* En anglais uniquement
Comprising dozens of musicians from various countries around the world,
Big Blue Ball is a collaborative project that began to take shape in the early '90s before finally being released as a full-length album in 2008. Produced by
Peter Gabriel along with
Karl Wallinger of
World Party and
Waterboys fame and
Stephen Hague of
New Order and
Pet Shop Boys fame, the
Big Blue Ball sessions originally began in 1991 at
Gabriel's Real World Studios in England. Over time the sessions included the participation of vocalists
Sinéad O'Connor (of Ireland),
Tim Finn (New Zealand),
Natacha Atlas (Belgium),
Papa Wemba (Congo),
Joseph Arthur (United States),
Iarla Ó Lionáird (Ireland),
Hukwe Zawose (Tanzania),
Márta Sebestyén (Hungary), and others. Other noteworthy participants in the
Big Blue Ball sessions include American guitarist
Vernon Reid, American producer/multi-instrumentalist
Tchad Blake, Cameroonian singer/multi-instrumentalist
Francis Bebey, British guitarist
Justin Adams, British bassist
Jah Wobble, American guitarist
Wendy Melvoin, Japanese percussionist
Joji Hirota, Spanish guitarist Juan Cañizares, French drummer
Manu Katché, and many others. Upon its release in 2008 on
Gabriel's label Real World Records (a whopping 17 years after the recording sessions began),
Big Blue Ball proved internationally popular, especially in France, where the album peaked at number 12 on the albums chart. ~ Jason Birchmeier