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Songwriting and performing artist Mayembé Malayika, born of German and Congolese parents, started performing Sade songs in Germany with a Jazz band when she was 17 years old. She spent intensive years getting in touch with her roots and identity through African dance, history, arts, and the whole range of Pan-African music, learning "Ndombolo" and backing vocals in her forefather's language Lingala (with Hif & Afro Soleil). By 2001, she was performing with and learning from her musical mentor, Gospel and Jazz icon Benjamin "Pops" Wilson. The unique Jazz and Blues singer Harriet L. Lewis taught her in performance. She also worked with several musicians from West-Africa (Sene-Gambia, Mali, Guinea) and producers from Guadeloupe and Jamaica. Most significant was the support and advice of the African Reggae superstar Tiken Jah Fakoly whom she met 2006 in Switzerland at the Afropfingsten Festival. He gave her the opportunity to develop as an artist and to find her style. The result is her debut album "Pan-African Soul" with elements of Afrobeat and Afropop. Currently touring with Amadou & Mariam in Europe, Mayembé Malayika is now known for singing modern World Music with a message.

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Press Quotes

... Afrobeat and Afro Soul has experienced a veritable boom in the global networked scene in the last years and German musicians and producers played their part ... So now the German-Congolese singer Mayembé Malayika tries to break in this apparently male-dominated phalanx. Boldly she calls her album 'Pan-African Soul' and presents us ten mostly acoustic pop songs with an African flair. In recent years the singer from Tübingen played in many small clubs, but was allowed on the great African festivals in Germany and when she later opened some concerts of reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly from Ivory Coast, he was so thrilled that he produced her debut album with his own production company. Accordingly, it sounds quite experienced - experienced in the best sense, as the superstar of the African reggae scene has established a sound that both African and Western reggae fans are appealed to, as well as a musically mainstream-oriented and extremely radio friendly style. And exactly this mix also defines Pan-African Soul.

     —Deutschland Radio Kultur, 20.7.2012