Emile Biayenda (musician)

Emile Biayenda at the Vive Le Jazz Festival 2011 in the Institut Français Cologne

Jean-Emile "Goldfinger" Biayenda (* 1965 in Brazzaville ) is a Congolese jazz percussionist.

Against his father's wishes, Biayenda devoted himself to traditional drumming from his homeland and modern percussion instruments as a teenager and toured Brazzaville with a singer for the first time in 1982. In the following years he perfected his instrumental technique in Porto Negre .

In 1986 he returned to Brazzaville, where he turned to jazz and u. a. performed with Ziggy Marley , Alvin Queen and Francis Lassus . The latter invited him and twelve other Congolese musicians to a festival in France, which was followed by other concerts. At the end of the 1980s he intensively studied the art of drumming from various tribes in the Congo.

In 1991 Biayenda led a percussion workshop in Brazzaville, from which a permanent group emerged, the Tambours di Brazza . These performed in Brazzaville for two years with great success. The group's first international tour took them to southern Africa. At the arts festival in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the group received invitations to Europe and America. At the same time, Biayanda joined the Mic Mac jazz quartet and the Africa Brass sextet .

In 1994 he appeared for the first time with the Tambours di Brazza at a dance and drum festival in Paris; since then the group has been on tour practically non-stop.

Discography

• Les Tambours di Brazza: Congo Drums , 1994
• Les Tambours di Brazza: Zangoula , 2000
• Wendo Kolosoy : Amba , 2002
• Rumbanella Band: El Congo: Congolese Rumba , 2002
• Benoît Delbecq Unit: Phonetics , 2003
• Les Tambours di Brazza: Tandala , 2004
• Rejeri : Sofera , 2006
• Mounira Mitchala : Talou Lena , 2006-07
• Malouma : Nour , 2007
• Wendo Kolosoy: Very Best of Congolese Rumba , 2008
• Les Tambours di Brazza: Brazza , 2008
• Benoît Delbecq: The Sixth Jump with Jean-Jacques Avenel , 2008

Web links

• Emile Biayenda at Allmusic (English)