Bolo, Atou, Lalo en

The red little house once so deserted has not lost neither its serenity nor its peace but it’s now full of life. My cousin, Charles ‘Bolo’ Gomes has joined us lately at last. I was talking with him about this issue 3 years ago, for him it has become an unreachable dream I guess. Bolo was born about 25 years ago, not so far from Zig in Guinea-Bissau in Cacheu. He is my uncle’s elder son. When I 1^st met him in 2002 he was a very sporting young lad, keen on hunting, climbing trees to get the best fruits, and football. 3 years later, he got wounded in a football game, and his right leg got badly injured. He stayed much too long with this bad wound, and arrived to regional hospital of Ziguinchor too late as he finally lost that leg. He stayed a bit in Zig then left in Dakar where we have much more family. He learned Wolof, a bit of French, and got a very badly paid job nightshift, that was not enough to rent his own room. Now he is here with us, happy to have left this city he couldn’t bare, eager to learn.

Charles "Bolo" Gomes

Life in this house is truly nice, Mama is always smiling, and so does Joel, and now Bolo, it seems we’re in some crazy guru headquarter that’s true but it’s so cool that I’m glad to be a part of this.

We are still testing things and I show Joel how the synths work. It takes time; he has to learn a lot of new information that are crucial for the next coming live shows. It’s not very funny, rather frustrating, but has to be done, may be 1 or 2 weeks of these before going further to the next step.

Our desire is growing.

By the way, my hand is fully operational now; even if it hasn’t recovered its former look yet.

Atou has made a nice table specially designed for our needs and our wallet, happy to take part.

"Atou" Patern Tendeng

Papisco comes to visit us from time to time, and makes us laugh with his stories and his way to tell them. We went to his studio with Joel last week and we worked on one of his songs. This guy has some hot tracks ready to be followed.

I have just met a very good drummer named Lalo Cissokho, probably a Mandingo; it’s not time for rehearsal yet, but it was fun jamming with him and Joel. He’s from Zig but lives in Dakar. I wish he could stay…