Montreal’s AfrotroniX ft. Daara J Family Bring Vibrant Saharan Electro With New Release ‘Run away Ta’
The AfrotroniX project is a multidisciplinary concept: a universe, an Afro-Futurist vision
Montreal’s Afro-futuristic concept group AfrotroniX has released their “Run Away Ta” single and video, available now. After the remarkable release of the album Nomadix, AfrotroniX are back with this exhilarating first track from the new two-volume album Future Tribe.
For this electro track tinged with Saharan blues, the artist AfrotroniX has invited the renowned Senegalese group, Daara J Family to feature. “Run Away is a song that evokes the magical places close to our roots that we like to reach when we feel the need to escape. It is an electrifying song that celebrates the great symbols of Africanity that is embodied in Chad and Senegal,” says Caleb Rimtobaye, founder of AfrotroniX.
With Rimtobaye writing and singing in English and in Sara, part of the Nilo-Saharan languages rarely represented in music, and Faada Freddy and Ndongo D who also writes and interprets words in the Wolof, rooted to Nigero-Congolese languages, “Run Away Ta” is a song that crosses continents, combining languages and musical traditions, and which brings together Afro-electro rhythms as well as Caleb’s Saharan blues heritage.
‘Run Away Ta‘ is a song that speaks of the need to savor life in the present moment since we never know what tomorrow will bring, it celebrates in times of adversity, this need to escape a certain reality to celebrate another.
Caleb Rimtobaye, a Chadian Canadian singer-songwriter producer residing in Montreal, signs the composition and the production of the song. We also recognize his unique style of electric guitar which made the song an ultra popular success in Chad. The rhythm bridges cultures by fusing together traditional Chadian and Arab percussion.
The video for ‘Run Away Ta‘, shot by Djérabé Ndignar in Chad and Lickma in Senegal, was edited and colorized by Victorine Sentilhes. It presents an Africa vibrant with creativity. In the depths of the mountains of northern Chad dotted with camels straight out of haute couture fashion shows, the artists set off on a frantic race.
This electrifying clip shot in Chad and Senegal reveals through this crazy crossing, the powerful symbols of Africanity which is embodied in Chad and Senegal in sumptuous landscapes traversed by stylized dromedaries, explosive colors, nomadic silhouettes with disconcerting movements and portraits of strong women.
The artists launched in this symbolic quest are escorted by an exalted African youth, they are taken to where identities are revealed, where links are woven and tightened, directly at the heart of the party.
AfrotroniX represents a young and extremely creative Chad who brings his musical tradition to fruition in electronic music without borders and brings this magnificent collaboration with the group Daara J Family. The artists Faada Freddy and Ndongo D have joined the force of their flow to the lyricism of AfrotroniX for the greatest delight of an audience who wishes to redefine an Africanness carrying a powerful message of peace, inclusion, and unity.
The title, like the rest of the album, is positioned as the celebration of an Africanity that leads to a bright future. Written during the harshest period of confinement linked to Covid, ‘Run Away Ta‘ symbolizes the need for freedom, wild escape and the desire to reconnect all together in this cultural diversity which leads humanity to another level of greatness.
“Today when I need to recharge my batteries and really get out of my head, my spirit takes me to a big tree in southern Chad, to Sewé the village where my grandfather took me when I was younger. In Run Away Ta I wanted to put that in pictures, and have it filmed in Chad, to show what is beautiful in the country. Representation is key.
In my opinion, Chad is not this country whose borders were drawn by the settlers, it is us, it is the people, our neighborhoods, the people, who make this joy of living. We wanted to show that. And this clip shot in Mongo in the region which ends in N’Djamena at the roundabout of the fountain is for us a strong symbol of unity. Through this song, I invite people to see this, to see the beauty in Chad.’’
AfrotroniX‘s Saharan electro blues is here now and it’s tinged with Chadian sai, Senegalese mbalax, Haitian kompas, West African Mandinka roots and electric Tuareg blues. This sound is transported on a juggernaut loaded with deep house, dubstep and techno grooves driven by Chadian guitarist Caleb Rimtobaye.
Montreal producer, Caleb Rimtobaye is of Chadian origin, he founded the group Afrotronix in 2014, spotted in 2016 at the Parisian edition of Afropunk, he has since toured the world, chaining mass concerts in Italy, Colombia and in particular in Chad where he is the organizer of the huge concerts tour for Peace, Peace in the Sahel supported by Canada, France and the European Union.
The musical project represents an electro movement of African youth, it is a concept encompassing an Afro futuristic and a socially positioned approach for peace and the cultural development of Africa worldwide.
Actively teaching artificial intelligence and its digital structures the language of our ancient African artists and thinkers, AfrotroniX has won several international awards including Best African Electro (2019) and Best African DJ (2018) at All Africa Music Awards. The release of the album Future Tribe in 2023 will be an opportunity for him to conquer the hearts of Canada where the project was formed.
Daara J Family’s music is born of a skilful mix between the secular traditions of the griots of Senegal and the musical genres which have influenced their very particular style, from the funk-soul of James Brown to the rock-psyché of Pink Floyd, passing by the American hip-hop heavyweight Public Enemy and Bob Marley’s reggae.
In more than 25 years of career and 1500 concerts around the world, they had the opportunity to perform in the first part of Wyclef Jean, Public Enemy and Mos Def in the USA, alongside Peter Gabriel during the Womad, with Africa Express and Damon Albarn in London and Lagos, at Transmusicales in Rennes, at Solidays etc.
Four albums were released between 1997 and 2010, including “Boomerang“, winner of the best album award at the BBC World Award in 2003, followed by “Foundation“(2016) and “Yaamatele” (2020), which illustrate the extent of the register of the group and their incredible ability to bring together continents from Dakar to New York, from Paris to Kingston, from Dubai to Kinshasa…
This project was made possible in part by the Government of Canada
AfrotroniX Awards
HOLLYWOOD AND AFRICAN PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS (2022) – Best International Music Artist
PRESTIGIOUS HAITIAN MUSIC AWARDS (2022) – International Artist of the year
HEALT4PEACE LOS ANGELES (2022) – Diaspora Award
DTW MUSIC AWARDS (2022) – Best artist in the Diaspora
ASSOCIATION CHADIAN NATIONALS IN QUEBEC (2022) – Best Chadian musician artist in Canada
HAITIAN MUSIC AWARD – Best International Artist of the Year (2021)
AWARD IN CHAD – Citizen of the Year Award in Chad and internationally (2021)
Award for the best Chadian migrant artist (2021)
AFRIMA (All African Music Award) Best African Migrant Artist (2019)
Best African DJ (2018)
Best African Electro (2019)
SOCAN:- Hardy Hagood (2018)
CANADA BLACK ARTIST AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE, Dynasty – Best Artist (2019)
AfrotroniX Live
This Afro-futurist concept is embodied on stage by an artist, wearing a helmet that mixes ancestral traditions with a vision of African music in the era of digital creation. The show is an explosive collage of rhythms, full of energy, transporting the audience from the first chords into the soul of a futuristic African continent. The band is composed of Caleb Rimtobaye (leadsinger, DJ, electric guitar), Lionel Kizaba (drums, percussion), plus master choreographer, Afro-urban dancer, Axelle Munezero. The live show includes elaborate visuals presenting a“New Africa,” and it has been gaining worldwide awards and fans steadily since the release of the first album in 2017.
Note from the Editor: A little birdy may have told me that AfrotroniX will be visiting in South Africa May 2023. Watch this space!
Follow AfrotroniX Online
Follow Daara J Family Online
