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Balka Sound

by Balka Sound

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A1. AH LUSIALALA
    A2. NI KUEL’KO
    A3. BIA SALA

    B1. BASI BAYELE
    B2. LEKOU
    B3. BUKUT’ BUA KINGUENGUI

    C1. HA TA BA BETU KU BULA
    C2. KU MAVULA
    C3. KIDILU

    D1. WA YIWOU
    D2. KA MU WILA KO
    D3. NIA NIA
    D4. KWELE

    Includes unlimited streaming of Balka Sound via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £25 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    1. AH LUSIALALA
    2. NI KUEL’KO
    3. BIA SALA
    4. BASI BAYELE
    5. LEKOU
    6. BUKUT’ BUA KINGUENGUI
    7. ZANDU DIA NGO
    8. HA TA BA BETU KU BULA
    9. KU MAVULA
    10. KIDULU
    11. WA YIWOU
    12. KA MU WILA KO
    13. NIA NIA
    14. KWELE
    15. MWAN KISANA

    Includes unlimited streaming of Balka Sound via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £12 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £11 GBP  or more

     

1.
Ah Lusialala 05:00
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Ku Mavula 04:41
10.
Kidilu 05:29
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about

Strut present the first ever compilation of Balka Sound, bringing together their influential 1980s recordings, Hailing from Congo-Brazzaville and led by revered vocalist and ngonfi player, Nkibi “Lusialala” Albert, Balka Sound created their own unique musical world, re-imagining traditional Congolese Balka rhythms with electric guitars, electric bass and drums, alongside the traditional 5-string ngonfi.

Nkibi Albert had risen to fame in 1972 with his solo hit ‘Ah Lusialala’ and Balka Sound was created to bring the sound of Balka, a folk style from the Beembe people, to modern life and an international audience. With its roots in slavery and colonialism rumba was dominating the music scene in Congo while the philosophy of Balka Sound was to find its inspiration directly in local country life, to associate the modern and the traditional and to revive folk traditions that were dying. Founder member Henri Nsika Nkaya explains, “it was intended to be an update, a unification and an internationalisation of Congolese cultures.”

In 1979, during a festival organised by the Centre Culturel Français, the band won a recording deal to release their first album: Le 1er son du Balka, Lusialala et ses amis, recorded in just one take. Their success led to a second LP, Tu Kine Balka, recorded in Kinshasa in 1982. A third album in 1984, Afro Musik Creation, featured a more modern studio production sound. Their songs drew from traditional folk tales and parables, life lessons and the damage caused by rural exodus to the cities. By 1985, Balka Sound were working full-time with residencies at Chez Tantine Clara in Brazzaville, a well-known tourist venue, and the Frantel Cosmos Hotel.

In 1991, political tensions were rising in the country; civil disobedience and threats of a military coup were followed by a civil war from 1993 to 1994. The band eventually regrouped and were invited to perform in 1996 at the Palais des Congrès for the Fête National. Unfortunately, on the first day of new fighting in 1997, Balka Sound’s studio was looted and the band were forced to finally disperse.

This first compilation of the band’s music is curated and annotated by Makila Nsika Nkaya in conjunction with Balka Sound and has been fully remastered by The Carvery.

credits

released November 11, 2022

2022, Strut Records - a division of K7 Music GmbH

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about

Strut London, UK

Strut is known as one of the leading labels worldwide for reissues, compilations and new studio albums in the field of African, Latin, and Caribbean music, soul, funk, jazz and disco.
Established 1999.

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