Congolese-British collective KDN (Kongo Dia Ntotila) have been quiet for a while. That ends on Saturday 23rd May when they return to their Dalston stronghold, The Jago, to premiere their upcoming album, Moving Fire, in its entirety: front to back, months before it’s out. Led by the Kinshasa-born bassist Mulele Matondo and jazz guitarist John Kelly, the ensemble fuses the intricate sebene patterns that power DRC dance music into the heart of London jazz and dares both sides to keep up.

The story of KDN starts in a Leeds classroom. Matondo turned up as a student; Kelly was teaching jazz guitar. Matondo knew sebene inside out (the interlocking patterns that drive Congolese dance music) and the two ended up teaching each other, swapping jazz theory for Congolese rhythmic structures. That exchange became a band that does not fit neatly into African music or UK jazz, which is why it works so well live.

Their last album 360° got four stars from MOJO and had BBC 6 Music‘s Tom Robinson reaching for superlatives. Moving Fire is said to burn harder: more bass, more brass, more designed to set a room alight. Expect the soul-heavy horn section of Mike Soper and Will Scott to lock in with Yves Tasinda‘s rhythm guitar and Mbouta Kissangwa‘s driving percussion, held together by Matondo’s prowling, deep-pocket bass and the jagged, sophisticated heat of Kelly’s lead.

It all happens at The Jago, a high-ceilinged Victorian sweatbox in Hackney converted into a grassroots venue with no particular interest in being polite about volume, built for Matondo’s famously participatory jam sessions. KDN recorded their live album here. They know what it does.

 

Tickets are available following THIS LINK