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Born in Kinshasa, but spending his teens in Eastern Berlin and going back to Congo again when he was twenty, he has always been looking for new sounds. His aim was to combine the forgotten rhythms and melodies from Congo with the powerful city grooves of Kinshasa.
In 2007 a French documentary was released about him, Jupiter’s Dance, that got a lot of attention. He came back to Europe and worked together with Damon Albarn (Blur) in the Africa Express Project. Soon afterwards, Jupiter & Okwess were doing support slots with Blur. From England to Mexico via Japan, New Zealand and France, their explosive, high-energy shows leave a powerful trail of memories and they haven’t stopped zigzagging across the world at a dizzying rate since then.
Jupiter’s distinctive sound still is a mixture of Afropop, soukous, other Congolese rhythms, funk and rock which he calls Bofenia rock. On 31 January 2025 their latest album Ekoya was released on Airfono, which received great reviews, like:
“Production aside, the foundation of all the Jupiter & Okwess thrills on ‘Ekoya’ is the tight telepathy and effortless chemistry in the group. The meshing twin guitar of Eric Malu-Malu and Richard Kabanga plus the vitality of the Yende Balamba/Montana Kinunu rhythm section propel this band towards the extraordinary. Their prime jangling guitars, hot stepping rhythms, fizzing lead licks and full-blown vocals on Congo Blinders is the sound of complete musical refreshment. Ndanda sees them relishing rock riffs Witch style while on Eyabidile the band readily merge the hip rolling surge and tumbling tom toms of samba with a dizzy bundle of soukous fretwork.” – John Parry, Backseat Mafia
“Ekoya is both a continuation and evolution of Jupiter & Okwess’ distinctive sound. Their characteristic amalgamation of gritty Kinshasa funk-rock remains intact, enriched here by stimulating Latin rhythms and high-spirited soukous influences.” – Sonia Keller, World Music Central
