Pierre Kwenders

Born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and based in Montreal, Pierre Kwenders, stage name of José Louis Modabi, has since the early 2010s developed a music that moves between pop, R&B, hip hop, Congolese rumba, Afrobeat and club electronic music. His approach rests also on a plurilingual use of Lingala, French, English, Tshiluba and Kikongo, which shapes a mobile writing and a diasporic aesthetic anchored as much in Central Africa as in Montréal's nocturnal scenes. After the mixtape How We Doz It with dIFa in 2012 and the EP Whisky & Tea in 2013, Pierre Kwenders released the album Le Dernier Empereur Bantou in 2014, then MAKANDA at the End of Space, the Beginning of Time in 2017, a record that further widens his spectrum between African rhythms, synthetic textures and pop formats. Parallel to his solo career, Kwenders participates in the duo Abakos and is involved in the Moonshine collective, born in Montreal, whose parties connect Afro-house, kuduro, hip-hop and electronic sounds from various diasporas. In 2022, he released José Louis And The Paradox of Love, an album where song, club, soul and Congolese references meet in a more introspective form, confirming a career built around circulation of cultures, collaborative work and formal exploration.