Jupiter & Okwess @ Harlow’s

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When
Thu, October 18 2018
Where
Harlow’s Restaurant and Nightclub
2708 J Street
Time
8:00 pm - 11:30 pm
Admission
$20
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Description

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Official website: Jupiter & Okwess, Jack Moves
Facebook: Jupiter & Okwess

Jupiter Bokondji was born in Kinshasa 48 years ago, into a family of griots from the Mongo region. His grandmother, a reknowned healer, introduced him to traditional rhythm and music including the famous Zebola from Ekonda (Mongo région of the equator), rythms that are said to cure the sick. From a young age, Jupiter played percussion instruments and acommpanied his grandmother to funerals and weddings. However, it was in Germany East-Berlin, where he spent his adolescence, and where his father was appointed executive assistant for the Congos embassy in 1974, that he discovered Europe and it’s vibrant music scene – the Stones, Deep Purple, James Brown etc. Here, he set up his own rock band called ‘’Der Neger’’ with fellow young Berliners; their sound was a strange cocktail of Mongo percussions and guitar Zeppelin-esque guitar. The band was successful in all the shady clubs in town. But, his father’s mandate ended.

When he was 20, Jupiter went back in the eighties bubbling Kinshasa head full of dreams, glory and sounds unimaginable to most of his friends. He left the family home, earning a living singing at funerals and playing percussion in several local orchestras. With his earnings he travelled the Congo, searching for new sounds. These travels reinforced his feeling that all the music he heard in Europe originated from the 450 ethnic groups that made up his country, and that the tribalism that tore his country apart politically, could in fact become a unifying force. He continued to develop his own unique style, surrounding himself with trendy musicians connected to from Europe. His idea was to reactivate the forgotten rhythms and melodies of Congo, by injecting the urban groove of Kinhasa. He called this explosive mix ‘’ Bofenia Rock’ and in 1983, succeeded in forming his first orchestra, Bongofolk, who became his musical experiment. In 1990, he created Okwess International, a group which contained within it avant-garde artists such as Jean Goubald. This group travelled Africa, and was selected to represent Zaire in 1999 at MASA (Market of African Performing Arts). Just at the point where their luck seemed to be finally turning, the country fell into chaos due to civil war.

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