Mbongwana Star’s “Malukayi” Debuts

MBONGWANA STAR’S NEW ALBUM FROM KINSHASA STREAMS

OUT MAY 19 ON WORLD CIRCUIT

LATEST VIDEO FOR “MALUKAYI (FT. KONONO NO. 1)” NOW STREAMING

ON TOUR IN EUROPE, U.S. DATES COMING SOON

Noisey premieres newly formed Congolese seven-piece band Mbongwana Star’s debut full-length album, From Kinshasa—out May 19 on World Circuit and distributed in North America by Nonesuch Records—calling it “eclectically awesome” and praising its “gleeful mish-mash of genres,” and referring to the band as “the Congolese septet who stitch together bombastic African rhythms with lithe guitars and sinuous basslines to make your body bang.” Listen to the album in its entirety HERE. The album is also available for pre-order on iTunes and at nonesuch.com with an instant download of the debut single, “Malukayi (feat. Konono No.1).” Check out the video for the track, which underground music site Boiler Room praises for its “…eerie postpunk-sounding guitar work, and an altogether unique vibe” on YouTube here. The band is on tour now in Europe—see below for full tour itinerary.

Mbongwana Star hails from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo—a network of shantytowns and night shelters where founding members Coco Ngambali and Theo Nzonza (of Staff Benda Bilili fame) pulled together members of a new generation of Kinshasa musicians embodying the concept of “mbongwana,” or “change.” Along with maverick Parisian producer Doctor L (Tony Allen, Stomy Bugsy), the band has created a sound that embodies the “smashed-together” nature of the surroundings from which it was born—a sound that fuses traditional Congolese rhythms with European post-punk bass and busted electronics from recycled and reconstructed instruments miked and distorted in unexpected ways.

Of the recording sessions Doctor L (who also mixed, produced and played on the album) notes, “It’s all recorded in the red. Sometimes I over-boost mikes that are recording nothing, just to pick up the environment. Can you hear it? There are three TVs going full blast. Distortion multiplies the energy.”

Executive producer and management: Mukalo Production – Michel Winter www.mukaloprod.com

Booking: Yorrick Benoist @ Run Productions – run@runprod.com

FROM KINSHASA TRACK LIST

1. From Kinshasa to the Moon

2. Shégué

3. Nganshé

4. Masobélé

5. Coco Blues

6. Malukayi feat. Konono No.1

7. Suzanna

8. Kimpala Pala

9. Kala