Sometimes being African is like being the misunderstood stepchild in the family. We want to be accepted and fit in but, at the same time, we don’t want acceptance to come at the expense of our unique, vibrant and complex identity. Much as the rest of the world tries to do so, it’s very difficult to put Africa in a box. Every so often, something happens or something is said by someone in Africa somewhere, completing shattering the stereotypes.
On the music scene, nothing exemplifies this idea more than a refreshing (and hectic) new musical outfit called Mbongwana Star. The ensemble from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has put out an intriguing and somewhat strange debut album called From Kinshasa. Perhaps it’s my lack of English vocab but there really is no way to describe these fellas except to plead with you to check them out for yourself. Two words that I can scrape together though are ‘otherworldly’ and ‘refreshing’. It really is a fresh album and worth a serious listen.
Signed by World Circuit Records and produced by Frenchman Liam Farrell (they call him Doctor L), Mbongwana Star is made up of Coco Yakala Ngambali, Théo Nsituvuidi Nzonza, Randy Makana Kalambayi, Jean Claude Kamina Mulodi aka R9 and Matuzolele Rodrick. They are on the tour in Europe from May till August 2015 and From Kinshasa is available online.
For their unique, odd and fascinating African sound, which is a cool mix of old, new, traditional and urban, Mbongwana Star find themselves on our Big Up Africa feature today.
Take a listen to Shégué, one of the tracks off their debut album.