The 2015 celebration of Festival International de Louisiane began Wednesday, and fans have been flocking to Lafayette to hear various artists perform Cajun, Creole and American music.
A newer act to join the festival is the duo of Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate. Driscoll is based out of England while Kouyate is from Guinea. After meeting at the 2010 Nuits Métis music festival in Marseille, France, the two felt a connection that would be best expressed through music.
The Daily Reveille spoke with Driscoll about his partnership with Kouyate, one that is made more interesting due to the fact that Kouyate speaks only French and Driscoll speaks only English.
The Daily Reveille: How did you know you wanted to work with Kouyate?
Joe Driscoll: The festival organizers knew us both and just threw us together for a jam session. Within the first two days of us goofing around together, I felt the vibe. When you stumble on good chemistry, you know right away. I moved to France shortly after that, and we made our first album together.
TDR: Is it difficult working together with the language difference?
JD: It’s kind of a 50-50. There are lots of times I wish we communicated better. I think … there’s a tendency to over discuss things and overthink things. You can definitely … get into a headspace where you just question everything. We never really had that option. We just kind of have to go more by instinct and whatever feels good or works in a situation, you follow. So I think it has its disadvantages when we’re trying to organize logistics. But … overall, it’s been kind of a fun experiment to have music be the primary method through which we speak.
TDR: What do you think that inability to second-guess yourselves or each other does for the music?
JD: I think it makes it more of an intuitive process than a thought process. I think … music is that balance of head and heart. I think it challenges us both in that way.
TDR: How would you describe the music that you two make?
JD: That’s always been a really hard question. When we’re driving in our van … we’ll go from The Beatles to Buju Banton to Herbie Hancock … and I feel like the albums are like that, as well. You see an influence [from] hip-hop, but I wouldn’t call us hip-hop. There’s an influence from reggae, but I wouldn’t call us particularly reggae. There are some influences of world [music], which is, I guess, where we sit the most. That’s like the first question people ask, and I honestly don’t know how to answer.
TDR: Have either of you ever performed before at Festival International?
JD: This is our first time at Festival International and our first time in Louisiana altogether. It’s pretty much our first tour down South.
TDR: Since you’re new, how are you feeling about the show?
JD: This festival in Louisiana, I am very much in love. I’ve only been here a few days, but it’s just an amazing outpour of good vibes. I’m just really impressed and blown away by the amount of culture here in Lafayette. Maybe I haven’t traveled enough, but I feel like it’s a really rare thing to encounter. Instantly, you have the flavor … of the culture in the air in Lafayette. Whether they’re 60 or 20, there are diverse audiences. It’s like warm bathwater. I’m jumping in.
Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyante will be performing at Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette. Their show is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. tonight at the Scène Stabil Drill International stage.
You can reach Gerald Ducote on Twitter @geraldducoteTDR.