KOKOKO! – BUTU album, track-by-track
No buts, it’s got to be BUTU
Since 2017, KOKOKO! have been trailblazing Kinshasa’s sonic revolution while earning global acclaim for their unique sound and vibrant performances.
Recognised as the best live band by AIF, they’ve been featured on NPR Tiny Desk, Boiler Room, and major festivals like SXSW and Pitchfork. Their debut album, Fongola, received rave reviews, and now they are back with another album that is unlike much else you will have heard. BUTU, which is inspired by Kinshasa’s vibrant nightlife as well as Kwaito, and 90s dance music and channels the band’s hometown’s frenetic energy with a sense of social activism into a powerful statement.
Let the band’s founder Xavier Thomas, speaking on behalf of the duo, guide you through its contents track by track…
Butu Ezo Ya
This track is an invitation, also an invocation for people to enter into Kinshasa’s night (the theme of the album). It starts with a field recording, chaotic sounds from the streets, we pitched the motorbikes horns into melodies, recorded electricity sounds from power generators interfering in the sessions, we put it all in rhythm, the night gets born in sonic chaos that darkness (due to power cuts) accentuates.
Bazo Banga
Bazo Banga means “they are scared”, it’s a popular saying and chants at protests or events. It also addressed in a competitive context or, for example, when people are trying to rival with our sound. You can sing it to give yourself courage too.
Donne Moi
This is about giving and giving back, you can’t just take take take, or there will be payback. It can refer to the exploitations of the resources in DRC, when will people get something back. We also use this in a live situation, if a crowd gives us energy we give it back ten times, if they give more we can always turn it up.
Motema Mabe
This is about bad heart, someone who copies or envies someone else because they have no style and no charisma, they don’t have an identity so they try to be someone else, steal, appropriate but still they will never reach the level of the person who have that originality and their own style.
Mokili
We are going to move the world, the world will move, get out of the way…! This track was something we used to play live and never got to record till the last minute. Makara harmonises, it has a slightly kwaito influence but with Congolese breaks.
Mokolo Likambu
The owner doesn’t want to speak, he doesn’t want to discuss anything, your wife can become someone else’s wife but my kids will stay my kids, my land will stay my land.
Kidoka
This is about people thinking too much of their problem like on a loop. You are going to break your head, you are thinking too much, Kinshasa stood up and everybody saw the cat eating chewing gum, it’s not a dream Kinshasa witnessed it. This track was added at the very last minute on the album and has become a high in our live set, big energy, influence from Angola. Makara’s heritage is Bas Congo, near the border.
Motoki
I collect trash, I carry heavy concrete, I do mechanics, woodwork, everything to find money and my sweat hurts, this is about working hard, really hard like many people in Kinshasa, sometimes without earning much which makes the sweat hurt more in the end.
Telema
They heard the story, they came with the story, they shared the story, stand up, stand up, as long as you are alive, you will eat chicken!
Nasali Nini
What have I done, what have I done to be killed. In this track we really find the atmosphere of where Makara was doing public rehearsal 6 days a week for 5 hours each time. The cheap electronic cables on the ceiling would heat up so much that they would melt, the amp would smoke and finally explode sometimes. Everything overdriven with such energy.
Elingi Biso Te
My country doesn’t like me, we live in hardship, we dress in hardship… My country doesn’t like me. The music is a bit influenced by Angola rhythm, and Chicago sound too.
Salaka Bien
This track ended up sounding a bit like a post punk influenced track, ‘do it good’ it means, it’s kind of a loopy trance track, do it good, beat me good, Makara repeats over and over.