‘Avant-Premiere: ZOMBIE - Baloji’

In the presence of Baloji.

The film Zombie is a journey between hope and dystopia in a hallucinated Kinshasa, from the culture of the hair salon to futuristic solitary clubbing, from the urban parade to the glory of a dictator in campaign (Papa Bollo) to modern western in the Takeshi Kitano style.

Baloji is a poet, composer-lyricist, scriptwriter, actor and performer, video artist and stylist. After the release of his album Hotel Impala (2008), his Congolese reinterpretation (Kinshasa Succursale, 2011) was awarded 4 stars by the world’s press (NYT, Guardian, El Pais, Les Inrocks..) and after more than 200 live shows all over the world, Baloji is back with a new EP. His music stands at the crossroads of African music, traditional and afro-american music (soul, funk, jazz) discovered through the culture of sampling and electronic music (trance, deep house) which has its roots in part in the region of Belgium where Baloji grew up. Baloji means “man of science” in Swahili, but during the colonial period that meaning shifted to “man of the occult sciences and sorcery”. By placing his resilience at the centre of his work, Baloji reconciles all these influences to enrich his projects.