MUNTU VALDO

Event information

Pull Up The Roots in conjunction with Serious & Black Routes presents:

MUNTU VALDO
+ Bumi

Muntu Valdo's music is rooted in the blues, mixing African traditions (he was brought up in Cameroon and then France) with striking modernity and technical mastery, building up layers of sounds with loops and samples. He toured last autumn with Congolese superstars Staff Benda Bilili - his debut album Gods & Devils was described by NME as "a rapturous record that shudders with joy and passion."

www.myspace.com/muntuvaldo
www.muntuvaldo.com
www.last.fm/music/Muntu+Valdo
http://twitter.com/MuntuValdo

VIDEO
"Lemba performed live at Queen Elizabeth Hall - May 23 2007"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFEEc9ZrFjA

"Muntu Valdo - On tour with Staff Benda Bilili - Nov 2009"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHl8-bHK22c

"The crowd were treated to Muntu Valdo's guitar magic. Sauntering on stage with a springy step, softly picking at his guitar and blowing in his harmonica, he resembled a youthful, latter-day Bob Dylan. But his music is from a different stream. Using a box of tricks to double-track his guitar and voice live, he added layers of sound to create full-textured, soft songs about peace, love and Cameroonian witchcraft and charmed the audience." - The Financial Times

BUMI
Born in Glasgow, Scotland and based in London, Bumi is a dynamic African Jazz/neo-soul singer. whose style is inspired by her multicultural identity. Born to a Brazilian Lagosian Father and Igbo mother her reality was always punctuated with the tribal sounds of her eclectic heritage. She studied a BA in Fine Art media at the University of Bath spa, little did she know that Bath was a melting pot for creative beings and abstract minds to engage in numerous forms of musical expression. Alas the served as the ethos for her unique art form to be born. The rest as they say... is history.

"Music has always been at the core of my life in some form, slowly making its way to the surface. The soundtrack of my perception is quite eclectic.... Afrocentric creativity is my philosophy on sound: A synergy of ornate, agile rhythms, thought stimulating lyrics, ambient melodies infused with funk and delivered with soul.
I am inspired by life, humanity and the opportunity to drive positive change using art and music as the mechanism to empower myself and others through the celebration of love, truth, freedom and justice. I feel like I have earned the right to invade other peoples consciousness with something that isn't generic but ultimately unique and find that experimentation is the road to authenticity.

My influences...hmm Poetic Jazz- the illegitimate lovechild of reason, Maya Angelou, Sade, Faithless, Bjork, Tracy Champman, Mariam Makeba, Saul Williams and Skin. My heroes...Oli twista, Miles Davies,Chaka Chaka, The Outkast, Siji Awoyinka, Bobby Mcferrin, Fela & Seun Kuti, James Brown, Amel Larrieux,Nina Simone, Rox, Fat Freddy's Drop and Eryka Badu."

www.myspace.com/bumiuk

MORE INFO:
www.theslaughteredlambpub.com
www.blackroutes.org.uk