KIZABA

About

The artist

KIZABA is the Montréal recording and performance project of Lionel Kizaba, a Congolese Canadian singer, songwriter, producer, beat-maker, composer, drummer, percussionist, and multi-instrumentalist. Raised in Kinshasa, he began playing drums as a child, studied jazz at the Institut national des arts, and moved to Montréal in 2011. His work combines soukous guitar, Afrobeat, house, electronic production, pop-rock energy, and vocals in French, English, Kikongo, and Lingala. Futuristic three-dimensional mask imagery and references to Congolese sapology extend that synthesis into the stage design. Artist-controlled Bandcamp history includes Nzela in 2017, while the exact Spotify identity begins in May 2017 with Éllé. Singles including Bolingo, Soso, Naturelle, Tu aimes danser, Kituamina, and Ingratitude led into Kizavibe, released by Disques Nuits d'Afrique in 2022. The album received a 2024 JUNO Award nomination for Global Music Album of the Year. Radio-Canada selected KIZABA as a 2024-2025 Révélation and described him as a Montréal-based ambassador of Afro-Congolese electronic music. Future Village followed in April 2025. Recorded between Kinshasa and Montréal, it features KIZABA as producer, songwriter, beat-maker, composer, drummer, and percussionist, with arrangements by Eli Levinson and mixing and mastering by James Benjamin. The album received an ADISQ nomination for Global Music Album of the Year in 2025 and a second JUNO nomination in the same field in 2026. The five-track Club Beats Mabina EP followed in October 2025, and a remix of Les Églises de Kinshasa arrived in March 2026. The exact Spotify catalog contains thirteen primary release containers, normalized as two albums, one EP, and ten singles. An official WOMEX showcase in 2025 and current 2026 appearances at Festival International Nuits d'Afrique and other international events confirm ongoing activity. KIZABA remains based in Montréal and routes professional inquiries through his official website. MusicList does not reproduce the direct email address published there.