{"id":111161,"date":"2022-09-06T12:36:10","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T10:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=111161"},"modified":"2022-09-16T11:10:19","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T09:10:19","slug":"nyati-mayi-the-astral-synth-transmitters-lulanga-tales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/nyati-mayi-the-astral-synth-transmitters-lulanga-tales\/","title":{"rendered":"Nyati Mayi &#038; the Astral Synth Transmitters\u2019 modern take on the lulanga"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Brussel-born Congolese artist Nyati Mayi and Belgian based producer DJ soFa, aka the Astral Synth Transmitter, joined forces to record their debut album<em> Lulanga Tales.<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>They had known each other for a longtime, but the duo formally banded together during the 2020 lockdown in Brussels. Nyati Mayi, a Congolese musician, sings and plays the lulanga, a stringed instrument, belonging to the zither family, with a rectangular, shallow-troughed body, that originates from the Democratic Republic of Congo. DJ soFa, aka the Astral Synth Transmitters and soFa elsewhere, is a Belgian producer and dedicated digger who has worked with the likes of Cheb Runner. Intrigued by the recordings Nyati Mayi posted on social media, soFa remixed one of his tracks which he, in turn, later posted. From there on, the two decided to continue making music together and became Nyati Mayi &amp; The Astral Synth Transmitters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1050011522\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nyatimayi.bandcamp.com\/album\/lulanga-tales\">Lulanga Tales by Nyati Mayi &amp; The Astral Synth Transmitters<\/a><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>For the purpose of this debut album, they produced six tracks featuring Nyati Mayi\u2019s vocals (singing in no particular language) and his expert lulanga\u2019s playing, woven together with electronic sound and percussive rhythms, to deliver a jazztronic, afro-futuristic record. Appealing to their eclectic taste, <em>Lulanga Tales <\/em>showcases the richness and versatility of Brussel\u2019s underground scene that easily embrace the lulanga\u2019s recognisable sound and the trance-like virtue of Nyati Mayi\u2019s singing inspired by gnawa music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The opening song \u201cElderflower\u201d introduces the lulanga\u2019s resonant sound and Nyati Mayi\u2019s deeply moving voice (displaying an impressive range) that are accompanied by soFa\u2019s synths. \u201cCry Woman\u201d brings a more percussive touch to accompany Nyati Mayi\u2019s singing with the lulanga\u2019s repetitive motif and a consistent bassline\u2019s rhythm. In \u201cTry Sunshine\u201d, Nyati Mayi introduces the shamisen, another traditional stringed instrument, this time originating from Japan. Along shuffling beats, his synth and echofied effects, soFa plucks it to give the track a dub-like feel. The album closes with \u201cHeart &amp; Beatroot\u201d which holds definite clubbing qualities with Nyati Mayi taking, at times, a \u201c<em>scat-adjacent vocal style<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Lulanga Tales<\/em> out September 16th via Bongo Joe Records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Listen to \u201cCry Woman\u201d in our <a href=\"https:\/\/idol.lnk.to\/SongsWeekPAM\">Songs of the Week<\/a> playlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1010\" height=\"1010\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-1010x1010.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-111156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-1010x1010.jpg 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-759x759.jpg 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-661x661.jpg 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-465x465.jpg 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-375x375.jpg 375w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-85x85.jpg 85w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales-73x73.jpg 73w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/nyati_mayi_astral_synth_transmitters_lulanga_tales.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brussel-born Congolese artist Nyati Mayi and Belgian based producer DJ soFa, aka the Astral Synth Transmitter, joined forces to record their debut album Lulanga Tales. They had known each other for a longtime, but the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":111157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3944],"tags":[41166],"location":[7884],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111161"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=111161"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=111161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}