Tshegue is a duo that joins the Congolese-born singer Faty Sy Savanet and the French-Cuban percussionist/producer Nicolas “Dakou” Dacunha. Following up on their 2017 EP “Survivor,” today the pair returns with a brilliant new single entitled “The Wheel,” out via Ekleroshock Records. The video for the cut was shot in the Congolese city of Kinshasa by Renaud Barret, and it features the daring escapades of the Club Etoile Rollers.
Skating the highways of the city by hitching rides on cars, trucks, and motorcycles, this mixed-gender collective of kids, some as young as 13 years old, skirt danger at every turn as they seek the death-defying thrills of the open road. Discussing the video, Barret explains:
“An ordinary day in Kinshasa. I’m in a taxi on Lumumba Boulevard, when suddenly I’m in the middle of this gang of kids slaloming between cars. We exchange thumbs up, signs of complicity, rolling side by side for a moment. One of them spots my camera, and comes closer to shout, “Hey sir! Do you wanna shoot something crazy?” I couldn’t refuse. This is the magic of a limitless city where each and every day brings incredible spontaneous possibilities. Now as I watch the beaming faces of these kids, thrown at full speed on their crumbling rollers, almost out of control, intoxicated by danger and only protected by their faith in good luck, I can only see a metaphor for the Congo’s situation. But also a middle finger to a society trying to maintain an illusion that everything should be controlled, supervised. These free riders remind us that life must be lived in the present.”
Faty Sy Savanet was born in Kinshasa, where she earned her nickname Tshegue–slang for the boys that hang out on the streets of that city–before eventually relocating to Paris with her family when she was 8 years old. During her twenties, a mutual friend introduced her to the famed French musician, producer and label owner Bertrand Burgalat, who mentored her and introduced her to current Tshegue partner Nicolas Dacunha. Channeling her experiences of the African diaspora, the project finds Savanet combining her fierce vocal presence with Dacunha’s rowdy, street-savvy beats and production.
You can follow Tshegue via their Instagram page.
