Les Tambours de Brazza

Under the direction of Emile Biayenda

The Band

Created in 1991 by the drummer and songwriter Emile Biayenda, the Congolese band “Les Tambours de Brazza” blend tradition and modernity, playing Ngoma drums alongside drum sets, bass, guitars and other modern instruments.
These ‘drums of Brazza’ resound with the rhythms of the various Congolese ethnic groups, to which they have added influences from resolutely modern drummers. They encompass the rites of Africa and the joys and wrenches of its peoples. These drums talk to us, sing to us and send us back to the times when the great drum, the ancestor of all percussion, was the companion of a whole continent.
Magicians of rhythm and body, Les Tambours de Brazza tie again with ancestral gestures and rites. Yet these musicians are not traditional artists. Current music forms are very present in their work, which nods towards rap and reggae. Their complete, modern stage performances have asserted the drum as a full-fledged instrument that defies time.
Sounds spurt out of their drums, rhythms settle in as vital pulsation, dances invent new languages based on traditional steps and colourful costumes brighten up the stage. With their songs and their irresistible cheerfulness, these griots of the modern times pass on a universal message of peace, freedom and brotherhood.

The CD: Brazza

This album presents various stages in the musical course of Les Tambours de Brazza from their creation in Brazzaville to this day. These stages are illustrated by the three live performances featured on the DVD, from the traditional ensemble (the concert in Namibia) to the arrival of bass guitar, electric guitar and the addition of rap music (the concert in Belgium) and finally the present band.

The DVD also includes an educational chapter presenting the various instruments played by the musicians, and an interview on the band’s history.

* "Brazza", short for Brazzaville, Congo

The bandleader: Emile Biayenda

Drummer, songwriter, founder and artistic director of the band “Les Tambours de Brazza”, Emile Biayenda has been living in Angoulême, France, since 1999. Back in Brazzaville, Biayenda took a passion for the musical heritage of Central Africa and started to explore the possibilities of blending jazz and local rhythms. He then created training workshops for young kids from the poor parts of town, adapting the traditional playing technique of the Ngoma drum to modern music. Les Tambours de Brazza stemmed from these workshops. Since 1994, Biayenda has toured the world over with this band.
Emile Biayenda also performs with other musical groups. A founding member of the band Ifriqiya, with Didier Fréboeuf (piano) and Fayçal el Mezzouar (violin, oud and derbbuka), he is also the drummer in pianist Benoît Delbecq’s “Phonetics Quintet” featuring Mark Hélias (double bass), Mark Turner (tenor sax) and Oene (violin). Since September2006, he has been teaching “ethnic percussion” at the Conservatoire Gabriel Fauré in Angoulême.

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