Emmanuel Nsingani
What is this beautiful sound streaming across the bar?
You look up and see Emmanuel Nsingani—his finger-picking, his earthy emotional voice that ranges from guttural lows to sobbing highs. The buzz in the bar softens as his music commands attention.
It’s not necessary to be a jazz lover to be pulled in by the lilting Afro-jazz fusion that Nsingani creates. It’s mesmerizing to both watch and hear.
While he throws in some covers, most of his music is his own. He writes and sings lyrics in his native Lari, a language from the Republic of Congo, where he was born.
Nsingani came to the United States in 2014, moving first to Raleigh, N.C. A friend later told him jobs were plentiful in the Harrisburg area, so he found work and has come to love it here.
Soon after arriving, Nsingani visited Guitar Center on Jonestown Road. He was drawn to the wall of bass guitars, but there was a problem. Someone else was already there, holding a bass, ready to try it out. Nsingani picked up a bass of his own, and the two strangers stood back to back, almost like a shootout.
“I thought in my head—when you go to try out an instrument, the last thing you want is someone making a racket around you,” said Andy Alonso, the stranger with his back to Nsingani. “We started playing at the same time. We immediately started playing complementary melodies at the same time.”
Nsingani was quiet. He finished playing, smiled, and put the guitar back on the wall. Alonso, a professional musician, said he stopped him, gave him his card, and told him to call if he ever wanted to jam. It took a few weeks, but eventually Nsingani called, and the two have been occasional collaborators ever since.
“It was like magic from the first time,” Alonso said.
Since then, Nsingani has been playing together with many local musicians. He has his own outfit, the Emmanuel Nsingani Band, which includes drummer Jordan Davis, Sam Brooks on sax and Connor Rohrer on keyboards. Prior to COVID, the group played together regularly at SpringGate Vineyard Estate outside Harrisburg.
Nsingani has played all over the region, including at River City Blues and H*MAC in Harrisburg, Fenicci’s in Hershey, Babe’s in Palmyra, as well as at Lancaster and York venues. He’s played festivals and events, was part of the 2021 Harrisburg Jazz Walk and won best jazz band honors in the Central Pennsylvania Music Awards, known as the local Grammys. He’s nominated again this year.
Although the pandemic halted live performances, Nsingani is slowly getting back out. He and Alonso will perform with drummer Jeff Stabley in early March at the Appell Center in York.
Alonso, of Annville, said that he often will write some progressions to start a conversation among the three of them.
“It’s a little bit of a roadmap,” he said. “The three of us take it wherever it’s going to go.”
All of Himself
Following in his father’s footsteps, Nsingani picked up the guitar at age 4.
He was self-taught, although he later learned to read music, as well. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards, some drums, and played cornet in a Salvation Army band. He’s been performing on a stage in front of crowds since he was 10.
While he will play pop, rock and R&B when performing with others, he writes and performs Afro-jazz music for himself.
“My Afro-jazz is a mix of the music that we grew up playing in our country, which has different ingredients mixed with the jazz that I’m learning in the U.S.,” Nsingani said.
That explains why he and Harrisburg native Shawan Rice fuse so well when they’ve played together. Rice, who is based out of New Orleans now, said that they’re “both playing Black American music inspired by everything from jazz to blues to funk to soul.”
“I feel he brings all of himself to the project,” Rice said of Nsingani.
The pair has performed together several times, including at Harrisburg’s Kipona festival and fundraisers in Lancaster.
Although Nsingani has written most of his music in Lari, crowds still connect.
“Music is spiritual, and it’s a language that does not have barriers,” he said.
Still, he would like people to understand his lyrics, which is why he is writing new music in English. One of the songs on his new CD will include “Daddy,” whose lyrics include:
“I cry every day when I think about you
Lost in my world where comfort is my guitar
Since you left, Daddy, my life has changed
Could you see from where you are
the man I have become
… Daddy …”
“I just realized how easily I write about what I’ve been through,” Nsingani said. “Unless I’m asked to write something about a particular thing, usually I’m a storyteller. I tell stories about where I lived.”
He finds his identity through singing in his native language, although he also speaks French, English and two other Congolese languages, Lingala and Ki Tuba.
“I’m a very shy person, and I think it’s only through music sometimes that I can express myself easily,” he said.
Alonso confirmed that Nsingani’s message comes through.
“He has that ability to capture an audience,” he said.
Nsingani sometimes sits in with Andy Alonso and Friends. But, Alonso said, Nsingani has too much to offer to stand in the background thumping on a bass.
“If you’re going to use him, use him to show off what he can do,” Alonso said. “Why hire Stevie Wonder if you’re going to have him tickle the ivories in the background for you? You want him front and center.”
For more information on Emmanuel Nsingani, visit his Facebook page and see videos of his performances on YouTube.
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