Kasai | ru

Kasai Allstars is a collective revolving around 25 musicians, all based in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The collective was formed by members of the following five bands: Lusombe Madimba, Tandjolo, Dibua Dietu, Basokin, and Masanka Sankayi. Its members originate from five different ethnic groups: the Luba, the Songye, the Lulua, the Tetela and the Luntu. Some of these groups have endured conflicting relationships over the centuries, they each have their own culture, their own language and their own musical traditions, which were always thought to be incompatible until these musicians decided to pool their resources and form a...

Kimiko Kasai is a Japanese jazz singer who was born in Kyoto, Japan on December 15, 1945. She went to Tokyo in 1964, and became a featured member of pianist Yuzuru Sera's group. She is referred to by her nickname of "Kemeco", also a song on one of her earliest recorded works, "The Modern Playing Mate" by Yuzuru Sera Trio Introducing Kimiko Kasai from 1968 (and recently reissued on compact disc in Japan). Her first album as a solo artist was entitled "Just Friends" in 1970. After that time, she recorded many albums in collaboration with some of the most...