Céline Banza (born on the 12th February 1997) is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is the winner of the 2019 RFI Discoveries Music Award.

Career

Banza was born in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

. She began her music career at a young age. In early 2010, she moved to Kisangani, where she met people who helped her develop a taste for music, dance, acting, and cinematography. At age 15, she returned to Kinshasa to study musicology at the National Institute of Arts where she met her band mates. In 2017, Banza made a brief appearance on ''

The Voice Afrique Francophone ''The Voice Afrique francophone'' is the French-speaking African version of the reality singing competition ''The Voice'', broadcast on VoxAfrica. It is based on the show ''The Voice of Holland'', created by John de Mol. Four coaches, themselve ...

''. In the process, she created her own group, "Banza Musik", and participated the following year in the exhibition "Kinshasa 2050. women first! before devoting herself to her new musical project. In 2019, she performed at Jazz Kif in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. She won the 2019 edition of the RFI Discovery Awards She was chosen from among the ten finalists for the quality of her melodies and her voice.

Asalfo Magic System is an Ivorian coupé-décalé band from Abidjan. It was founded in 1996 and comprises Asalfo, Goude, Tino, and Manadja. Magic System's recordings in the Zouglou dance style have featured in the charts throughout Africa, and in F ...

Charlotte Dipanda Charlotte Dipanda (born in 1985, Yaoundé, Cameroon) is a Cameroonian singer, who plays mostly acoustic music. Her lyrics are in French, her native language Bakaka, and in Douala. Biography Dipanda made her first record with guitar player Jean ...

, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Fally Ipupa, Josey, Angélique Kidjo,

Youssou N’Dour Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...

, Oumou Sangaré and Singuila were part of this jury. She released her first single ''"Te Rembi"'' in 2019 and her first album will be released in 2020.

Discography

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

External links