Yamasuki: Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki (Vinyl LP)

In the spring of 1971, somewhere between Brussels, Paris and a collective pop fever dream, Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki landed on vinyl. It sounded like nothing else then and it still does not today. More than half a century later, Sdban Records proudly presents a reissue of this singular cult album.

The album was produced by Jean Kluger and written both by Jean and Daniel Vangarde (aka Bangalter, later the father of Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk), who were already well ahead of their time, long before electronic music rewrote the rules of pop culture.

Released under the name Yamasuki, also referred to as The Yamasuki Singers, or The Yamasuki’s, the project was never intended as a conventional band. It was a studio-born fantasy, a concept album disguised as a pop record. What began as a standalone single quickly expanded into a full-blown pan-cultural pop opera that ignored genres and common sense with joyful abandon.

Musically, the album sits at a delirious crossroads. Psychedelic pop collides with funk rhythms, samba and bubblegum melodies, full of chants and choruses in a phonetic pseudo-Japanese, written with the help of a dictionary. Kluger and Vangarde famously recruited a children’s choir to perform the vocals, and for added spectacle, they brought in a Japanese judo grandmaster, whose ritualistic shouts and battle cries erupt throughout the record.

Several singles were released. One of them, 'Yamasuki', with accompanying dance move, appeared in the United Kingdom and France on John Peel’s Dandelion label, a fitting home for a record that thrived on the margins of pop culture. Its B-side, 'Aieaoa', proved even more potent. In 1975, the song was reborn as 'A.I.E. (A Mwana)' by Black Blood, an African group recording in Belgium, this time sung in Swahili. That melody would travel even further.

'Aie a Mwana' became the debut single of English pop group Bananarama, and in 2010 it resurfaced once more as 'Helele', an official song of the FIFA World Cup, recorded by South African singer Velile Mchunu with Danish percussion duo Safri Duo. That version became the most widely known incarnation of the song. With Jean Kluger directly involved, it was less a cover than a continuation of the original idea.

The album’s afterlife did not stop there. Over the years, Yamasuki has been quietly sampled, covered, and featured across media far beyond the realm of novelty pop. 'Kono Samourai' was sampled in 'The Healer' by Erykah Badu (2007), produced by Madlib, while 'Yama Yama' has found its way into recent pop culture as well: appearing in the television series Fargo, on Angus Stone’s project Dope Lemon, and on the 2008 Late Night Tales compilation curated by Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders.

Proof, if any were needed, that this strange little record carries a deeper musical DNA than its playful exterior might suggest.

This new reissue of Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki proves the renewed interest and respect for this cult album, faithful to the original spirit while finally giving it back the physical presence it deserves.

In an era obsessed with genres and algorithmic neatness, Yamasuki still laughs, dances and karate-kicks its way past definitions. It reminds us that pop music can be playful without being disposable, strange without being cynical and joyful without explanation. The world of Yamasuki was always fabulous, we are just lucky it found its way back to us.

1. Yamasuki
2. Aisere I Love You
3. Kono Samourai
4. Yamamoto Kakapote
5. Okawa
6. Aieaoa
7. Abana Bakana
8. Seyu Sayonara
9. Yama Yama
10. Fudji Yama
11. Yokomo
12. Kashi Kofima