Papa Noel & Bana Congo

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Papa Noel & Bana Congo

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The Musical Black Coffee of Cuba and Congo: Papa Noel’s Café Noir Crosses the Ocean with Pan-African Congo Rumba

Legendary Congolese guitarist, Papa Noel is set to bring his Afro-Cuban rhythms, spiraling guitars and furious dance beats to The Drum on Sat 23 Jun, 7.30PM.

Noel is one of the greats of African music and a guitarist of exceptional talent. Throughout his fifty year career Papa Noel has played with some of the best Congolese Rumba bands and collaborated with a host of world music stars, including Papi Oviedo with whom he produced the smash hit Bana Congo and appeared with Peter Gabriel. He has also released classic Rumba albums such as Nono and Mosala Makasi and received a MOBO nomination for Best World Music Act.

‘Cafe Noir’ is the long-awaited new album from Papa Noel, following his hugely successful ‘Bana Congo’ CD with Papa Oviedo in 2002. On this new album he is joined by guest artists including the living legend, Manu Dibango, as well as – Rey Crespo, Abby Surya, Coto, Sultan, Palma-Ernesto Reyes, Tomas Akuru, Estela-Liv Makasso and Adam Pedrosa.

Papa Noel is renowned for his electric live performances, previous tours have wowed critics and audiences’ worldwide. On the current tour Papa Noel will be bringing his 11 piece band together for what promises to be a spectacular series of shows.

“A profoundly moving experience” The Times

This legendary talent will be showcasing tracks from the best selling album Café Noir. for a night of Rumba-Congo. Tickets on sale now – £9, (£7), £12 on the door from The Drum Box Office on 0121 333 2444 or book online at www.the-drum.org.uk.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Sati Parmar on 0121 333 2404 – s.parmar@the-drum.org.uk

Notes to Editors:

There are centuries-old ties that bind the Congo and Cuba, dance steps that swayed from central Africa to the Caribbean and back again. The story of Congolese guitarist Papa Noel and his latest African-Cuban collaboration, Café Noir (Tumi Music), is the latest word in a long and fruitful cultural conversation spanning the Atlantic.

“Bana Congo is a mission for Papa Noel,” explains Tumi Music producer Mo Fini. “I recall when I took him to Cuba for the first time some seven years ago. As he walked the streets of Havana he cried and cried, saying that when he was young his mother used to play Cuban songs to him, and this was like coming home again.”

In the 1930s, Cuban sounds took the Belgian Congo by storm. The rhythms of the rumba, originating in a Congolese dance brought by slaves to the island long before, were delightfully, eerily familiar to Congolese musicians and dancers. Imported records inspired a new generation of musicians to explore the Cuban transformation of their ancestors’ songs, creating what became known as rumba congo, a musical form that hit a nerve throughout Africa.

At first, bands played tunes they learned from Cuban recordings, sometimes inventing Spanish-sounding lyrics, but soon they crafted their own original songs with words in the local language of Lingala or in French. Against the backdrop of colonialism and dictatorship, their music assumed a truly African flair and started a musical craze that soon spread across the Congo and beyond.