French drummer Roger Biwandu has decided to celebrate his fiftieth birthday by releasing a new album that is highly representative of his eclecticism and hard-hitting Afro-jazz vitality. Straight Outta Palmer draws the contours of a thrilling musical life, that of an unparalleled rhythmician whose numerous performances alongside the big names of the “Epopée des Musiques Noires” have fueled creativity. His communicative enthusiasm for the repertoires of Michael Jackson, Sting, Miles Davis or the Marsalis brothers gives all the more credit to his latest compositions. Let’s celebrate the birthday of a happy and talented instrumentalist.
There are names that come up regularly in our memories, sometimes at the turn of a performance, a recording or a simple quote in the booklet of a disc. Roger “Kemp” Biwandu is one of those lucky few whose rhythmic prowess and undeniable talent seduce the greatest artists of our time. From Salif Keïta to Marcus Miller, from Joe Zawinul to Jacques Higelin, he has known them all and can be proud of having magnified their works. Admittedly, this prestigious artistic journey can make you dream, but Roger Biwandu has his feet on the ground. His passion for sport, especially rugby, allowed him to stay connected to true human values, to cherish the collective rather than individualism. He knew how to preserve this notion of camaraderie which is often lacking in the entertainment world.
His albums are also the fruit of this family spirit which nourishes his inspiration and his creative impulse. Born in Bordeaux, Roger Biwandu wants to celebrate his heart region, the Gironde, in the south-west of France, and his compositions reflect this territorial attachment. However, he does not hesitate to bring out his distant Congolese origins. Zaire Where Live from the Tata Raphaël stadium, titles taken from his latest production, remind us how much his ancestral roots still irrigate his soul. Had he not participated in 2018 in the musical project dependent by Fabrice Devienne devoted to the ultimate resistance fighter, Patrice Lumumba? At 50, Roger Biwandu admits to feeling more intensely the heritage, however impalpable, of the African source.
He is nonetheless a French musician whose daily life has been punctuated by artists such as Jeff Porcaro, Jeff Beck, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Al Jarreau, Prince, George Benson or Herbie Hancock… He also celebrates some of his heroes on his latest album: Miles Davis, Kenny Kirkland, Mario Canonge, Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, among others… On December 2 and 3, 2022, he offered the Parisian public the first echoes of this hectic record. However, he wanted to honor his many Bordeaux admirers and will meet them again on January 28, 2023, at the Rocher de Palmer in Cenon, where his rhythmic epic began more than 30 years ago!