James BKS

On 30 May 2026 at Le Plan in Ris-Orangis, James BKS presents his project onstage at the crossroads of hip-hop and Afro-urban music, nourished by influences from Central Africa. A French-Cameroonian producer and composer and the son of Manu Dibango, he first honed his ear in French and American studios before dedicating himself to his own tracks. His writing blends brass sections, choirs, rhythms drawn from makossa and afrobeat, and a groove sensibility rooted in beatmaking.

In concert, this hybrid aesthetic comes into its own: percussive textures are brought to the fore, vocal arrangements are precise, and rap and singing answer one another in a format designed for the stage. True to his taste for building bridges between cultures and languages, James BKS evokes a pan-African imagination grounded in the present, sometimes heard on record alongside voices such as Q-Tip, Idris Elba, or Little Simz. An opening act will precede the evening.