Did you know that Canadians and Congolese love music and are collaborating to make great stuff?
If not, please check out this group Moonshine.mu and DJ P2n (Instagram pages) and read the interview : https://www.magazinesocan.ca/features/moonshine-la-lune-de-miel-continue/
Check out Felix Noe as well! The cook of Moonshine.mu (whatever that means!)
DJ P2N
They are even featured on a Boiler Room event (Instagram post). Check out the SoundCloud recording 😀
Mopao Mupu, DRC/Canada – Electro Kwaito House in Lingala
There are so many other talented Canadians and Congolese musicians, such as Mopao Mupu. Listen to her gem of a track Ningisa. Summer vibes all day here.
She also has a website!
There are so many more! I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.
French touch
A french DJ, Olympe4000, based in Kinshasa in 2020 also organised some electro events such as Makinteuf (Facebook page link) in Kinshasa worth repeating.
Read about it here :
“La Makinteuf c’est une soirée qu’on a monté en RDCongo avec mon pote Ludo (un ovni des réseaux sociaux je peux pas le tag il est que sur snapchat). C’est beaucoup d’organisation entre la logistique kafkaïenne pour jouer en dehors du centre ville, la préparation des sets et la communication au flyer… une aventure improbable dans laquelle je me suis embarquée
Merci à Ten Fingerz et Delighted de m’avoir proposé de partager et de mettre des mots si justes sur ces soirées qui n’ont pas fini de faire bouger Kin”
Sadly the link of the Delighted Blog article seems dead but try again later : https://delightedblog.com/olympe4000-makinteuf-decouvrez-kinshasa-lelectronique/
Check out her SoundCloud page:
Of course, these guys have followed in the footsteps of Kokoko, Konono number 1 and Mbongwana Star.
See their mind-bending videos below.
Of course, I can’t let you go without a Super Mazembe classic from 1978 🙂 but without any electro though.
This seems to be sampled in Vampire Weekend’s 2008 Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa!
Even Paul Simon sampled some African beats in his classic track : You Can Call Me Al. See this excerpt from Wikipedia.
“In the early 1980s, Simon’s relationship with his former musical partner Art Garfunkel had deteriorated, his marriage to actress Carrie Fisher had collapsed, and his previous record, Hearts and Bones (1983), had been a commercial failure. In 1984, after a period of depression, Simon became fascinated by a bootleg cassette of mbaqanga, South African street music. He and Halee visited Johannesburg, where they spent two weeks recording with South African musicians. Further recordings were held in the United States, with guest musicians including Linda Ronstadt, the Everly Brothers, Louisiana band Good Rockin’ Dopsie and the Twisters, and Mexican-American band Los Lobos.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graceland_(album)
See how similar it sounds to this:
Belgian touch, Nyny aka Makemba
There are also some DJs in Belgium, sampling and making great tracks as well as hosting radio shows. Have a listen to Jaille TV and Nyny Tumide and Force Alea.
Is today’s Congo-inspired electro just another twist on classic African tracks or is it something more?
Whatever it is, it sure is nice to hear, and great to see worldwide collaborations, in order to make original music inspired by giants of the past.
See you soon in the next post my friends!
Emilio in Congo (DRC) 
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