He does not go unnoticed for many reasons. He is a tower that rises above everything. Furthermore, he is a skinny giant of about six feet and ten inches (2 meters tall) that unfolds and wiggles with sharp flexibility when he dances. There’s no way he cannot be seen.
It is Jupiter Bokondji, singer and leader of Jupiter & Okwess, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who was one of the bright spots on the first day of the Festival Med 2022, in Loulé, Portugal.
After midnight, on the Chafariz Stage, two guitar players, bass, drums, and this upright being so tall that it seemed to touch the sky started to perform and took over the audience. His musical approach navigates the Afropop waters with craftsmanship.
The Congolese band took hold of those exhilarating African musical genres that range from soukous to Haitian Rara rhythms, among many others.
This interaction with the public occurs immediately and is also woven with the help of the electric guitar that triggers psychedelic contortions. And that audience did not sit idly by, they got on to the stage with the song “Muba” and danced to ecstasy. The drummer also plays a bigger role in the band. He sings and is the engine of an unstoppable locomotive of rhythmic pulses when Jupiter moves to the side to play percussion.
Likewise, the magic by this band is magnified when Bokondji, the tower with long arms and legs, takes the microphone and sings in French, English or Lingala. The skinny guy is charismatic, he moves his body in a sensual way that even Mick Jagger would celebrate.
In a duet with Ana Tijoux from the album “Na Kozonga” the Chilean singer refers to the band and says: from the Congo to the world. It is a reminder that the artist deserves attention.
And it is clear that if the world does not know or has not heard of the presence of Jupiter & Okwess, that world is missing out on a whole dose of energy and jubilation. Because Jupiter Bokondji and Okwess deserve a larger space in the hearts of music lovers beyond the capricious label of the so-called “world music“.
Jupiter and his band Okwess are larger than life.
More about Festival MED: festivalmed.pt/en/
(headline image: Jupiter & Okwess – Photo by Micky Clement)
Author: Rafael Mieses
