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Saturday, Feb 27 2021, 7AM
Jupiter & Okwess’ KEXP session was recorded under threat of loss of electricity at any moment, in Kinshasa at an orphanage, as part of the No Child Sleeps Outside campaign. Their latest album Na Kozonga (which means “I Will Come Back”) is available on Everloving Records.
Kinshasa native Jupiter Bokondji is evidence of the rich talent coming from the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His project Jupiter & Okwess fuses traditional Congolese music styles like soukous, rumba, and kwassa kwassa with more universal ones like rock, funk, and blues for something completely unique and yet wholly universal.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” So Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet. Or to put it another way — the ocean is big. For this week’s Live on KEXP, Troy Nelson compares the vast mysteries of the ocean with the immense magic of the massive city of Kinshasa, which is the second-largest city in Africa and boasts more people than LA.
The phrase "Na Kozonga" translate to "the return" in the Congolese language of Lingala, and that's what Jupiter & Okwess was looking forward to after the 180-date worldwide tour promoting their 2017 album Kin Sonic: returning home. The song is dedicated to bandleader Jupiter Bokondji's father, who passed away recently, and the accompanying music video, filmed in his hometown of Kinshasa, shows the musician boarding a plane to return to his family in Africa, with a "metaphysical" detour.
www.jupiterandokwess.com