Senegal’s DJ Ibaaku to thrill Kigali music lovers

For the last two years, he has been touring the world, mostly Europe, taking his latest project, Alien Cartoon to his global fans. Now, Senegalese DJ cum music producer Ibaaku (real name Stephen Bassene) is bringing the party to Kigali this weekend. Ibaaku jetted into the country Wednesday afternoon, ahead of his two performances on Friday and Saturday. The first show on Friday will take place at The Root House in Kacyiru, and has been dubbed a “short sunset DJ set”. The show starts at 6pm and runs till 8pm. “The first show on Friday is more like a DJ set, where I will play music that I like, music from Senegal, Mali, Kenya, and other parts of the continent, while Saturday’s is the main show — it will be my performance, my production, my music. I will also be playing some instruments like the keyboard and guitar, with lots of lighting and visuals because these are part of the story,” said Ibaaku, who described himself as a sonic poet in an exclusive interview with The New Times on Thursday afternoon. Alien Cartoon is an 8-track album the artiste released in January 2016 as his first solo musical project. It was originally created as a soundtrack to a fashion show of the same name, by Senegalese fashion designer Selly Raby Kane. The show imagined an African city overtaken by aliens, with Ibaaku’s Afro futuristic musical sounds providing the perfect backdrop. “I believe that as a musician on the continent it’s my responsibility to bring my perspective and heritage of how I imagine Africa, be it in the present or in the future, as a person born and raised here, and I try to express that in my music. This album project was initially for a performance that imagined an African city in the future. It’s our perspective of how we imagine the world and how we deal with technology, with our mythology, our past, and what we bring to the world as a continent and as a culture,” Ibaaku further explained. “So for me it’s a responsibility to bring my voice here as a musician and an artiste from the continent. I came to share my music but also to discover and learn from a new country and new way of doing things, so I’m open to anything. For the past two years we’ve been on tour, mostly in Europe, but it’s the first time we’re really focused on the continent because for me, it’s a project that talked to Africa first, so it was important for me to play here and see how we can link with the new emerging music scene across the continent and build bridges between the different parts of the continent.” On tour with Ibaaku is Benjamin Richard Foy, who will be in charge of visuals and also VJ for Ibaaku, while Kevin Alf Jaspar is in charge of sound engineering. Ibaaku’s Rwandan tour is under the auspices of the French Institute in Rwanda. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Senegal’s DJ Ibaaku to thrill Kigali music lovers