The Mighty Popo was born in Ngagara, a neighbourhood in Bujumbura, Burundi populated largely by Rwandan and Congolese emigres and refugees. Growing up he could hear contemporary and traditional musicians from East and Central Africa on the street, in clubs and in the homes of friends and family, while radio and recordings played music from the whole African continent and beyond. Ngagara was a soundscape in which Soweto, Kingston, Bahia and New Orleans lived side by side.

To Popo all this music formed one continuum, and when he left Burundi for Canada his musical journey took him down paths his ears had already traveled at home. He has toured North America and Europe with Canadian and American bluesmen, played reggae and R&B from Halifax to Vancouver and down to New Orleans, and led the house band at the 1998 Pan-African Dance Festival in Kigali.

As Popo gained experience as a performer, the various musical elements he first began absorbing in Ngagara became integrated in a mature musical vocabulary, and a brilliant and versatile sideman developed into a leader whose creative vision has given a voice to his old neighbourhood. The accent comes from Central Africa, but the interwoven idioms in this eloquent musical patois speak of all of black Africa and the African diaspora.

The development of this unique musical voice has been documented in two CDs: Tamba (1996) and>Dunia Yote (2000). Dunia Yote was voted for “Best Album Release” at the 2000 Music Africa Awards and was nominated for “Best World Album” at the 2001 Canadian Independent Music Awards. Both CDs have received airplay and favourable reviews internationally. Recently Popo and his band have performed for enthusiastic audiences at clubs, theatres and festivals across Canada and in France.

Popo’s third CD, Ngagara, is scheduled for release in June, 2003 on CBC records, with world-wide distribution by Universal. It was recorded by a band whose roots cover the planet and named after the neighbourhood where Popo grew up. It’s as Canadian as snow on the Ottawa River, as African as we could make it, and as global in its appeal as in its vision.

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Official site:
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