Kasai Allstars

Colourful palette of sounds, instruments, rhythms and moods from Congolese truly all-star group Kasai Allstars.

A hard-to-count collective Kasai Allstars is among the greatest gifts music has received from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in this century, united in the capital Kinshasa, but representing a range of Congolese ethnic groups and their traditions.

The project officially launched a decade ago with on Crammed Discs label’s Congotronics series, and since then have been experimenting both with other Congotronics bands and indie artists from around the world.

2014 saw their second LP “Beware the Fetish”, which has recently been followed by a new record “Around Félicité”, the official soundtrack for a film “Félicité” by a French-Senegalese director Alain Gomis.

In “Around Félicité”, Kasai Allstars’ already colourful palette of sounds, instruments, rhythms and moods got further enriched by the film’s story, where “a free-willed woman sets out on a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa to save her son”.

But there’s even more than that on “Around Félicité”. For this soundtrack mixes Kasai Allstars’ energy with the stoical music of acclaimed Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, whose three works are performed here by the Kinshasa Symphonic Orchestra.

Sounds confusing? Well if you get a bit dizzy during the first listen, it will only encourage you to push play once again.

Stream “Around Félicité” on Bandcamp.

*

Kasai Allstars on Facebook.

Recent music from Congo