Baloji releases soundtrack to his Oscar-nominated film Omen
The Belgian rapper and filmmaker’s new release offers a glimpse of his spring 2024 album
"Poetry is the politeness of despair" – Baloji
Congolese-born Belgian rapper and filmmaker Baloji releases the enriching soundtrack EP to his Oscar-nominated film Augure (Omen), out on Friday 24th November.
A choral film, Augure (Omen) tells the story of four characters considered witches and sorcerers in a phantasmagorical Africa. The soundtrack reveals four musical strands written and composed from the point of view of the film's protagonists: Koffi, Mama Mujila, Paco and Tshala, enriching the narrative of each character, and offering a musical work in its own right. The 5-track EP features global featured artists including, Mayra Andra, Jamila Woods, Bongeziwe Mabandla, Swazzi, and Chrystel, and acts as the first extract ahead of the release of Baloji’s album in Spring 2024.
EP opener ‘La Tâche’, telling the story of Koffi, is a dark synthscape bolstered by the soulful vocals of South African singer Bongeziwe Mabandla. ‘Gorgone (Too Old)’ follows, featuring Chicago artist Jamila Woods embodying the character of Mama Mujila over a delicate arpeggiated guitar lament, before we delve into Paco on ‘Arcade’ via the tribal rhythms and melodic vocals of Afrobeats artist Swazzi. Finally, the soundtrack culminates in an exploration of Tshala on the sparse and atmospheric ‘Auto-Psy’ with Chrystel.
Commemorating the soundtrack release, on Thursday November 23rd Baloji will also make his debut on COLORS, performing ‘Tschala - MaTrone (La Femme Tronc)’ Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade.
Baloji’s first feature film, Augure (Omen), was selected for the Cannes Film Festival last May, and won the prestigious New Voice award. The magically realistic film will represent Belgium, and by extension Congo, at the 2024 Oscars.
Baloji is a Belgian rapper and filmmaker from the Congo. He’s a poet, composer-lyricist/beatmaker, scriptwriter, actor and performer, video artist and stylist. His music stands at the crossroads of African music, the French singer-songwriter tradition and afro-american music (soul, funk, jazz) discovered through the culture of sampling and electronic music (trance, deep house) which has its roots in part in the region of Belgium where Baloji grew up.
Fleshing out the narrative of his critically-acclaimed film with a fully-realized soundtrack, Augure (Omen) is the sound (and sight) of Baloji hitting a new creative peak.