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BALOJI

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Baloji

137 Avenue Kaniama

Bella Union

Bella Union warmly introduce us to their latest star signing, Belgian MC, producer and musician Baloji. His music stands at the crossroads of African music, traditional and afro-american music (soul, funk, jazz) discovered through the culture of sampling and electronic music (trance, deep house) which has its roots in part in the region of Belgium where Baloji grew up. Baloji means “man of science” in Swahili, but during the colonial period, that meaning shifted to “man of the occult sciences and sorcery”. By placing his resilience at the centre of his work, Baloji reconciles all these influences to enrich his projects. Baloji is a poet, composer-lyricist, scriptwriter, actor and performer, video artist and stylist, and '137 Avenue Kaniama' is his most complete release to date.

TRACK LISTING

1 Glossine (Zombie)
2 L'hiver Indien - Ghetto Mirador
3 Bipolaire - Les Noir
4 Ensemble (Wesh)
5 Spotlight
6 Soleil De Volt
7 Ciel D'encre
8 Peau De Chagrin - Bleu De Nuit
9 L'art De La Fugue - Le Vide
10 Passat & Bovary
11 La Derrière Pluie - Inconnu à Cette Adresse
12 Kongaulois
13 Tropisme - Start-up
14 Tanganyika

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Baloji

Kinshasa Succursale

Crammed Discs

Baloji, whose name means "sorcerer" in Swahili, was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1978. At the age of 4, he arrived in Belgium with his father and grew up in Liège. As a young adolescent, he discovered hip-hop, a passion for tagging, rap and dance. At 15 he joined the collective Starflam, a figurehead of Belgian hip-hop, who released a platinum selling disc 'Survivant'. Baloji quit the group in 2004 and turned his back on music. It was a letter from his mother, whom he had not seen since 1981, and winning a poetry competition in Paris, that pushed him back to persue the muse of music. His first solo recording, Hotel Impala (2008), as much of a responce to the letter of his mother as it a quest to find his identity, is coloured with influences of soul, Afro-beat, and hip-hop. The album won two Octaves de la music (a Belgian equivalant to the Grammys) as well as the Rapsat-Lelièvre Prize and the Brassens prize for lyric writing. Baloji comes to Crammed Discs with his latest opus 'Kinshasa Succursale'. The album features contributions from some of the finest musicians from the capital of the DRC, including Konono N°1 and Zaïko Langa-Langa, as well as three brand-new remixes.

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