“I’m an African woman in charge of how I express myself” | Juanita Euka

You will likely already know Juanita Euka if you’re a fan of London’s live music scene – specifically its vibrant Afro-Latin-funk-jazz-and-more component. A charismatic dynamo with a big, rich voice and fluid dance moves to die for, the 20-something has fronted a clutch of acclaimed outfits over the past decade: the fiery nine-piece London Afrobeat Collective; genre-smashing powerhouse, Animanz; and Wara, that maverick Cuba-loving juggernaut featuring Euka’s besties, MC Fedzilla and keyboardist and composer Eliane Correa, who also has Euka fronting her Latin big band, La Evolución. 

That Euka happens to be the niece of the late Congolese rumba king Franco – guitarist and leader of OK Jazz fame – goes part way toward explaining her dazzling star quality. “Franco played at my parents’ wedding,” she says. “And though he died when I was young, his music and presence has always informed my life. I’ve always known that saying people had about his shows: ‘Go in OK, come out KO-ed’.”

Now comes her long-awaited debut, Mabanzo (Thoughts), a hugely accomplished work variously drawing on her Congolese heritage and Latin upbringing – the daughter of a Congolese diplomat, she left what was then an increasingly unstable Zaire as a baby, and lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina until moving to the UK aged 14 – along with sounds from London’s melting pot. “I call it pop, African soul and Afro-Latin with contemporary Congolese influences,” she smiles. “It’s an album that reflects my unique journey. I’ve not been in a hurry to make a record, as I’ve wanted to expand my craft as a songwriter. But then ‘Alma Seca’ took off…”

Euka not only wrote and sang ‘Alma Seca’ (Dry Soul) – a timeless song about life after heartbreak, which borrows from Afro-Cuban trova and Argentinian tango (“I’m inspired by people like Trio Matamoros from Santiago de Cuba, and the French-Argentinean tango singer Carlos Gardel”) – she also performed it live in series three of the TV blockbuster Killing Eve with musicians including her good friend, Venezuelan-born drummer Lya Guerrero. The subsequent attention was instant, and overwhelmingly positive. She began fine-tuning songs she had written over time with producer Greg Sanders, a guitarist in soul-jazz ensemble Teotima – and one of several salient mentors, including David Mortara from Afro-Peruvian group Malambo, in which Euka sang in Spanish while studying at Wac Arts College in Hampstead.

“I’ve been developing this solo project over many years, getting out, singing the songs and allowing them to grow,” she says. These tracks include the horn-heavy ‘Mboka Moko’, ‘Sueños de Libertad’, an impassioned call for freedom, and dancefloor banger ‘Nalingi Mobali Te’ (I Don’t Want a Man), Euka’s paean to late Congolese diva M’Pongo Love: “She was a feminist in the male-dominated soukous genre, expressing the struggles many Congolese women have to endure. She actively criticised polygamy, for example. She let her sisters feel heard.”

“It was refreshing to create a song with feminist themes,” she continues. “I’m an African woman in charge of how I express myself. I’m continuing the conversation of women’s liberation, especially black women.” Another smile. “And I am also having fun.”   

Read the review of Mabanzo in the Songlines Reviews Database

This feature originally appeared in the May 2022 issue of Songlines magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today​