Jupiter Bokondji, an iconic figure from Kinshasa nicknamed the ‘Rebel General’, offers the world a unique sound where Congolese roots blend with rock, funk and soul influences.
With his group Jupiter & Okwess, he unleashes an explosive energy, drawing on the musical richness of his country while forging links between Africa and the world.
After winning over international audiences with Hotel Univers, Kin Sonic and Na Kozonga, here is their fourth album, Ekoya (‘It will come’). In this opus, Jupiter invites us to reflect: what does this ‘ça viendra’ mean? Is it a premonition of an inevitable fate, or a certain fatalism?
fatalism? By welcoming female voices into its all-male band - women who are also rebels - Jupiter upsets expectations. Was it a conscious choice or a twist of fate?Perhaps a bit of both.
The album opens with the crowing of a rooster, followed by the haunting voice of Soyi, a Mongo singer discovered in Florent de la Tullaye's documentary Pygmées Blues. With a few words in Lingala, she denounces the ravages of deforestation and the suffering of the indigenous peoples, who are abandoned in the midst of general indifference. Then Mare Advertencia takes the floor to amplify the voices of the women of Chiapas, followed by Flavia Coelho, a friend of the group, who reminds us of the importance of sincere relationships and invites us to reflect on the circulation of money in Africa as in Brazil.
In Ekoya, Jupiter tells us that "lightning comes with the wind", that "pride goes before ruin" and finally that "he who laughs last laughs hardest"... These are just some of the images he likes to use to make us think.In Congo Blinders, he discusses the country's unity and internal problems, while Orgullo gives us a lesson in humility: "The rich man refuses the company of the poor; the intelligent man just wants to be listened to; the handsome man wants to be noticed; and the strong man wants to be feared.
The grandson of a famous healer from the Ekonga ethnic group, Jean-Pierre Bokondji aka Jupiter is the inventor of Bofenia rock, systematically swimming against the tide of musical fashions and and general self-righteousness.After spending his childhood in Berlin, he returned to the DRC in the 80s, where he played percussion and set about collecting the music of his homeland.and set about collecting the sounds of the country's 450 or so co-existing ethnic groups. With his orchestra Okwess International, he has put an end to the simplistic notion that the DRC is exclusively a country of wars and dictatorial presidents. Jupiter & Okwess International is a major group on the African music scene, as demonstrated by their collaboration with Damon Albarn (Gorillaz) on the 2011 album Kinshasa One Two.
