Titi & Ale Hop – Mapambazuko
The collaboration between the Congolese guitarist and Peruvian composer is a sparkling prospect on paper, but only fulfils its promise in patches
Congolese guitarist Titi Bakorta emerged in 2023 with his deeply idiosyncratic debut, one rooted in a wonky vision of pop, but with something otherworldly and spectral in its idiosyncrasies. Here, in line with Nyege Nyege Tapes’ typical pursuit of collaboration, he joins with Peruvian composer Ale Hop, last seen crafting squelched, juddering sonic landscapes with Laura Robles. The pair look an interesting match, and it's a meeting of talents that, when it works, sparkles.
Opener Bonne Année marries Bakorta’s spindly guitar lines with Ale Hop’s skill for making hornet swarms of instrumentation build as one coherent mass. It’s emblematic of the best of the record; pulling in many directions, but keeping the fundamental eccentricity of their individual work, ultimately sounding like a steroid-packed version of the kind of CD you find in a market on holiday called something like MALLORCA DANCE PARTY.
But often the record finds merging the pair’s respective crafts cumbersome and unwieldy. The title track has all the bones of what works on the rest of the record, same nimble guitar, same funfair electronics, but it never slips into any satisfying groove. There’s a similar sense of dissatisfaction to Nitaangaza, it’s loping soupiness never raising itself above inertia. It's a problem only heightened by KMRU’s remix of the track, that, in removing the track's dopey beat, finds something sleepy and beautiful in its instrumentation.
The record is an interesting proposition, and one that, while never quite hitting the nail on the head of what it could be, still offers glimpses of what both artists are capable of.
Listen to: Bonne Année, La Danza Del Pajarito, Nitaangaza KMRU Remix