5 albums to listen to this week

N’djila Wa Mudujimu

Fulu Miziki

It was with HHY & The Macumbas producer Jonathan Saldanha that the band recorded N’Djila Wa Mudujimu, a record where their revolutionary sounds flourish: an indefinable mix of punk, electronic music, industrial sounds and Congolese rumba. The whole forms a deeply pleasurable album which manages to capture the dilapidated style of Fulu Miziki. N’Djila Wa Mudujimu could, unfortunately, be their last record considering the band’s recent disbandment. Nevertheless, we can count on Pisco Crane and Lady Aicha, still active on the Kinshasa scene, and the ingenuity that characterizes them, to revive the spirit of Fulu Miziki.

To listen here.

Estrellas

Guts

Estrellas is “the soundtrack of the reunion with our ancestors. We are their stardust”. By bringing together Cuban and African talents, the producer Guts makes the successful bet to federate the diasporas and the generations around a single project. Recorded in about twenty days at Studio LaBoutique in Dakar, Estrellas is a touching and original Afro-Cuban collaboration, full of emotions, spirituality and magic. Jazz mixes with pachanga, young Wolof rap responds to timeless Cuban songs. Estrellas brings together more than thirty performers and musicians around a single mantra: “A mother, Africa. One language, music. »

To listen here.

19 & Dangerous (Deluxe)

Ayra Starr

Ayra Starr is 20 years old, and she is still as dangerous as ever. The Afro-fusion princess gives a deluxe version to her debut album 19 & Dangerous, released in 2021. This edition features four new tracks and two remixes. Icon Kelly Rowland makes the hit his own Bloody Samaritan » and Zinoleesky refix the title lonely » . Of course, the single ase » performed on the COLORS channel, and her latest sound Rush » are included. As for the unreleased, Ayra Starr invites the talented singer-producer Lojay on Running »and rookie Kayykilo, from Louisiana, on Skinny Girl Anthem ».

To listen here.

Neon Colonialismo

Batida

“I could have talked about a new Lisbon that flashes and shines, but that’s not the idea”. Born in Angola and raised in Portugal, the producer Batida questions the Portuguese colonial heritage in this new project in ten titles. In collaboration with a panel of international artists such as Mayra Andrade, PalNástio Mosquito and IkonoklastaBatida attempts a historical approach to the different genres that bring life to the Portuguese-speaking scene: afro-house, kazucuta, hip-hop, etc. The rendering is both electronic and organic, punctuated by instrumental titles and vocal performances . Neon Colonialismo look for “to make people dance, think and probably also smile” .

To listen here.

Archeology

Montparnasse Music

Manyelo and I have imagined an ethnological musical adventure, from North Africa to South Africa, which meets in the middle, in the Congo, a country where modern art and music are linked, is just as strong » voices Nadjib Ben Bella, French half of the duo Montparnasse Music. With the album Archeology, the producer and his South African sidekick Aero Manyelo are at a crossroads. Traditional rhythms from the West and electronic notes from the South, melodies in Lingala and Swahili rap, cultures and genres mix and complement each other. This pan-African project brings together the Congolese MuambiyiMenga Waku on vocals, Cuban multi-instrumentalist Kabeya and Mopero Mupemba on the guitar as well as Amar Chaoui on the darbouka and the Kenyan rapper Projekt.

To listen here.

5 albums to listen to this week