BanningsviNe

Flammé Kapaya will be a new name to many. But he spent a decade backing the Congolese singer Werrason in the band Wenge Maison Mère, who played ndombolo (a rumba-like Congolese dance music), when Kapaya established himself as one of the finest electric guitar players in Africa. These days he divides his time between Paris and Kinshasa and his solo debut is an extraordinary record. It opens with ‘Lia Mbongo, Tika Moto!’, a squalling storm of rowdy, rambunctious electric guitar effects and a fat, jittery blues beat – it brings to mind Jimi Hendrix jamming with an African version of the Kings of Leon. With Kapaya wailing like a man possessed, it’s a thrilling introduction, although it will leave the more faint¬hearted wondering if they can take an entire album of Congolese heavy metal. Fortunately, Kapaya is not so one¬dimensional. Inspired by his first visit to the hilly region of Banningsville (known as Bandundu since independence) and where his grandfather was a tribal chief, he explores the region’s traditional dance rhythms and re-imagines them through the sensibilities of someone who grew up loving rock’n’roll, combining traditional instruments such as the puita drum with his incendiary guitar playing. He’s also a fine, soulful singer and the two a capella interludes ‘Banningsville 1’ and ‘Banningsville 2, are as thrilling in a different way as his outrageous guitar pyrotechnics. He tips his hat to Franco on the rumba tune ‘Zouzou’ and, having begun the album with a storm of heavy metal guitars, he ends with a haunting rock ballad, ‘Misericorde. Visionary, in its way.