Wazamba (2009)
by Parfum d'Empire

East meets West? A blast of Incense and myrrh served up on a platter of warm apple. Mmmmmmm.......this incense makes me recall my parochial days as an altar boy. Has Roman Catholicism broken into the fragrance industry?

I'm getting sweet...no...medicinal....no woody.....no wait....it's all three wafting around my head. Now, who is that knocking at the door? Opoponax...is that you? Why hello my man, I see you joined the party. I was simply a little late in noticing your arrival. Party down fellaz. I have to go recite 4 Hail Mary's and an Our Father. Peace.

Notes (from Lucky Scent): Somalian incense, Kenyan myrrh, Ethiopian opoponax, Indian sandalwood, Moroccan cypress, labdanum, apple, fir balsam.

Wazamba is a spicy, fruity incense fragrance that smells like something Bertrand Duchaufour might have composed for the Comme des Garçons Incense Series. It opens with a rich, boozy accord of sweet dried fruit and dark, smoky spices that’s very soon overlaid by cool, camphoraceous conifer resin and astringent myrrh. The juxtaposition of warm, edible and cool, medicinal notes generates a compelling internal tension – a simultaneously disturbing and seductive olfactory dissonance that works on the nose the way the lush, exotic harmonies of late romantic composers like Mahler and Strauss work on the ear.

Having brought up Bertrand Duchaufour, I might mention that Wazamba's combination of fruit, spices, and incense bears some passing structural resemblance to Duchaufour’s Jubilation XXV for Amouage, though Wazamba’s chill fir resin note has no parallel in the Amouage. Wazamba is also more assertively sweet and fruity, and emphasizes myrrh where Jubilation XXV leans on frankincense. The combination of conifer resin and incense also allies Wazamba to some degree with Comme des Garçons’ Zagorsk, but Wazamba’s opoponax and conspicuous fruit notes render it much softer, warmer and sweeter than its gaunt and icy Russian-inspired counterpart.

Wazamba is reasonably potent, with moderate sillage. It lasts well on my skin, and I find the sweet, resinous oriental drydown of opoponax and labdanum is extremely comforting. Wazamba is a vibrant scent that exhibits plenty depth and personality, and I’d encourage anyone who enjoys incense-based fragrances to give it a try.

Parfum D'Empire Wazamba

Wazamba! Sounds like an alternative way of saying "Abracadabra!". I could see a magician making an assistant disappear and opening the box and shouting "Wazamba!" while the audience showed their appreciation for the illusion. Instead, according to the press release accompanying Marc-Antoine Corticchiato's 2009 composition for Parfum D'Empire; we are told a wazamba is an African musical instrument. A wazamba is also said to be mainly used during initiation ceremonies, for a scent so incense oriented that somehow seems appropriate. Wazamba comes off as the most church incense like fragrance I've encountered since Comme des Garcons Avignon. The top of Wazamba is a blast of arid frankincense. It is dry and smells like the finest incense from right out of a church censer. It is joined by the sweeter aspects of myyrh and then the resin is made even more intense as labdanum joins in. If you are an incense lover the beginning of Wazamba is beautiful and I think it is better balanced than Avignon at the top.Wazamba very slowly allows a pine note in the guise of fir balsam to makes its way in very gradually and it is joined by a clean cypress note, in the base. I really like the hint of pine that is used here as this is reminiscent of the same light touch used in Annick Goutal Encens Flamboyant. According to the note list there is supposed to be an apple note somewhere in here but I've yet to find it. Wazamba is an incense forward fragrance with pine and cypress undertones, on me. Wazamba has excellent longevity and average sillage. As an avowed incense-aholic I like Wazamba as it combines a couple of features of two of my favorite incense fragrances and makes something I like as much as both of those. In fact it feels like Sig. Corticchiato placed a bottle of Avignon and a bottle of Encense Flamboyant in his magic hat, waved his hand over it and shouted "Wazamba!"; then out came something even better than the sum of what went into his magic hat.