Listen: Tresor’s world takeover

BY BONGINKOSI NTIWANE TRESOR FOR A WOR TAKEOVER LD

The best album titles are simple, yet deep with meaning, and Tresor’s Motion is no different.

Congolese-born singer-songwriter Mukungerwa ‘Tresor’ Riziki says he’s at a crucial, yet exciting time in his career and the title of his upcoming album captures it all. “Motion is such a crucial album for me because I need to close the chapter on everything I’ ve been doing over the last five years as an artist. It’s a bridge to where I’m going next, my final instalment of everything I’ ve been working on, ” he said.

Tresor released his debut project VII in 2015, and since then has become one of the most recognisable and unique voices of dance music in the continent. “Everything I’ ve been doing has been part of my vision for a long time really. It’s unfolding in a way that I never thought it would, ” he shared.

The ‘Never Let You Go’ hitmaker has been embracing different sounds and opening himself up to collaboration. He’s become synonymous with the Amapiano sound, which he was introduced to by a member of Scorpion Kings, DJ Maphorisa, two years ago while touring Zambia. “When lockdown started, he [Maphorisa] heard some of the stuff I had been doing and was like ‘man, I’d like for us to do an album’ . It’s been an honour to jump on the sound and [has] been great to be in that space, ” Tresor explained. Together with the other half of Scorpion Kings, Kabza De Small, Tresor released the Rumble in Jungle album this year. From that relationship, he roped in the Scorpion Kings to work with him on his latest track ‘Makosa’ , which features on his upcoming album Motion. Though a release date hadn’t been announced at the time of print, the star had released several singles from the album and exclusively confirmed that Motion would be out this year.

DRAKE COLLAB

Tresor has been spotted on American rapper Drake’s latest album Certified Lover Boy. He co-wrote and produced the song ‘Fountains’ featuring Nigerian vocalist, Tems. “I wrote the majority of the song, and, of course, there was contribution from Drake and Tems. For me, that’s a great achievement and honour. The team reached out to me. I think they love what I’m doing and they wanted to create something different. We started exchanging music and it’s been such a blessing. There’s been many other people reaching to me out since the song was released, ” he said.

Apart from making us dance, Tresor is the founder of Jacquel Entertainment Group and through his company, he assists up-and-coming young artists. A