Pierre Kwenders | Afropop without borders

Montreal-based Afropop renovator Pierre Kwenders is releasing an album on Friday titled José Louis and the Paradox of Love. Of the Congo-born singer’s three records, this is his sweetest and most intimate. A fragmented portrait of a jack-of-all-trades.

Alexandre Vigneault
The Press

From Jose Louis to Pierre Kwenders

José Louis Modabi was born in Kinshasa, capital of Congo, in 1985 and moved to Montreal at the turn of the millennium. Here, he became Pierre Kwenders, that is to say a DJ (Moonshine evening) and a songwriter for whom music is a language capable of crossing borders, of transcending genres and cultures. He sings in five languages, draws on African music (rumba, coupé-décalé, etc.) and borrows as much from pop as from rap or house. “I always had this desire to create a bridge between all that,” he says. I was born in the Congo, where there are guitars everywhere. Growing up here, I discovered electronic music, other sounds and other cultures. It’s really important for me to bring together these worlds and these people who inspire me. »

Very soflty

Rather than opting for a clash of styles, collages or juxtapositions, Pierre Kwenders instead offers blends. José Louis and the Paradox of Love is a gentle album where genres merge without any desire to impress. LES (Freedom Equality Sagacity), opening track which lasts more than nine minutes (and in which Win Butler, from Arcade Fire, discreetly collaborates), displays both house traits and cut-off rhythms (an Ivorian style of music), but also, in the background plan, typical scratchy notes of Congolese rumba. The connection is made naturally to our ears. “I think you should never force things, says the creator, have a certain tenderness in everything you do, and that’s what I wanted to do on this album. »

For the young

With partners, Pierre Kwenders is working to set up the Club Sagacité, a community center mainly intended for young people. “It will be very centered on the music”, explains the singer, for whom this gesture is a way of “giving back to the community”. The premises, located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard (“We want young people to get out of their neighborhoods and discover Montreal,” he says), will provide access to recording equipment and DJing training, for example, a an art that Pierre Kwenders also practices. “We want it to be accessible,” he explains. Growing up in Cartierville, I didn’t have a place like that that allowed me to learn. In addition to offering young people the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the technique, he wishes to share what he “learned on the job” about scholarships and grants. “We want to make it accessible, he insists, especially to young people from visible minorities. »

Sagacity

The word “sagacity” occupies an important place in the universe of the Congolese artist. However, it is not for him a synonym of “sharpness of mind”, as the dictionary would say. In the wake of Douk Saga, an Ivorian musician who created the coupé-décalé style, this term rather evokes respect for others and sharing. “It was a movement to wake up the population, created when there was civil war in Côte d’Ivoire,” says Pierre Kwenders. Douk Saga has managed through his music to revive the joy of living in hearts, to give hope for new and better days. This is the message that I also want to convey. »

Zaire Space Program

Like Club Sagacité, which defines itself as a multifunctional space, Pierre Kwenders is “multiple”. In addition to his musical projects, he is currently preparing a documentary with Moonshine entitled Zaire Space Program, filmed in Africa during the pandemic and of which a short segment is already online on YouTube. The idea is to focus the camera on artists from Congo, but also on people who work in technology. Once again, the objective is to awaken, to make people think. The online segment shows the work of Farata, a collective that makes its costumes with recycled materials and performs in the streets to open dialogue on topics such as the use of plastic or health care. Pierre Kwenders also took the opportunity to interview Jean-Baptiste Kekas, a Congolese engineer who manufactures rockets with recycled milk cans and electronic components. “It’s important what he does,” said the singer. Seeing this Congolese gentleman who creates a rocket, it will perhaps make a young person dream, inspire him to study engineering too. »

José Louis and the Paradox of Love is offered from Friday. Pierre Kwenders will be at the Phi Center on May 6 and August 3 to open the Montreal Pride festival with Diane Dufresne.