South Africa's Petite Noir takes his "new wave" to Europe

Africa’s new crop of musicians are not shying away from experimenting with music.

New genres keep popping up thanks to the young musicians who are spicing up their works with influences from across the African continent and beyond.

One such artiste is South African singer Petite Noir who is currently touring Europe with his first full-length album ‘La Vie Est Belle’ (Life is Beautiful).

Born in Belgium to a Congolese father and an Angolan mother, the artiste, whose real name is Yannick Ilunga, grew up in Cape Town.

His work offers an eclectic mix of musical influences.

More of a concept than a specific sound, Petite Noir describes his music – a mix of contemporary electronics and African shuffles – as ‘Noirwave’, which fuses the cultures of Europe (where he was born) with his African heritage.

“The definition we had for it before was ‘a new wave in African aesthetic’. First, it used to be ‘New Wave’ because it was new wave music, but now it is like ‘a new wave’, which means it is a whole movement, you know, it is a whole wave, with an African aesthetic, you know, we are African.”

Petite Noir’s ‘La Vie Est Belle’ (Life is Beautiful) was released to rave reviews last September.

His debut EP, The King of Anxiety was released on January 19, 2015.

The European tour will take the musician to Germany and France and later to the United States where he will perform at gigs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.