Jalen Ngonda

JALEN NGONDA

With his golden voice and velvety arrangements, American singer Jalen Ngonda is the epitome of timeless, sophisticated soul.

In the radiant sky of today's soul music, where stars of all generations shine, each with a different link to modernity, Jalen Ngonda has appeared like a comet with a particularly vivid brilliance. How many are there who can combine such assured songwriting, lush arrangements and a falsetto rich in a thousand nuances and fractures? Spotted by the Daptone Records label, which released his first album in 2023, the wonderful Come Around And Love Me, Jalen Ngonda grew up in Maryland, in a music-loving family. He studied piano, violin and guitar, played the organ in church and immersed himself in his father's Motown record collection, discovering Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson, of whom he was a worthy heir. Soon the young man was crossing the Atlantic to study at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. It is from the birthplace of the Beatles, where he has lived for over ten years, that the thirtysomething envisages what's next: a handful of classy, romantic singles released in recent months herald a highly-anticipated new album.

OPENING ACT: ISAIAH COLLIER PARALLEL UNIVERSE

A pillar of the Chicago scene, saxophonist Isaiah Collier captivates audiences with his psychedelic soul jazz.

In barely ten years, Isaiah Collier has established himself as an essential figure on the vibrant Chicago scene, where the young guard has taken up the torch from the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist shares with his elders a taste for psychedelic mixes and explorations - which also links him to the giant Pharoah Sanders. The free, cosmic flights of his albums with The Chosen Few are matched by the incredible melting pot of Parallel Universe, released in 2023, on which Isaiah Collier conjures up funk, gospel, African connections and a spirit of resistance rooted in a vision that is both spiritual and political.