FREDY MASSAMBA

FREDY MASSAMBA

Fredy Massamba is well-known as a founding member and choreographer of the celebrated Tambours de Brazza however, as a solo artist, this 2012 Kora Awards winner has been dubbed the “Afro-soul voice of the Congo” (Radio-France, 2024). His talent is widely recognized by other greats, and his has collaborated with the likes of Manu Dibango, Salif Keïta, Mory Kanté, Ray Lema, Didier Awadi, Tiken Jah Fakoly and Zap Mama. There are few who could match that. And Djeli Tapa, sublime Montreal-based griot originally from Mali, appears on his third album, Transcestral (2023). An extremely gifted singer-songwriter, Massamba revisits the Kingdom of Kongo’s ancestral repertoire and polyrhythmic chants from the equatorial forests, and incorporates lively Afro-soul rhythms, hip-hop, jazz and Congolese rumba.