Music From Memory releases music from Belgian-Congolese duo Denis Mpunga and Paul K.

  • Share
  • The deep-digging Dutch label will put out the Criola compilation in March.
  • Music From Memory releases music from Belgian-Congolese duo Denis Mpunga and Paul K. image
  • Music From Memory has revealed details on its latest archival release, Denis Mpunga and Paul K.'s Criola. Mpunga relocated from the Congo to Belgium at a young age, eventually embedding in the Leige music scene and forming the group Gomma Percussions, a band that used found objects and improvised instruments alongside West African-style percussion. Paul K. is the stage name for Patrick Stas, a Leige local who Music From Memory calls "a luminary figure in the electronic and experimental music scene in Belgium." Mpunga and Stas first came together in 1980 to work on a soundtrack for a children's animation company. (The "Intermezzo" tracks on Criola are culled from these sessions.) Their ongoing studio collaboration saw Mpunga bringing balafons, senzas and a zither to complement Stas's array of classic Roland and Korg gear, creating what the label calls a "fascinating new musical language." They recorded only a smattering of tracks as a duo, and Criola draws from both released and unreleased material from the first half of the '80s.
    Tracklist A1 Intermezzo III A2 Criola A3 Intermezzo III A4 !!! KWE B1 Dou Niya B2 Intermezzo I B3 Funyaka B4 What B5 Veronika Music From Memory will release Criola in March 2017.
RA