Congolese guitarist, composer and singer Niwel Tsumbu joins host John Floridis.
Niwel shares his remarkable story that begins growing up with five siblings in a single parent home in a poverty stricken area in the mega city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He immersed himself into guitar playing and ingesting as much music as possible. On the advice of a mentor he made a concerted effort to find as much music from other parts of the world as possible which had a huge impact on him developing his own style mixing jazz, classical, rock, flamenco, folk and rumba.
Niwel's journey with music performance and recording took him to Cork, Ireland where he has lived for the past 20 years. In addition to his own solo and duo recordings with percussionist Eamon Cagney, Niwel has collaborated with artists such as Baba Mal, Sinéad O’Connor, Buena Vista Social Club and Rhiannon Giddens.
