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Huit Kilos, guitar virtuoso and composer, started making music on
a guitar made from a cooking oil can and a piece of wood. At first
playing secretly, as his father was opposed to Huit’s becoming
a guitarist, the young boy prevailed when one day his family, to
their surprise, saw him playing the guitar on television! He was
only 12 years old. Huit Kilos went on to become Africa's best known
lead guitarist — a leader in the creation of the Congolese
and Soukous guitar sounds that swept Africa and Northwestern Europe
with their immense popularity.
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| photo:
Martin Sinnock |
As
lead guitarist for a number of top bands, Huit Kilos is one of the
handful of Congolese studio musicians who has given shape to the
highly distinctive Soukous sound. He has recorded as a studio guitarist
on over 100 albums and rocked the most demanding dance crowds in
live performances around the world.
During a musical career now spanning more than 35 years Huit Kilo’s
soukous guitar style is recognized as one of the central shaping
factors of Zaire/Congolese pop music. Huit has been the lead guitarist
for many of the greatest names of Congolese music:
Papa Wemba's Viva La Musica,
Tabu Ley Rochereau and Afrisa International
Langa Langa Stars,
Victoria Eleison with King Kester Emeneya,
Dindo Yogo’s Macchi,
Bella Soum with Ngouma Lokito,
Etumbana Ngwaka
Tabu Ley is of course Huit Kilo’s longest and most renowned
association. As Tabu Ley Rochereau is often credited with being
the creator of soukous, one would be remiss in not crediting lead
guitarist Huit Kilos as a seminal force in that creative process.
Together, Tabu Ley and Huit Kilos brought rumba and soukous music
to the western world, and made Tabu Ley Rochereau one of the all-time
greatest stars not only of Congolese music, but of African music
as a whole.
After working together across Africa for three years, in 1988 Tabu
Ley Rochereau and Huit Kilos moved to Paris to spearhead soukous’
historic drive to European popularity, most notably in France, Belgium,
and the Netherlands. While focusing most of his efforts on Tabu
Ley Rochereau’s Afrisa International Orchestra, in Paris Huit
Kilos also recorded with many African-Parisian bands on numerous
hit records targeting principally the European market.
 Now
living in Los Angeles, California, USA, Huit Kilos is producing
his own records and continuing his ubiquitous studio work both as
a guitarist and as a composer. In America he has completed several
record releases with his own group, Huit Kilos & Yoka Enzenze:
“Huit Kilos in America” and Huit Kilos & Yoka Enzenze,
“Eucharistia.” His most recent release, “God Bless
Africa”, with the hit song “Congolese People: Wake Up!”
(“Peuple Congolais Reveille-Toi!”, is a collaboration
with philosopher and song writer Gassy Dyndo (brother of Dindo Yogo).
It is a “single” record consisting of three songs addressing
the current civil and political conditions of the Democratic Republic
of Congo (the former Zaire), and encouraging the people of the DRC
to hold on to hope, and support the democratic unity of their vast
nation.
 Huit
has also been playing guitar for several African bands located on
the US west coast and working regularly with Ricardo Lemvo and Makina
Loca, the Congolese and Salsa fusion stars. Huit’s collaboration
with Lemvo began in 2001, and Makina Loca continues to break new
ground in connecting anew the long-closely-associated Cuban and
Congolese sounds.
While known principally for his leadership in the realm of African
music, Huit Kilos virtuoso skills on the guitar are not limited
by genre. You will be surprised to hear him playing salsa (tres),
other forms of Latin music, Jamaican Reggae, Antillean and other
Caribbean genres, as well as blues, country, rock and myriad other
stylings.
To reach Huit Kilos for your next tour or recording,
call Scott Shuster in New York at 212-772-7107. |
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