**** 4 stars, Kulturtippp
“Fely Tchaco packs the traditional chants and languages of their homeland, Côte d’Ivoire, into sharp beats.”
https://www.kultur-tipp.ch/artikel/artikeldetail/cd-tipp-world-fely-tchaco/
Songlines Issue #169
“Diving deep into themes of empowerment and feminism… This fifth album by Tchaco, San Francisco-based and hailing from Mande-related Gouro people of southern Ivory Coast, has personal and political currency, with tracks telling of Tchaco’s journey as singer, dancer, mother and storyteller – and the humanitarian crisis the world is facing… ‘Yita’ is a heartfelt Gouro-language ode to our commonality, a sentiment similarly expressed on tracks including ‘Tile Tete’, sung in French…there’s palpable joy in the album’s mix of Afrobeat, Afro-pop and electronics…”
Click on link for full review:
https://www.songlines.co.uk/review/yita-deep-water
JazzQuad
“Miriam Makeba - Angelique Kidjo – Fely Tchaco? Each generation nominates a vocalist who becomes for him a symbol of African music. Singer, songwriter, designer and visual artist Fely Tchaco has all the skills to become one. Each generation nominates a vocalist who becomes for him a symbol of African music. Singer, songwriter, designer and visual artist Fely Tchaco has all the skills to become one. Like Angelique Kidjo, she is from West Africa, though not from Benin, but from Côte d'Ivoire. More than a worthy gift!”
Click on link for full review:
https://jazzquad.ru/index.pl?act=PRODUCT&id=5826
Music Frames
“With her energetic album, Yita, singer Fely Tchaco pays tribute to all those (African) migrants who lost their lives in the Mediterranean in search of a better life… Deep Water is an excellent album by multi-talented Fely Tchaco of which we will hear a lot more!
Her voice evokes memory of Angelique Kidjo . A singer from Benin who became famous in the Netherlands with her CD Ayé (1994) and her collaboration with the Dutch jazz pianist Jasper van 't Hof , among others. Deep Water is an excellent album by a wonderful multi-talented musician Fely Tchaco, which you will keep in mind!”
Click on link for full review:
https://www.musicframes.nl/2021/06/deep-water-of-fely-tchaco/
Moors Magazine
“The album is a positive celebration of cultural diversity and black joy at the same time, as Fely Tchaco powerfully shows the listener that there are also immigrants who triumph. Peace, love, hope, they seem worn out concepts, but here they shine again. Fely sings in her own language, Gouro as well as in Beté, French and English, and that only makes the message more universal. The same goes for the music, which combines West African rhythms with jazz, afro-pop and more. Traditional and modern go hand in hand. Great picture.”
Click on link for full review:
https://www.moorsmagazine.com/muziek/wereldmuziek/fely-tchaco-yita/
World Listening Post
“Yita (Deep Water), the title track of Fely Tchaco’s fifth album, is a soaring elegy for migrants who never reached their destination and a hymn of hope for those seeking new shores… Yita is not only an outstanding album but also an inspired map of space, time and sound.”
Click on link for full review:
https://worldlisteningpost.com/2021/05/26/fely-tchaco-yita-deep-water/
SOURCE THE RESONANCE
The Outerglobe - 11 March 2021 (Fely Tchaco) interviewed by Debbie Golt
Fely comes on around 15mn into the show.
Click her to listen to the playlist
SOURCE BBC RADIO
SOURCE BBC RADIO WORLD SERVICES
Focus on Africa - Ivorian Singer-Songwriter Fely Tchaco on new album - BBC Sounds.
interview by Jenny Horrocks - Presenter Bola Mosuro
Interview starts at 19:20
Click here to listen to the Interview.
Era Jazzu
“Fely Tchaco - an exotic singer from the Ivory Coast, drawing on her own life experience and folk wisdom, embodies a new generation of artists who, while remaining attached to their African heritage, at the same time maintain a modern outlook on the "new" world around them…"Yita" is an artistic synthesis of music and the artist's creativity. Along with a large dose of African melody, style and rhythm, the recordings contain an interesting association with popular music, a bit of new wave and even the obvious hit of her songs. Fely Tchaco sings in many languages: English, French and also in her native Gouro , emphasizing cultural origins and "roots" and referring to its cultural tradition from the exotic regions of Gbegbe, Gaou Alloukou and Zaouli.”
Click on link for full review:
https://jazz.pl/fely-tchaco-yita-fely-music-production/
Rootstime
“In a mix of pop, (afro) -jazz, funk and even a bit of techno, sung in several languages from her native country, as well as French and English, Fely shares her vision of contemporary affairs in a large part of the world… The album exudes an enormous positivity and although it is both cosmopolitan in terms of design and design, as well as tight and strict in terms of message where it belongs… You don't come across something like this too often… more than worth listening to…”
KPFA
KPFA Radio 94.1FM Interview with Walter Turner 03.08.21 - 7:00pm
Click here to listen to the interview. Interview by Andrew Gilbert, Mar 8
Source KQED
In the spring of 2016, Fely Tchaco joined guitarist Freddy Clarke’s Wobbly World band on a relief mission to Greece bringing medical aid to Syrian refugees. Born and raised in Ivory Coast, Tchaco had seen her fair share of hard times and poverty, but the trip changed her perspective on the way that tribulations are distributed around the world.
In the United States, she’s always aware of “coming from a continent where everyone thinks there are the poorest countries,” she said in a recent conversation via Zoom. “But you see this can happen anywhere. These refugees had experienced terrible trauma, and some were so resilient. I was astonished by this little girl who was so talented playing my djembe.”
Click below to read more:
https://www.kqed.org/arts/13893553/from-ivory-coast-to-west-coast-fely-tchacos-musical-vision-defies-borders
M-XCLOUD - PLAYLIST Radio 9 Oostzaan met "Studio-Globe",
Uitzending (1502) 10th March 2021 by "Studio-Globe"
Click here to listen to the playlist
M-XCLOUD – PLAYLIST #323
One World Radio show #323 presented by Andy Rogers aired CAWE YOKO recently:
Track starts at 29:00
Click here to listen to the radio playlist
Tune in at UK's Stirling City Radio:
Aired #felytchaco 's music ‘Do Afe’ Sunday Feb 21st in second half of show. Show: Marion’s Folk Festival from 6pm:
Click here to listen.