Presented by WOMEX
Pierre Kwenders
Afro-Canadian singer/songwriter Pierre Kwenders’ music is a response to a world that so often asks people who fit comfortably in multiple boxes to pick only one. Born in Kinshasa, Kwenders draws on his wide-ranging experience to make personal music with multiple points of entry, rather than paring it down to fit recognizable genres. He also wields it like a studio trick; he sings and raps in five languages, allowing him aesthetic and lyrical options most artists do not have. The style of the Congolese-Canadian Montrealer is a trippy mash of circling African motifs, old-school hip hop, sophisticated R&B and slyly thumping house music. […] At the end of space and the beginning of time, Kwenders has carved out a distinctive new niche. -The Globe and Mail
His new album, MAKANDA at The End of Space, the Beginning of Time, is produced entirely by Fly Guy Dai (aka Tendai Maraire of Shabazz Palaces). Not surprisingly, Kwenders shifts from Bantou’s housey thump to something notably more rap-centric.
[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]
Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.