Music is a unversal Language by po-Boy

AFROFUNK BAND THE PO-BOY WERE IN NIGERIA AND REBUBLIC OF BENIN DURING THE FELABRATION FESTIVITIES DURING WHICH THE PARIS, FRANCE BASED BAND MEMBERS WERE INTERVIEWED BY ENTERTAINMENT PARROT FIRST THE BAND LEADER MR MATHIEU INSA FOLLOWED BY MISS SWALA EMATI SMITH AND MISS MARY MAY (BOTH VOCALIST )


E.P. what is your name and the name of your band?


The name of our band is PO-Boy and My Name is Mattieu Insa I am the band leader the name of the band comes from New Orleans in Louisiana U.S.A because I lived there for some time. The PO-Boy band is based in Paris France. We play a lot of musical forms influenced by Blues, Afro American music like the pop music that comes from black America by origin that is the first discovery of my life, the second influence is afro beat the African music i discovered this new music like the brass band then I met Femi Kuti. It moves me a lot when I met Seun Kuti at Kalakuta, am like “oh am not doing the right music so I said I need to import a lot of Afro beat influence into my music” that is why the name of the band is PO-Boy.



E.P. How many are you in the band?


We are five in the band three males and two female vocalists Swala and Mary May. I play the main guitar and there is a bass guitarist. We are based in paris although we are from different places of the world, we have two Congolese singers, the bassist Mauritania Arab.


E.P. what is your impression of FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI and his music?


When we were invited to celebrate him I was moved, I was invited to Nigeria last year for the celebrations, When I was a child, I use to listen to Femi Kuti then I discovered Seun Kuti and afro beat you know in Paris there are a lot of guys like Tony Allen who play Afro beat. So last year I met a lot of people in the Afro Beat family.

Also in my band there is girl that plays Afro beat Swala Emati Smith has an Afro beat band. She is a singer in our band, you see the band PO-Boy. We are three white and two black, It is like unity, there is no barrier in music. Music is like a universal language, where ever you come from music is like a religion.


We use music to celebrate life but we also use it to preach love and unity, like Fela said “music is a weapon”.


E.P. for those that would like to listen to your music how can they get your music?


They can get it through our official websites

PO- boy .FR

Face book: PO- Boy band

Instagram: PO- Boy band

Also our new album would be released in January 18, 2018.

E.P. your message to your fans?


Our message is that whatever you put in music is like cooking. Whatever you are cooking, it has to be genuine, we communicate our passion in the world beat through our music.

Swala Emati Smith and Mary May

E.P. Can we know you?

Well, am Swala Emati Smith. Am a member of PO- Boy Band, am from Paris

E.P. I understand you have been to Benin Republic as well.

Yes, we are on an African tour and would be back in Paris our base in few days. We played in Benin Republic before coming here.

E.P. How many days have you been in Nigeria?

Although this is the first time we have been in Nigeria, we have been here for a couple of days. We played at the shrine and we are playing tonight here at the freedom park in Lagos Island.

E.P. What can the two of you say about the language barriers since you have conquered that with your perfect spoken English.

Mary May; Yes I learnt English to be Able to communicate with my fans through music. I learnt it because there are many countries speaking English so apart from my French, I speak English to communicate effectively also to be able to write music.

Swala Smith ; I started learning English when I was in University because the world is a globalised world. Since my official language is French.

E.P. What genre of music do you play?

I play afro beat music also jazz, hip-hop. it is mix because I play totally different types of music.

E.P. what is your impression on Afro Beat Music?

I really love it because I was influenced by afro beat, I really discovered how to pay it and I play it, I didn’t know before I was more into reggae, but the discovery especially through Fela Kuti and others.

E.P. Has your band release any album?

Both Swala & Mary May; Yes our .EP. is already out and we are putting out another one in January 2018.

E.P. What is your impression of Africa?

Swala Smith; Well you know we live in Paris but we have relatives in Africa, we are proud of that, we have our family- father, relatives you know

Mary May; You know we know Africa already but we don’t know Nigeria. It is not about Africa and its people, we are Africans from Congo Kinshasa, I don’t know why people don’t see us as Africans.

E.P. What would be your message to your fans?

Swala Smith; As Fela said, “music is a weapon” we like to have more harmony, equity and love, for us it is fun to be here.

Mary May; Music is one of the things that unite humanity.

We are made of sensibilities and we respond to it. I want to speak to souls through music. Music do travel far as I want to make this beautiful in our lives. I want to live all my life fighting to make the world a better place.

Swala & Mary; Thank you

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