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Armed with just an acoustic guitar and a strong, earnest voice, Congolese singer-songwriter Céline Banza rose to prominence in 2019 thanks to her debut single “Te Rembi,” sung entirely in the Ngbandi language. Born in Kinshasa in February 1997, Banza developed a passion for music from a young age and moved to Kisangani in 2010. There, she became part of a local troupe of choreographers, musicians, and rappers, and in 2012, she performed her first show at the city’s Alliance Française. After finishing high school, Banza returned to Kinshasa to study musicology at the National Institute of Arts and briefly participated on the reality show The Voice Afrique Francophone in 2017 before making her official debut two years later with “Te Rembi” (2019). The song, which reaffirmed women’s bodies in a context beyond the male gaze, helped Banza win the prestigious RFI Discovery Awards in 2019. That same year, she released further singles “Mbi Gwe” and “Sur le pavé,” which were followed by 2020’s “Na Mileli.” Praefatio, her studio debut, saw the light in 2021 and featured guest appearances by Sarah Bitamazire (“Rain”) and Youssoupha (“Départ”).
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