Growing up in two countries — Chad as children and France as teens — the women of Les Nubians, Hélène and Célia Faussart, were shaped by both cultures.  On their third recording, Nü Revolution their pan-African vision remains as vibrant and clear as ever. Nü Revolution embodies, both through music and lyrics, a true sense of ‘World Citizenship.’   Featuring special guests ranging from African music legend Manu Dibango to indie soul icon Eric Roberson, with South African pop stars Freshly Ground, Ghanian-American MC Blitz The Ambassador and Polish MC John Banzaï along for the ride. Les Nubians manage to make the blend of so many diverse elements seem logical and organic; it flows quite naturally from their multicultural lives. 

MundoVibe’s John C. Tripp spoke with Hélène and Célia on the Nü Revolution via telephone from their new home of Brooklyn just after their first performance ever in the Caribbean island of St. Maarten.

MundoVibe: Congratulations on your third full-length recording, I’ve been absorbing it and I love it. It’s got a great message to it, it’s really uptempo, very celebratory vibe and I think it’s going to blow up for you.  So, this Nü Revolution, I want you to tell me about it because I want to be part of it.

Les Nubians: Well, Nu Revolution is a two year process to put together and Nu Revolution, why, I guess NU for “new universe” and we’re entering a new time, everything is kind of changing and no more types of frontiers because of the internet. I feel like because of the written histories we all went through, the recession crisis, all the wars and all the natural catastrophies we feel even more related to each other than ever. So, this is a new universe we’re living in. There’s finally worldwide citizenship that’s for real now.

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