Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is one of Africa's centres for music. With a population estimated at 17 million, the city is a melting pot of ethnicities and cultures.
Despite the constant civil strife in the region and instability, Congolese musicians continue to create great music.
In 2009, a group of paraplegic musicians, called Staff Benda Bilili released their debut album, Tres Tres Fort, on the European Crammed Discs label. Their album, created on the streets of the capital just around the corner from the zoo, was a global sensation. The band released three albums before several members left for Mbongwana Star.
Staff Benda Bilili were also part of a trend of street musicians creating new instruments from discarded electrical appliances and old electronics and using them to create a new, modern sound (while at the same time incorporating the electric percussion and riverine guitar riffs of Congolese rumba). Several compilations under the series title Congotronics were released and they included the leading band at that time Konono No.1.
Another name emerged from the street music roots -- Jupiter Bakondji -- although he had been transplanted to Europe (East Germany at the time) as the son of a diplomat. He played music with other diplomatic kids from Cambodia, Spain and Gabon, using his ethnic background as a Mongo speaker as the root of his sound. His music brilliantly combines Congolese folk styles and rhythms, Congolese rumba, funk, rock and Afropop.
Jupiter's big break came with the release of the documentary film Jupiter's Dance in 2006, which included Staff Benda Bilili. This led to albums such as Hotel Univers (2013), Kinsonic (2017) and Na Kozonga (2021) and tours with Damon Albarn, Blur, Massive Attack and festivals like Glastonbury, WOMAD and Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Jupiter and his band Okwess are back in action with a new album, Ekoya (Airfono), which officially launches on March 7. The album was mostly recorded in Guadalajara and Mexico City; it turns out that the band was on tour in South America in 2020 and were forced to stay due to the Covid lockdown. So naturally, they began to immerse themselves in the music of the region. And, as a result, guests on the new album include Brazilian vocalist Flavia Coelho, indigenous rapper Mare Advertencia, and the terrific Congolese singer Soyi Nsele.
With so much conflict and constant change in modern life, an astute observer like Jupiter eschews songs about love and personal issues. Instead, resistance is coded into the album, often in the form of figurative language -- sayings, proverbs and even parables. You can hear this on Orgillo with Zapotec rapper Mare Advertencia, who castigates the rich for ignoring the poor or on, one of my favourite tracks Selele, which features Soyi Nsele appealing to the gods to help stop the destruction of the Congolese rainforest. Other songs illuminate the mundanity of village life and the need for friends to be honest.
There are some great party tracks like Nkoyi Niama but also ballad-style songs like Nabado, which praises those who unsung people who work in the shadows.
This is a fascinating album that brings together Congolese music and South American music in new and surprising ways. Two other new albums dovetail nicely with Jupiter's new release.
Kin'Gongolo Kiniata's debut album Kiniata (Helico) is set to release on April 4. Similar to Staff Benda Bilili, the musicians in the band have created their own instruments from found materials (plates, scrap metal, broken appliances etc.) on the streets of Kinshasa. If you like any of the Congotronics bands, try this one as well. The band is beginning to appear at festivals in Europe and the US. The first single from the album Kingongolo has been released.
Colombian trumpet, flautist and multi-instrumentalist El Leon Pardo releases Viaje Sideral on March 3, an electronically charged cosmic journey into the musical unknown that mashes up heavy percussion, analogue synths, booming bass and trance like melodies, all stir fried with Colombian Cumbia music. Well worth checking out.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
