In the south-eastern part of the Congo, young local musicians are creating their own tradi-modern style of music, which they call Karindula, a word which also designates the main instrument they use - a giant banjo made out of an oil barrel, a goat skin,  four strings, and an empty bag of powdered milk. After introducing the now-famous electrified traditional music of Congolese capital Kinshasa, Congotronics producer Vincent Kenis travelled to the mining city of Lubumbashi to record and film four Karindula bands during a 3-day mini-festival. Their wild, raw and dynamic performances are documented on this +90 min DVD & audio CD.

See the INTRO TO THE FILM HERE

"THE KARINDULA SESSIONS" released at the end of FEBRUARY 2011

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Karindula music appeared in the '70s, in the copper mining area known as the Copperbelt. It is still unclear whether it was born in Lubumbashi, Congo, or in neighbouring country Zambia, where a similar style exists under the name of Kalindula. In both cases the music is eponymous to its main instrument, a giant banjo made out of an oil barrel, a goat skin and four strings, the buzzing tone being obtained by attaching an empty bag of powdered milk between the strings and the neck. Usually a virtuoso, the player sits on the instrument and often sings, accompanied by a second stringed instrument which looks like a miniature of the first one, plus drums - one of which might be the karindula hitself, hit with wooden sticks.

The Karindula style is heavily influenced by Bemba and Luba traditional music, with some hints of reggae. Karindula bands mainly perform at mourning ceremonies, and are feared for their sometimes very provocative and rebellious lyrics.

The four bands appearing on this audiovisual album are BBK, Bana Simba, Bena Ngoma and Bana Lupemba. They live in a popular suburb of Lubumbashi known as "Kenya". The festival was organized at the last minute and took place in the street, with no amplification whatsoever, in front of a crowd of excited children aged from 2 to 12, who often engaged in call-and-response exchanges with the bands. In these increasingly hard times, where adults turn to American-influenced gospel (which is quite the opposite of provocative…), the success of Karindula among the younger generation is very good news indeed.