#110 – Ti Punch Cafe
#110 – Ti Punch Café
-by Stacy Garwood-
Jimmy Buffett, as a writer, whether of songs or stories, was never short on ideas, nor afraid to let his imagination flow. Some of Jimmy’s songs were based on a simple inspiration, maybe a sunset or a perfect day on the water or an iconic drink from the islands, while some of his songs had multiple inspirations, which he always managed to combine into a fantastic song, as if they were always meant to be merged and set to music. Even odd combinations, such as far away star systems and cosmic bakers, or mythologic singers and pirates, or children’s stories about princes from outer space, Ti Punch Café is one of those songs, a little bit of everything that seems to fit together into a beautiful world we would all like to visit for an hour or two, maybe even longer.
“Took my telescope to sea, bound for outer space, To a lonely island in a very special place, An atoll with a blue lagoon, a point break full of grace, Lava flows from long ago, bubble up this place…”
Ti Punch Café was released on what turned out to be Jimmy’s last studio album and posthumous gift to the world, Equal Strain On All Parts. It’s a song that makes you want to sing along, even if you can’t understand some of the lyrics, and it certainly makes you want to tap your feet or even get up and dance. Part of it is the song and its sound, part of that is the guest singer that joined Jimmy for Ti Punch Café, the fabulous Angelique Kidjo.
Angelique Kidjo has been making music for decades, and it is great music, but I admit she only showed up on my radar last year as a contributing artist on Jimmy Buffett’s album, Equal Strain On All Parts. She and Jimmy share vocals on Ti Punch Cafe, this lively and lovely song that encompasses Buffett’s musical history, the vibration of the islands and Kidjo’s diverse background, style and language. And this song, when I first heard it, made an impression. It didn’t stop me in my tracks, actually the opposite, it made me tap my toes and sing along, even though I wasn’t sure exactly what I was singing.
Angelique Kidjo is a singer-songwriter from the Republic of Benin in West Africa. She has both French and Beninese ancestry, which has contributed to diverse interests, including music, acting, and choreography. She speaks five languages fluently, and even refers to a language of her own, which she sings and speaks in. She has won five Grammy awards and has recently released a beautiful song called Sunshine To My Soul, which has felt like a personal gift in my life. She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is the cofounder of The Batonga Foundation which helps girls and young women in Benin with knowledge and skills to help better their own lives, as well as for them to help others better their lives, and has been promoting increased women’s rights in Africa.
Music was always part of Angelique’s life, but it wasn’t always going to be Angelique’s career path, but after moving to Paris in the early eighties with plans of studying law and becoming a human rights lawyer, an opportunity to study music at a respectable jazz school opened up for her, and she took it. In a funny way, music and her success at it, became her gateway to helping promote human rights, which was always important in her life.
“Houessivo lo dji houe, minbi nin djawa loo, Houessivo lo dji houe e minbi nin wa douwe loo, Houessivo lo dji houe, mnibi nin djawa loo, Houessivo lo dji houe e…”
“The Sun gives birth to light, may we all rejoice. The sun gives birth to light, may we all come and dance. The sun gives birth to light, may we all rejoice that the sun gave birth to light…” -Translated by Scott Atwell’s research as documented in Buffett Backstories
Jimmy and Angelique had known each other for years, both being invited to play Jazz Fest on multiple occasions. They even played a surprise show together at New Orleans Preservation Hall during Jazz Fest in 2015, which must have been a fabulous surprise for the crowd that night. But for this album, Jimmy wanted to collaborate with her in the studio, and Ti Punch Café seemed the perfect choice. As a matter of fact, while in the studio recording, Angelique contributed lyrics of her own, in her own language, completely spontaneous, but fitting the song perfectly, which was described by Michael Utley and Mac McAnally when they did a song-by-song introduction last year to premier Equal Strain On All Parts on RadioMargaritaville. If you haven’t listened to that show, it’s worth a listen, and has been provided on Jimmy Buffett’s official YouTube channel.
The majority of the song was written by Jimmy and longtime writing collaborator Will Kimbrough, with the aforementioned contribution from Angelique Kidjo, and nods to two artists formerly of the band Kassav, whose song Ou La, was loved by Jimmy and was part of his inspiration for Ti Punch Café.
Ou la or ou le is Caribbean French patois and is translated to ‘You’re here” or “you are there” or even “am here”, depending on the source, or perhaps the island that you are on. Ou Le is also a song by the groundbreaking Zouk band Kassav. Jimmy was a fan of many musical styles, and he was certainly a fan of the band Kassav, so much so that Ti Punch Café is not the first song that Jimmy has written that is an homage to Kassav and the musical roots of the French Caribbean. He also included “kole sere” in his song Love and Luck, giving Joecelyn Beroard and J.C. Naimro, Kassav members and writers of Kole, Sere credit as co-songwriters for Love and Luck. This time around, Jimmy used the chorus “ou le, ou la” from the Kassav song Ou Le, written by Pierre-Edouard Decimus and Jacob Desvarieux, past members of Kassav.
Kassav is a band given credit for blessing the world with Zouk music, with is basically a combination of Caribbean funk, rock and electronic dance music. When you hear zouk music, you can’t help but want to dance; its music meant to make you move. The Zouk style of music, with a fast tempo and percussion and horn driven sound made popular in the French Antilles, especially in Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Jimmy loved Caribbean music and enjoyed merging it with his own gulf coast and country sound. Love And Luck was his homage to both the song Kolé Séré and the Zouk sound, and Ti Punch Café is his homage to the song Ou Le, the band Kassav, and the Zouk style created by the dynamic band Kassav. If you don’t know any of their music, head on over to your favorite online music source and give the band a listen. I can’t imagine you would be disappointed.
Kassav was a band that was founded in 1979 by Jacob Desvarieux, who recruited several musicians from the French speaking island of Guadelupe, including Pierre-Edouard Decimus, Freddy Marshall and Georges Decimus. They combined their creativity, their musical ability and the rhythm of the islands, and Zouk was born. They released their first album the same year, and in 1980, they were joined by Jocelyne Beroard as a lead singer. The band has had members change over the years, including the death of Jacob Desvarieux, but the band is still making dynamic music, and Jimmy was a fan of dynamic music.
“And thank the Lord for a watering hole open night and day, Where buccaneers can sip their rum in the old Ti Punch Café, Above the entrance curtain hangs a well-used frying pan, The owner’s not the Aga Khan, it is the Jolly Mon…”
For Ti Punch Café, Jimmy had started the song with the sound of Ou Le in his mind, ideas and lyrics and sent these ideas to Will Kimbrough, a long-time songwriting companion of Jimmy’s. Jimmy also wanted to touch on several of his past songs in the lyrics, the feeling of a café in the Caribbean, and an island drink synonymous with lazy afternoons in the French Caribbean.
So, what is Ti Punch, anyway? Ti punch, or “ti’ punch” is slang for Petite Punch, or “small punch” which is a simple drink of three important ingredients. Lime, sliced, and/or lime juice (less is best), sugar cane syrup, and Rhum Agricole. Please don’t mistake this with Rum. Rhum Agricole is derived from fresh sugar cane juice, as opposed to rum, which is made with molasses. The drink is said to be served as casually in the French Caribbean as coffee is in the states. Ti Punch is the national drink of Martinique and Guadelupe and is a staple in the French speaking islands of Saint Martin, Haiti, and French Guiana.
I will admit when I first heard this song, I had no idea was Ti Punch was, and while I enjoyed the song, I didn’t go searching for answers, but it was after reading a Buffett Backstory post on Facebook by Scott Atwell that I learned just what Ti Punch was. It was also a reminder that this was not the first song that Jimmy had written and recorded that paid tribute to the band Kassav. It also made me aware of the story The Little Prince that Jimmy enjoyed so much that he included its concept in his song. Many thanks to Scott Atwell for the addition to the Buffett Backstories collection and deep diving into the beauty and inspiration behind the song, as well as an interpretation of Angelique Kidjo’s West African lyrics. If you don’t have his book, and you have interest in the stories behind Jimmy’s songs, check it out.
“I scoped the sky for passersby, Jolly Mon planned the trip, From the Pleiades, Desdemona came in her rocket ship, Eddie brought them burgers, Banky brought his band, And the Little Prince said, “Tout le monde,” did the beguine in the sand…”
One of the things that Jimmy wanted to focus on was the children’s novel that he loved, called The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The book was a favorite of Jimmy’s, and why would it not be? It’s about a young prince who is a traveler, who travels in outer space visiting planets and places in the cosmos, including a stopover on earth. Jimmy was certainly a traveler and voyager, as well as a song writer, and this seemed like the perfect combination of vising earthly places that Jimmy loved, characters that he had created in songs who managed to be both part of earth as well as the great cosmos, the Jolly Mon, who ended up in the stars, and the beautiful Desdemona, who took her rocket ship to the Pleiades.
Besides nods to Desdemona who was a character in the novel Where Is Joe Merchant? and who also starred in two of Jimmy’s songs, Desdemona’s Building A Rocket Ship and Fruitcakes, the song also visits with The Jolly Mon from Jolly Mon Sing. A nod to Volcano with lava flows also shows up in the lyrics, which is always something I enjoy in music, or even movies, nods to projects that connect back in memories from the past.
“Now the party’s done, fun tickets gone, We sang and loved and hoped, Then I woke back up in twenty, beneath my telescope, Galaxies and nautilus shells, Look the same to me, So ask yourself this question, “how couldn’t it be?…”
The lyrics imply waking up, possibly back in the year twenty-twenty. Was it all a dream, this song? Was it too much Ti Punch at an island café? Do the lyrics really even say twenty? Or is it something else? Maybe it is Toiny (pronounced twanny), an area of St. Barts that Jimmy loved so much? No matter what the inspiration, I think it’s a fabulous journey through the songs and stories that Jimmy had created and loved, to places he enjoyed and felt at home with, and to music and stories, that while he didn’t write, such as The Little Prince or Kassav’s music, these were things that were important to Jimmy and his enjoyment of life and music, and I am so happy for him because he was able to create something new and fresh out of things that already meant so much to him.
Ti Punch Café caught my attention and made a strong impression from the very first time I listened. I am sure it always will.
“Ou la, ou le, Ou la, ou le…
Ou la, ou le, Ou la, ou le…”
Stacy
Please enjoy Ti Punch Cafe. I have included the link below. Enjoy!
The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.
Other links that might be of interest:
Jimmy Buffett “Equal Strain On All Parts” Album Track-By-Track Special (youtube.com)
Jimmy Buffett’s Final Album ‘Equal Strain on All Parts’: Review (rollingstone.com)
Angelique Kidjo: the diva from Benin carries with her a fierce history (theconversation.com)
Kassav: The Birth Of Zouk | Guadeloupe Islands (guadeloupe-islands.com)
Kassav – Short biography – Brava News
Kassav, the history of the famous zouk group (europcar-martinique.com)
(20+) THE STORY BEHIND TI PUNCH CAFÉ By Scott… – Buffett Backstories | Facebook (this link may only work if you have Facebook)
Episode #973 – Scott Atwell, author of Buffett Backstories – THE PAUL LESLIE HOUR
*** edited for a $hit ton of typos ***
