Montparnasse Musique: “With music, we have this chance to speak without words”

By now, we are all frustratingly familiar with the tedium of online meetings, our focus consistently challenged by the ambient sounds of traffic and children playing, and the nagging temptation to have a quick peek on Twitter. An endless stream of Zoom calls all merge into one, without a distinctive takeaway in sight. I have conducted a number of online interviews over the past few years, and while they are admittedly more interesting than a Monday morning ‘admin catch-up,’ they haven’t felt quite right. The capacity for spontaneous conversation becomes stilted as time pressures and extraneous factors seep in.

That said, it takes approximately 15 seconds for these worries to completely dissipate once I sit down with Algerian-French producer Nadjib Ben Bella and South African DJ Aero Manyelo to discuss their excellent new project Montparnasse Musique. Rather than muted answers amid a chorus of blurred backgrounds, I am treated to the resplendent glory of Ben Bella’s studio space in Paris, adorned with artwork, synthesizers and some very familiar-looking speakers. I simply have to ask. “Oh, those?” says Ben Bella. “They’re the Konono No 1 speakers. The originals. Michel [Winter, Konono No 1’s manager] was here a few days ago, so he brought me these.” Although his reply is seemingly nonchalant, I can tell by the glint in his eye that he is abundantly aware of their historical significance. I can’t help but be enamoured by his excitement.

Montparnasse Musique: Aero Manyelo (left) and Nadjib Ben Bella (right)

Both are passionate fans of Congolese music, to the point of obsession. While each artist is established in their own right – Manyelo operates at the forefront of the underground electronic scene in Johannesburg, pushing the sounds of kwaito, techno and the insatiable sounds of gqom; Ben Bella has worked with everyone from Africa Express to Les Amazones d’Afrique – their love for the sounds of Kinshasa was unknown to each other for many years, despite their international standing. This all changed with a chance encounter on the Paris Métro at Montparnasse-Bienvenüe. “We were around the piano, but we didn’t know each other,” says Manyelo. “A lot of stations in France have a piano, and there was something wrong with my train. So, we started talking at the piano, and that’s when we exchanged contacts after he told me what he does.” Ben Bella adds, “we were complete strangers, but we both shared a love for Congolese music and Congolese culture. Manyelo used to listen to soukous when he was a kid, and for me it was the same. I was collecting soukous. We had a love for music in common.”

Considering that nearly 30 million people travel through Montparnasse-Bienvenüe each year, this unlikely meeting of musical minds seemed pre-destined. The duo formed an immediate connection and while the nature of their collaboration was still up in the air, Manyelo knew that he simply had to “come by Nadjib’s place” to see what they could cook up.

These early sessions proved formative; the duo’s embryonic explorations were soon expanded by an extended family of collaborators from Kinshasa and further afield. Their self-titled debut EP, released last year, included collaborations with members of Konono No 1, Mbongwana Star and Kasai Allstars. Its five tracks of bass-heavy, guitar-driven grooves offered an indication of what was to come.

Largely thanks to Manyelo’s existing relationship with the percussionist Cubain Kabeya, developed in his time working with South African rapper Spoek Mathambo, this team continued to grow and grow. “It’s a small world,” says Ben Bella. “Cubain… is from Kinshasa, he knows [and has played with] Staff Benda [Bilili] members, and introduced us to Michel Winter, the manager of a number of Congolese bands.”

Bringing these figures together, while united under a common goal, had its challenges. Ben Bella is a self-confessed synth addict and a trusty pair of hands when working with live instrumentation. Manyelo’s embeddedness in the dance music scene means that a lot of his production work comes from solo excursions and the reworking of source material. These differences are magnified by the predilections of their collaborators. The deep spiritual connections many of these groups have to their craft mean that their process had to be respected. “It’s a question of vibe,” says Ben Bella. “We have to be flexible with our method. Sometimes we come up with an idea, we record only the voices, then the guitar. But we adapt to the band, which is very interesting because it’s so psychological. With Konono, it’s hard to take a few elements out as they are used to playing together. We have to record them at the same time. If you ask only one member to perform on a track, it’s going to be different. Konono’s spirit is not going to be there anymore.” This acknowledgement of vibe and communion speaks to the underlying principle of the duo’s aesthetic. Their chance meeting on the Paris Métro has set off a geographical tracing of music across the African continent, with the DRC as its centre. “The main concept of the project Montparnasse Musique is pan-Africanism,” says Ben Bella. “We are bringing English and French-speaking Africa together. With music, we have this chance to speak without words.”

Montparnasse Musique (photo: Eric Beckman)

The duo are compellingly articulate and reflective on practice from different corners of the continent, which can be so disparate on the surface, but reveal hidden resonances if you dig deeper. This is particularly the case when it comes to spirituality. Ben Bella’s work with Algeria’s Gnawa brotherhoods and Grenoble-based Gnawa Diffusion evokes rich history through song. Manyelo’s collaborations with Spoek Mathambo have taken him to Mozambique to explore traditional dance and practice. Their track ‘Daniel’, from the 2016 EP of the same name, draws upon Nyau and mapiko dance styles in a stunning video shot in the Namaacha District of Southern Mozambique.

These deep ancestral threads are drawn together on the duo’s first full-length record, Archeology. The rich and varied work draws upon their now-familiar Congolese collaborators for a venture that offers a considered, yet musically-scintillating, excavation. “This record is about our origins and our ancestors. [The practice from] Congo is very mystic, and joining together with Kasai Allstars was very spiritual,” says Ben Bella. “It is important history that we have to cultivate, and we are the witnesses of that. This is the chance to give this culture a tribute. It is almost sociology and human experience before the music.”

Across its dozen tracks, the album reinvents and revitalises a wealth of source material in ways that are sensitive to tradition, while feeling as present as ever. The track ‘Malele’ feels foundational, but it is profoundly in touch with the dance floors of Johannesburg. Manyelo explains how this track was fundamentally about the likembe, a thumb piano common across Central and Eastern Africa. “I could hear the likembe playing this pattern and realised the direction I have to take here is four-to-the-floor so we can have some good vibes on it.” The vocals, from Menga Waku of Konono No 1, are afforded space to soar above these dense and propulsive textures, adding colour that is augmented by whistles, carnivalesque horns and an insatiable feel-good energy.

“It’s the first time that I worked with someone who [focuses] on really dense electronic and techno music,” says Ben Bella. “[But] Manyelo is a real musician and he understands the sentiment of a track like an instrumentalist. Someone who says electronic music is only about machines is mistaken.”

This energy is also apparent on ‘Makonda’, with a ferocious bassline and a star turn from Kasai Allstars’ Muambuyi. But this energy is always tempered with an understanding of heritage. Manyelo is quick to correct me when I mention the influence of the vibrant South African house scene on this record, and how it might have suggested a formula for the songs to ensure they do well in clubs. “No, no. The moment you start writing something and start thinking of where it might work, that brings some limitations to your production. Sometimes we’ll start working on a song and it’ll end up being this club banger. Sometimes it won’t.” Ben Bella agrees. “If every track is 125 beats per minute, it can be boring. It’s an exchange”.

The broad scope of this project, and its connectedness to both contemporary dance and historic practice, is perhaps best captured in the striking visual representation across the record’s accompanying videos. Montparnasse Musique have been working closely with cinematographer Renaud Barret, (Jupiter’s Dance and Benda Bilili) noting the importance of matching the music’s message to its visual realisation. Ben Bella, who has known Barret for some time and is at ease walking the streets of Paris with him, discussing ideas, spoke of Kinshasa’s importance as both the project’s spiritual home and an inspiration for the album’s energy, owing to its vibrant cityscape. The video for ‘Bonjour’ marries everyday scenes in a bustling marketplace with dance as an articulation of collective joy. People are seen to gather, share and elate in each other’s presence, evoking community through song. Above all, it’s this shared sense of joy and simply being together that shines across Archeology.

When I ask the pair what they’d like to do next, they excitedly speak about the live show that they have been putting together. Again, Ben Bella rises to his feet to show me something cool. This time, it’s a super-sized, homemade likembe that can be attached to an amplifier to ring out on stage. The duo is keen to recreate the family feel garnered across the record, and it seems as important as ever after a deeply atomised few years for so many. Indeed, this promise of physical communion has resulted in meticulous planning and an exciting live set up, featuring Cubain Kabeya, that’s ready to hit the road. “He’s got some masks, some really crazy masks!” says Ben Bella.

Before I let them get back to tinkering in the studio, I ask Manyelo and Ben Bella their favourite track off the album. They both laugh. “It’s hard to choose, because we had so many good memories with this project,” says Ben Bella. With a wry smile, Manyelo accurately summarises the amount of love and dedication that went into the process: “you know, you can’t compare your babies. We made this from the bottom of our hearts.”

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2023 issue of Songlines magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today