We receive 2 groups in the #SessionLive, Les Mamans du Congo, a formation born in Brazzaville, led by Gladys samba with the collaboration of the French beatmaker Rrobin. Then the afrobeat of Kiala & the Afroblaster will enliven the big studio and we will talk about the 12th edition of the Rares Talents Festival.
Our first guests are Gladys Samba (Mom Glad) and Mothers of Congoaccompanied on percussion by the artistic director Mel Malonga for the Ep Kikento Without Robin who actively participates in the project.
Embody and sing the African woman of the future. Educate. To transmit on the international stages the cultural heritage and the Congolese traditions on a music unpublished in Africa. Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin sign their return with an EP and a new album in 2023. Within a universe combining DIY percussive instruments, electronic pulsations, bass music and afrobeats through rhythm boxes, rap and bewitching choirs, this charismatic and feminist group intends to raise awareness and preserve ancestral Bantu values and rhythms & melodies.
After having revived the centuries-old lullabies of the Congo with a first album acclaimed by the international press and the public, the charismatic percussionist singer and leader of the combo, Gladys Samba, accompanied by her musicians and Rrobin continue the fight. “Kikento”, “Female power” in the Lari language, designates the name of this EP.
Through the four tracks on this disc, the group opens the doors of their universe to us and distills powerful messages. Their leader, Gladys Samba, sings and raps to funky electronic music orchestrated by producer Rrobin, embellished with the powerful bass of Mel Malonga (collaborator of Damon Albarn) and traditional rhythms from different regions of the Congo, played on instruments made in from recycled materials (plates, forks, cans).
Within the title Ntima, punctuated by the traditions of Bas-Congo, and enveloped in atmospheric sounds and drill fumes, Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin affirm the quest for freedom and independence of African women. The title tells the story and the lamentations of a barren woman who resists the judgments and mockery and indifference of her husband. The group also unveils a Bantu and funky afro-house on the very explosive Sala Sala (work), a call for personal effort to eradicate the suffering linked to lack of employment, in order to highlight creativity and dynamism. of Congolese society. Ancestral tales are revived on Maria, with an air sung in schoolyards and orchestrated by the Timbwa rhythm (played with a kind of local maracas) where Maman Gladys sings against the misdeeds caused by jealousy.
The N’Tounta rhythm played at parties and vigils in Bas-Congo is propelled into an afrobeats and trap world within Dia (to eat), a rhythmic afrobeats and trap hymn against the laziness of certain men still fed-housed by their mothers at 40 years old. Social facts, values inherited from the Kongo Kingdom, and femininity in all its aspects are reflected in Kikento, this punchy hypnotic retro-futurist Afro EP. Les Mamans du Congo was born in 2018 in Brazzaville as part of a project merging dance with the ancestral Kongo lullabies sung in lari by the five mothers. The history of their people, the daily life of Congolese women are found in music for the first time on rhythms played with forks, plates, baskets, pestles and recycled material. Under the leadership of the Institut français du Congo with its director Marie Audigier, the Coopérative de Mai and the Jarring Effects label, the women’s collective met the French producer of hip-hop and electronic music, Rrobin in order to continue the experimentation music of the Congolese heritage. The beatmaker, accustomed to artistic encounters, joined them in Brazzaville in 2019 alongside Céline Frezza (co-director of the Jarring Effects label). Electrifying percussion, rapping the daily life and social facts of Brazzaville, preserving the different values and heritages and transmitting them to new generations, Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin perpetuate memories and bring a new dimension to African music.
Titles performed at the Grand studio with RFI Videos
Ntima Live RFI see clip RFI
sala salaextract Ep Kikento
Day Live RFI see clip RFI
Line-up: Samba Gladys said Maman Glad, Kimpavita Belgrass, Bemba Jésureth, Nkodia Dodosha, Malonga Mel, Gonin Remy – sound technician and guide.
Sound: Benoît Letirant, Mathias Taylor
Directed by: Steven Helsley
► EP Kikento (Jarring Effects 2023)
Then we welcome Kiala & the Afroblaster for the Rares Talents 2023 festival (https://rarestalents.com/)
Kiala Nzavotunga (https://www.facebook.com/Kiala.Nzavotunga.Afrobeat) was born in Congo (ex-Zaire) – his family comes from Angola. At the age of 10, he arrived in Kinshasa, the center of African music with Latin American influences (rumba, meringue, cha-cha-cha). Among the boy scouts, he learned the guitar, began to play in the clubs of the city, and in various groups (Negro Success, African Jazz).
In 1974, he toured Africa (Congo-Brazzaville, Angola, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria). He moved to Lagos, played in different bands. In 1981, Fela Anikulapo Kuti invites him to join his group, Egypt 80, with which Kiala recorded the album Original Suffer Head.
In 1983, he founded Ghetto Blaster in the company of musicians from Fela (Udoh Essiet, Nicholas Avom), Willy N’for, Betty Ayaba and two French musicians (Stéphane Blaes, Romain Pugebet). The group soon moved to Paris. In Europe, the group imposes itself, plays the first parts of James Brown, Albert King, Kool and the Gang, Manu Dibango, Kassav… Their first album People comes out in 1984. After a tour in the USA in 1988, the group separates . In 1984 Willy N’For and Kiala recorded in the unique album of Hilaire Penda.
In 1989, he met the members of the Japanese group Jagatara, and explored fusions between African rhythms and Japanese songs.
From 2001 to 2003, Kiala worked on Ghetto Blaster’s 20th anniversary album, River Niger, released in 2003 and bringing the band back to the stage after years of silence.
Kiala experiments, he works with Doctor L, important artist on the electronic music scene. They released the album Psycho together in 2005, on which Kiala is a songwriter and plays likembé (sanza), guitar and sings.
Kiala also collaborates with Omar Sosa and Stéphane Belmondo.
The keyboard of the group Masamichi Ishikawa, founder of the Soul Garden label, offers him to release “Money” in Japan, a new album by Kiala & The Afroblaster. From these collaborations was born the album One Race produced by Kiala, recorded at the History studio. This album is a tribute to Hilaire Penda. Kiala was invited to play at the Philharmonie de Paris for the tribute to Tony Allen with his drummer Mario Orsinet (considered by the Afrobeat community as the spiritual son of Tony Allen) and for the Féla exhibition.
He will close the Rares Talents Festival on April 22 on Canal 93, Kiala will be with DJ Ness Afro live with trumpeter Serigne Diagne and singer Nazaire.
Performed titles
Afrobeat radio Live RFI
Globe Trotter Live RFI
Line Up: Kiala Nzavotungalead voice guitar, mario Orsinetdrums and choir, Sailor Matsbass, Tom Schmidelyguitar voice, Patrick Gorcepercussion, Serigne Diagne, trumpet.
+ Magali Fricaudet (Rare Talents, Channel 93)
Sound: Mathias Taylor, Jérémie Besset
Directed by: Steven Helsley
Bonus tracks:
Oua Anou Diarra with an excerpt from 1er EP saban with the title Stroll for Autodidact. A trio composed of Clément Griffault, Pidj Boom and Diarra Oua-Anou… With the participation of Djul Kkc + remixes of Karmaâ & Mr. Ours
Polobi & The Gwo Ka Masters ”Kawmelito”, from the album Cyclonic shelter (Real World 2023)