Baloji Capture

Following the recent release of his standout debut EP 64 Bits & Malachite and 64 Bits & Malachite (Remixes) through Bella Union, multifaceted Congolese-Belgian artist and musician Baloji has debuted a completely reworked version of track “Capture”, accompanied by its recut video on AFROPUNK. Remixed by TINITUZ, this version of “Capture” carries the track to even greater heights, TINITUZ’ production layering in a further depth and fury to the already determined, evocative track.

Baloji comments on the track and video: “this self-directed video is a metaphor for the DRC identity crisis. A group of artists (including Sam Lambert of ACF) are on exile road, travelling to an unknown destination. Moreover, the video also narrates the quest of two astronauts searching for the statue of Henry Morton Stanley, the Welsh explorer responsible for the discovery of the river Congo while searching for the Nile. The statue for the Welsh adventurer personifies the struggle that Congo went through. A struggle that brought them from being a slave state, to a colony on to their wish for independence, and then going back to a dictatorship.”

A Congolese-born, Belgium-based poet, composer, lyricist, beat maker, scriptwriter, actor, video artist and stylist, Baloji’s singular music stands at an unlikely crossroads of traditional African music, hip-hop, French folk, soul, funk, jazz and electronic. Through this amalgamation of influence, he produces a musical hybrid that’s intelligent, earnest and demanding of movement.

Baloji itself means “man of science” in Swahili, but during the colonial period that meaning shifted to “man of the occult sciences and sorcery”. By placing his resilience at the center of his work, Baloji reconciles all these influences to enrich his creative projects. 64 bits & Malachite offers a musical style based in these cross-fertilizations and collaborations, unbridled and freed from the labels of “genres”.

64 Bits & Malachite is the current reference for processors. It evokes the idea of built-in obsolescence; how previous versions, even if they still function, are designed to become useless. Malachite is a green-layered stone found in Katanga (DRC Congo). 64 Bits & Malachite mines our operating systems: it is a metaphor of our era, a melody of diaspora and a nomadic music between encounters and collisions.