Benjamin Tollet
global sounds & cultures :: journalist, DJ & radiomaker
+32 474 853 919 
+32 474 853 919
Biography
As a Brussels-based music journalist, Afro-groove activist, radiomaker and DJ, I’ve been specializing in music from around the globe since 2005 for several Belgian and Dutch newspapers and magazines. I’ve got a clear penchant for African music – from the mother continent and the diaspora – and for world fusion/crossover.
My weekly program Radio Mukambo immerses you in Afro grooves and the pulsation of our cities where sounds get mixed up to create fusion without borders. Afrobeat, Afro-Brazilian & Afro-Latin, soukouss, Lusafrican, ethiogrooves, reggae/dub/dancehall with ethnic flavour, global hip-hop, tropical bass..
I never really planned to become a DJ, but via music journalism and my weekly podcast, the calls for DJ- sets kept coming in. As DJ Mukambo , I Africanize and groovalize nightlife with Afro-grooves that will make you dance the whole nite round! I almost exclusively plays new music, no classics from the seventies but brand-new grooves from the four corners of the earth that are being made today, music that is alive and kicking! I'm addicted to afrobeat but can also make the dancefloor shake to a selection of Brazilian vibes, Ethiogrooves or global reggae, or a mix of it all: Afro-Grooves from the Urb'n'Jungle! Check it out: https://youtu.be/uvihPVHcyr0
I founded Global Afrobeat Movement in 2017 to promote the current global afrobeat scene. Twenty years after Fela Kuti's death, afrobeat is more alive than ever. Literally every continent has afrobeat bands and it's safe to say there are more than a hundred bands spread over fifty countries. I have compiled an afrobeat album very year since 2020 for NYP Records. 2022: https://nyp-records.bandcamp.com/album/mukambo-presents-global-afrobeat-movement-3
I used to have my own parties in Brussels, from the huge GROOVALICIOUS parties in La Tentation and La Tricoterie to FESTA MUKAMBO and GROOVE KILOMBO at Collectif AuQuai along the canal in Molenbeek. “The most exotic cocktail-shake you can drink in Brussels. At the monthly parties DJ Mukambo serves spiced Afro-Brazil-Latin-reggae-hiphop rhythms that will keep you on the dancefloor till dawn.” (BRUZZ, 24/08/2017) Check out Festa Mukambo: https://youtu.be/wb0nIEfw7jI
These parties are on hold for the moment as the nice alternative clubs/venues in Brussels have been closing down or have been taken over by more commercial organizations.