Jocelyn Balu’s debut album is one of a Congolese artist stepping into a lineage and making it breathe again. Rooted in the rumba of the ’40s to ’70s, Borumba follows the music’s Atlantic circle, from Kongo traditions and forced exile to Cuba and back. But the nine tracks never treat heritage as museum glass. They are warm, alert, political and gloriously alive, with every arrangement revealing fresh rhythmic depth, historical purpose, memory, grace and delight.
Balu’s golden, gospel-trained voice is the album’s centre of gravity, opening with a solemn a cappella on ‘Mobembo’ before it unfurls its elegant guitars, elastic bass and dancing percussion from a band assembled in southern France. The title-track states the mission with irresistible grace.