PERFORMER IN RESIDENCE :

NKUMU KATALAY

"When it comes to Congolese popular music, Nkumu Katalay can do it all:
He's a dancer, singer, drummer, percussionist, guitarist, bassist and bandleader."
— AfroPopWorldwide

Bio:

Nkumu Katalay is an artist, orator, multi-instrumentalist and a social activist whose main objective is to promote humanity. Born in Kinshasa, the capital city of the DR. of Congo and he lives in NYC. Nkumu's vision highlights the contribution of Congolese cultures in the modern world history.  He is founder of The "Life Long Project" Band, a musical group and a project which focuses on pushing the positive narrative of the Congolese culture via music and social-cultural and educational initiatives. He is also founder of the Afro Congolese Dance program and company.  Afro Congolese Dance programs has weekly mental and physical dance activities throughout New York City, in schools, corporations or cultural centers for all ages from children to adults and seniors.

 Music became Nkumu's path to navigate the world, his corner stone, which holds fragments of his identity together. The study of musical notes or beats, especially their movements, patterns, and how they are parallel to human cultures, remains his lifelong fascination. To Nkumu, “musical notes or beats are pieces of cultures residing within the realm of sound, and the ensemble of their interactions makes music.” Similar to notes, human cultures are fragments of historical formation, which gather under a specific civilization, and like notes, cultures are continuously seeking for alternative manifestations. So, artistically, he discovered one tool after the other. Nkumu’s musical concept was cultivated via the Congolese “Mbonda” or “Ngoma” (drum) and movements (dance).

 The cultural and social dynamics that exist both  in  New York City and Kinshasa helped his quest for translating his idea of sound and movements. Both places are very diverse and rich in culture. These two cities introduced Nkumu Katalay to the world, and they also poured in him a deep appreciation of humanity. While he mainly represents Congolese music and culture, his style is a hybrid of various genres reflecting the Afro-Diaspora global culture. Through dance, movements, songs, folklore, drumming, games, devotions, music, affirmation and more importantly, through sound, Nkumu is able to tap into the dialectic space of humanity. In turn this dialect enables him to express the three forms of human struggles, which he refers to as justice: the cultural justice, the social justice and global justice.