Kiala Nzavontunga ()

Kiala Nzavotunga; afrobeat legend and former guitar player of Fela Kuti’s band Egypt 80 will join Afrogrooves houseband! Kiala Nzavotunga grew up in the Congolese capital Kinshasha, where he followed his father’s example becoming a musician at a young age, playing the guitar and likembé. After playing in various bands around Kinshasa, he decided to go to Nigeria, where he met Fela Kuti and joined his afrobeat band Egypt 80. After countless gigs, he went to Paris and started the band Ghettoblaster, Europe’s first Afrobeat band. Revolutionary not only for their style, virtually unknown in Europe at that time, but also their mix of black and white musicians. They toured all over Europe and the US, supporting James Brown, Kassav, Albert King, Maceo Parker and Kool and The Gang, among many others along the way. More adventures waited ahead and he later recorded his first solo album. Kiala insists that songs should have something to say about the world we live in and they should say it loud! “Being an African, like it or not, you have to have it politically, ideologically inside. That’s afrobeat. It’s like reggae: reggae is time to preach. Not in a bad way, but about the things you see.”