N'Djila Wa Mudjimu

Description

In 2003, Pisco Crane gathered a group of six musicians from the slums of Kinshasa, where he grew up, into a collective called Fulu Miziki. Following in the footsteps of Bebson De La Rue, the legendary instrument maker, Pisco rooted himself in a Congolese tradition that touches on the eccentric genius of globally acclaimed artists like Konono Nº1 and Staff Benda Bilili. Over the years, the group's notoriety has grown in the underground scene of Kinshasa. They were joined by performance artist, sculptor, and fashion designer Lady Aicha, who brought a unique color to the group. She helped the group design vibrant masks and costumes, as electric and singular as the instruments they played. In 2020, their video "Tikanga" went viral, and the group settled at Nyege Nyege studios to assemble an album. Recorded by Jonathan Saldanha of HHY & The Macumbas, this record captures their fiercely innovative blend of industrial sounds, spiritual jazz, punk, and Congolese soukous. Fulu Mziki sounds almost completely timeless, bending hammered rhythms around microtonal clicks, catchy chants, and prickly sounds. On "Mutangila," there’s a hint of disco in the rhythm, but it has been transformed into a post-punk ritual, adorned with complex bell percussion and overlapping vocals. "Congo" is draped in electrified buzzes that form a bass line, but it’s the hallucinatory rhythms that transport the piece into psychedelic spheres. The story of Fulu Miziki is tentacled, complex, and ever-evolving, with various iterations of the group. Two members left the group in 2016 to form KOKOKO!. Several other original members departed after the recording to form a similarly named group based in Europe. This album is the latest proof of Fulu Mziki's existence at the height of its form and completeness - it won’t happen again. It is an essential portrait of one of the most innovative contemporary formations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and one of the most surprising hybrid music experiences you will hear. For fans of Konono n°1, Sun Ra Arkestra, CAN, Staff Benda Bilili.