Friday, May 6, 2011

Kibwe - Casamance (1988)

Kibwe is an enigma. His debut album Casamance has a reggae-tinged title track that brings to mind Toure Kunda, and some people assumed that Kibwe was from Senegal. The reality is that he originates from Congo. Yet although the album was produced by soukous legend Lokassa Ya Mbongo, and lead guitar is taken by the wonderful Dally Kimoko, it is a Pan-African gumbo of music that reflects Kibwe's unique musical vision. There are Congolese threads, but Kibwe weaves in zouk, and several other international flavors to create one of the most interesting Afro-pop releases of 1988. The opening cut, La Nuit de Noces, is classic, a must for any dance floor.

Kibwe's musical peregrinations apparently led to wanderings that landed him in Canada. Search for other CDs he released through Kibwe Productions, Black Mormon, Dictatoria and Listen To Me, and all the links to the source are dead. There's a blog placeholder that indicates he is involved in a mind-boggling mix of commerce in Kibwe Enterprises, in addition to music, and another for a clothing company; in fact there is a plethora of blogs with no firm leads. On Facebook you can learn that he is running for the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Enigmatic.

I offer this album both as an old favorite and as a catalyst to find access to Kibwe's more recent recordings. Where can we get them??

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey! Sounds pretty interesting, but the dld doesn't start, and I've dlded a few other things from mediafire today, so maybe there's something wrong with the link? Thanks. - CALUMBINHO

Rhythm Connection said...

Hello Columbinho,

I checked the link and it worked for me. Enjoy it!

Robert

Anonymous said...

I know this guy personally, he will be going back to France soon. The Congo presidency thing seems to have dried up some time ago. I think he is on a bit of a hiatus right now to care for his family. Really great humble guy. I had no idea until recently he had at one time made it big in France, and so long ago. I had thought he was much younger than this.

David said...

What an enjoyable album! As you say lots of influences in those songs, but he's made something quite special out of it all! Thanks for the chance to make his acquaintance - though it looks like it might be difficult to follow up by finding anything else.... :-)