BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - October 2019

KOKOKO!
CONGOLESE COLLECTIVE'S RAW PARTY SOUND FLIES IN THE FACE OF EVERYTHING
YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ABOUT AFRICAN MUSIC
By DANIEL WILSON
W
hen most Western audiences
think of music from Africa,
two artists usually come to
mind: Nigerian rebel Afrobeat
singer and composer Fela
Kuti, and Ghanaian Juju guitarist King
Sunny Ade. While these artists are easily
among the most recognizable (and iconic)
artists to emerge from Africa, they represent
only a small fraction of the musical
landscape in the world’s second largest
continent.
From villages in Niger to metropolitan
urban sprawls like Nairobi and Lagos, an
entire generation of artists have sprung up
to create cross-genre music that refuses
to be bogged down by convention. And
by forfeiting the established rules of what
audiences expect from African musicians,
they’re developing alternative music
influenced by the continent’s sprawling
geography and distinct cultures.
KOKOKO! is a part of this new wave of
“African Alternative.” Since the group’s
inception in 2016, the Congolese band has
garnered international attention and acclaim
for crafting off-kilter soundscapes,
and for their unparalleled live performances.
Known for their signature yellow
jumpsuits, over the phone from Spain
that the band’s “electronicist” and “metal”
percussionist Xavier Thomas described,
the outfits as “a way to stand out in the
busyness of Kinshasa.”
Their sound is an elaborate fusion of
electronic dance, post-punk, rap, and
traditional Congolese musical genres,
and the band has used Lingala (one of
the many languages spoken in the Congo
Region) terms like “tekno kintueni” and
“xx” to describe their style. A defining
trait of the band’s music is the way they
play with form - to construct a wholly
unique soundscape. KOKOKO! play on
unorthodox DIY instruments made from
everything from bits of sheet metal, plastic
detergent bottles, and most famously, a
one-stringed guitar.
“It has been challenging at times convincing
customs officers and officials at
airports that we are just carrying instruments
and nothing dangerous,” he laughs.
Figuring out how to move between
space has been a core element of the
band since their beginning. While a majority
of the group resides permanently
in The Democratic Republic of Congo,
Thomas splits his time between Kinshasa
and Europe.
“It was difficult when we first started
playing together because of technological
barriers to communication,” he
explained. “Eventually things settled into a
rhythm. We now send each other ideas via
WhatsApp or share ideas with each other
while touring that we will then flesh out
when we get back to Kinshasa.”
As a proudly international band, Canada
is an exciting and important tour stop for
them. “The Congolese community is very
strong in Montreal and Toronto and they
have been asking us for a while when we
are going to play in those cities,” Thomas
says. While they’re in North America,
KOKOKO! hope they can meet another
famous Congolian—Serge Ibaka, the superstar
defender on the Toronto Raptors.
“I mean, if any of your readers know him,’’
Thomas said laughing, “Maybe they could
pass it along.” ,