Name: JP Bimeni
Nationality: Burundian, London-based
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Current release: JP Bimeni's “should sleep” with Moby, is out via always centered at night. His full-length album with The Black Belts, Give Me Hope, is available via Lovemonk Discos Buenos.
Recommendations: Music: I have been binging on the album Ali by Ali Farka Toure’s son Vieux Farka Toure; Book: After The Ecstasy, The Laundry by Jack Kornfield

[Read our Moby interview]

If you enjoyed this JP Bimeni interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Mostly eyes open but sometimes eyes shut.

When I listen to music, I get various reactions to it. It either makes me dance (I love dancing), reflect, induces me into total peace or puts me into active mode with tasks. it depends on the mood of the music.

In the past, I used to let music play on very low volume and go to sleep with music in the background. And I do that now when I need to rehearse new music through absorption subconciously.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist?

My connection with music begun with my love for dancing to music since a young age while I was still in Burundi. I used to choreograph dance at college and mime to the lyrics, mostly English songs without even knowing the language. At about the same time, I started painting images in my mind of me in front of a huge crowd singing and touring the world with music. Now, those dreams are a reality. Amazing how dreams work!

I sing now lyrics in my language Kirundi and English, composing and creating songs, sing in front of amazing audiences around the world. It’s wonderful and I am filled with gratitude on this journey.

To be an artist, it’s fundamentally a labour of passion and love for the art form of your choice. So, can one train/learn being an artist? Yes. But it will have to be coupled with the aforementioned.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

Music was my escape, my “let it all hang loose” and take flight with dancing or put me in a reflective mood. Now, on top of that, it’s also therapeutic.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

To make sense of both of my inner and outer world. A tool to heal, motivate, inspire, communicate.

Creating also serves as some kind of diary of one’s life.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

I like to think that we receive inspiration. Then, through childlike playabiity coupled with curiosity, we serve to ourselves and others our take of what already exists.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

For me its about the feeling that the record is communicating. How all the parts are contributing to that feeling.

I wouldn’t say I have a particular and singular sound so to speak. We have a whole spectrum of emotions and ideas …

For me its more important to have an idea of what you are trying to communicate and find what suits best.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

Certainly. The sound when everyone is gone to sleep deep past midnight, a spiritual moment, next to the ocean and the forest is not too far. Night creatures / animals making their sounds next to the sound of the ocean and the silence of human activity. That’s transcendental.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

Not particularly. If I understand the question. With Music I have tried a few genres and different band formations from one man with a guitar to a 12 piece band. Through it, some projects were loud, complex, long, short etc …

I feel this question has a little bit to do with the first question above. All I understand is that, one is given tools/options etc …. to apply them around an idea you currently have.

So one chooses what best suits to serve a particular feeling you are trying to create / convey …

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

In short, when I’m alone, I could simply play a few chords on guitar and I might find a groove I like or good chords progression. Just simple.

I could start with a hook for the chorus then the rest is built around the main idea of the hook. Most of the time I proceed like that.

Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

The only decider for me when creating songs is how it makes me feel. If I manage to give myself goosebumps then its good enough for me.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

I have got so many plates all at once on the go. So I jump from one task to another quickly and I like the change. I don’t like to spend too much time on something. When I have a new idea of music, I record it on my phone. Actually I got my phone full of it. So I listen to my ideas when on trains, in cars, walking, shopping or generally while doing something else.

How I know an idea is good is when I start humming it without thinking about it, or wake up in the morning with the tune in my head.

I believe that everything is connected. Life reflects itself in all that exists. Hence, of course, music being one of those things.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Simply yes. Music speaks volumes with so little. That’s the beauty of music.

Through music, I say what I don’t know how to express eloquently or completely and what I feel but can’t put my finger on exactly.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

Yes, Post independence Burundi Modern music. It makes me cry. I can’t seem to listen my childhood music from Burundi. It gets messy inside me.

I think it's nostalgia, people who no longer exist, places, faces etc … I am slowly tracing my steps back and hopefully I will get to the bottom of it.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

Artists being in full control of their creations. A business model that remunerates the creators, and allows full ownership of their creations to pass down to family etc …