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"Niwel
Tsumbu trades in good vibrations. His wayward incantations and surgically
precise guitar lines were a breath of fresh air ... Tsumbu radiates
energy".
Siobhan Long, Irish
Times Review March 2007 Click
Here >> for full review.
Clear Sky Ensemble:
"One thing could not be disputed – the sheer musicianship
of the group leader, Niwel Tsumbu. As a singer, he shows flexibility
and expressive power, and ranges from a kind of playful scat to
full-throated passion. He was as happy digging into complex, involving
solos on guitar as laying down rhythmic patterns. And he threw in
some lively drumming too when the urge took him."
Barra Ó Séaghdha, Journal
of Music in Ireland Click
Here>> for full review.
Over the last 50 years Central Africa has
built itself an incredible reputation for giving birth to many of
the World’s greatest guitarists, and Congolese Niwel Tsumbu
is a fitting ambassador to carry that torch forward into the 21st
Century. Raised on the traditional Soukous and Rhumba music of his
homeland, he began playing from an early age, and went on to study
both jazz and classical guitar - enrolling secretly in a classical
music school where he also studied saxophone for a year.
The leader of several bands including Sumu, Motema and Jazmu and
now the groundbreaking Clear Sky Ensemble - all of whom played at
many festivals around Ireland including The Dun Laoghaire Festival
of World Cultures, The Bray Jazz Festival and Limerick Global Beats
Festival- Niwel is truly a musical innovator.
Drawing his influences from far and wide,
his elegant and fluent guitar playing feature draw expression from
his past experiences with African rhythms, rhumba, jazz, classical,
and much more besides.
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