TITI BAKORTA^CD

With his 2023 album Molende, Congolese multi-instrumentalist Titi Bakorta is an exciting new name on the experimental African music scene.

Behind the eccentric rhythms, psychedelic guitar loops and labyrinthine pop melodies that characterize the album lies a musical original with a dramatic story. On a trip to Uganda, he almost drowned in the Congo River. He was rescued by a friend who brought him to the city of Kisangani, where he befriended singer Dancer Papalas, with whom he subsequently formed a band.

Now based in Kampala, Titi Bakorta has become part of the influential label and collective Nyege Nyege, which has also released Molende. It's an album that has its own unique tone and manages to combine Congolese pop and folk music with inventive sound experiments, fuzzy guitar sounds and traditional instruments.

Vocally, Bakorta also creates his own universe where folk musical phrases meet heavy autotune, and where his voice moves from deep baritone to heavenly falsetto. It's at once dramatic, alluring and completely original, and we look forward to being let into Bakorta's wondrous world at Roskilde.