Les Mamans du Congo x Rrobin

Led by charismatic singer and percussionist Gladys Samba, the women’s collective, Les Mamans du Congo, came together in 2018 in Brazzaville as a project merging dance with ancient Kongo lullabies, singing in Lari language with rhythms beaten out with forks, plates, pestles and recycled objects. An initiative of the Institut Français du Congo, La Coopérative de Mai and Jarring Effects label, introduced them to French hip-hop and electronic music producer Rrobin, who joined them in Brazzaville in 2019, creating a musical symbiosis, layering grime, drill, boom-bap and ethereal pulses on to Congolese rhythms, meshing with rapping on Brazzaville’s daily life, the difficulties of people abandoning their villages and families to find work, the emancipation of women in the face of family constraints and patriarchal society, and the importance of preserving the values of the Congo heritage.