit was silently resisting. Today I can say these words out loud, I can get up to this the stage and say these words with the strength that animates me and I know that other people will resonate with this truth. My spiritual name is Sat Raj in the Sikh tradition linked to Kundalini Yoga. “Sat” means truth and “Raj” is a king: for me the highest value is truth, I was born to live in truth, my system cannot handle lie and this search for truth has been driving me forward until today, when I have the courage to affirm myself as an artist and singer.

Whatever is like a cry to protect and defend myself. There is a dramatic aspect to it, it sounds like an opera! The violins playing staccato give this feeling that something tragic is happening: the tragedy are the voices resonating in me of all the people that tried to dominate me and make me feel less than I really am, these voices are like ghosts and I have to sing and shout and play to make them go away…I know who I am, I am who I am; I am divine, I am affirming my real identity, those voices don’t have any strength over me anymore…I am not going to give my power away and let other people or society define me…

I have always felt a very strong connection with Africa, a soul connection. When I heard African music for the first time, I felt that something very deep was moving within myself, something very alive. And since then I have felt a deep and natural respect for Africa and its culture. Later on I’ve had the opportunity to visit the continent a few times and I’ve always felt this ancestral connection. Racism has always been an interrogation for me: I can’t even understand why some people could in any way consider themselves superior to other people because of the colour of their skin.

I studied international relations in university and we studied the topic of “representations”: the way people where induced to think that another ethnicity was inferior to them in order to justify the exploration of colonization. I started to understand better. This song is a positive mea culpa to Africa: I wanted to declare in higher voice my love and respect to the Mother- continent, mother of great civilizations, and even most probably mother of all of them. It is a message to empower afro-descendant people all around the world so that they feel proud of their origins. They say that in order to fight racism, white people need to position themselves too, so this is my positioning and I really hope that it will be received with the intention I had when I wrote the song.

The name of the song “ Mama Africa” is the name of a very famous song written by Chico Cesar in Brazil. This song was a big success and important landmark here. I didn’t choose the title on purpose but it makes even more sense. I sang part of the song in French so that no one can complain that I didn’t sing in French on the album! And also to say that, even though France, in popular fantasy, is the country of love, romance and art, it is also a country that created a lot of pain in the world and unfortunately keeps on doing it and we cannot ignore it. French, European or “White” culture isn’t superior to any other. Actually, African culture is stronger and more powerful. Believing the opposite is the consequence of a great manipulation that keeps creating violence and oppression until today. Ho’oponopono.

I suffered a lot because of intimate relationships. Sometimes I get that feeling that I participated in a big game without ever understanding its rules and I totally fucked up! I don’t like board games or strategy games. I’m sincere, I’m real. Society forces people to stay in relationships because of conventions, money or not to stay alone. Then come the children, the family, but nobody really knows how to handle this and everybody gets hurt. I never wanted to repeat that same stupid story. I suffered in my childhood to see my parents fight and separate. That’s probably why I chose to remain free and single. Rainy night is about the sadness of seeing someone I loved and who I know loved me remained stuck in an unhappy marriage but the truth was obvious. He also wanted to be free and happy but he stayed in this comfort-zone situation. That’s the way it is: freedom has an expensive price to pay, which is to remain on the side.

When we refuse to follow society’s dictates, we are often being considered “losers” because we cannot show our success in a materialistic way. The spiritual path is the opposite of material accumulation: it’s a dematerialization, a return back to spirit. So nobody understands: it seems that we are crazy, that we are taking the piss or we are being lazy because nothing that is considered a sign of success truly interests us. In this material world, we are not worthy of respect, but who is the actual king of the world? Today I know that I am winning because I feel every time closer to be who I really am, and no one can take this kind of wealth away from me. Material abundance will be the mere consequence.