My immediate response, when listening to this record for the first time, was “oh, this is fun stuff!”. There are many tributaries in confluence here, with influences as varied as Rhumba, various forms of Classical music, Jazz, a certain ECM Records/Third Stream aesthetic, and of course Congolese music combining into an organic and many-sided whole. While Niwel Tsumbu’s music can sparkle with impressive intellectual and technical prowess, it is at once music with much honestly and at times raw emotional content, moving seamlessly though moments of joy and introspection.
Born in the Congo and long-time asset of the Irish music community, Tsumbu will be familiar to many listeners of Jazz and Jazz-adjacent music. For many decades he has been performing with some of the best musicians on the island and abroad; Sinead O’Connor in Ireland for one, and Buena Vista Social Club abroad for another. Not content with triumph in the real world, he has also mastered the not-so-real world of the internet, becoming quite a success on Instagram with hundreds of thousands of people viewing his educational content. Currently, he can be caught in the act performing with Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, touring pretty much everywhere on Earth.
Credits
All compositions by Niwel Tsumbu
except Masta (trad. arr. Niwel Tsumbu)
Recorded 17–18th July 2023
by Dom Shaw at Realworld Studios
Mixed by Jerry Boys
Mastered by Christoph Stickel
Produced by Nick Roth for Diatribe Records, Dublin
Photograph by Mattie Hurrel O’Connor
Design by Max Franosch
Supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon
