J.P. Bimeni & The Black Belts - Free Me (Extended Version) (2023)

INTRODUCING J.P. BIMENI & THE BLACK BELTS... A ROYAL REFUGEE TURNED SOUL SURVIVOR

“I’m loving his voice...we'd love to have him on BBC Radio 2”
Cerys Matthews (BBC)

"Very few people have a soul story to compare and from all the trauma has emerged one of the very best soul voices i've heard for a very long time" Craig Charles (BBC 6Music)

“Lovely voice and arrangement…this has early Stax/Vault/Atlantic written all over it.The real soul fans will love it” Keb Darge

J.P. Bimeni is the Burundian-born, London based singer with a voice laced with pain, yearning and soul.

A royal refugee turned soul survivor from the country voted the world’s least happy place to live

On his debut album Free Me, Burundian-born JP Bimeni astonishes with a voice that recalls Otis Redding in his prime whilst resonating with the soul of Africa. A refugee who’s been living in London since the early 2000s, Bimeni sings songs of love and loss, hope and fear, with a conviction that comes from the extraordinary experiences life has thrown at him.

A descendant of the Burundian royal family, Bimeni fled Burundi aged 15 during the 1993 civil war. Following three attempts on his life, he was given refugee status and fled to the UK where he’s remained ever since.

With it’s classic 60s-sounding Motown and Stax-inspired grooves the album was written by Eduardo Martínez and songwriter Marc Ibarz, Lucas Duplá and Bimeni imbues these tales of love and loss with his tragic experiences making ‘Free Me’ a deep soul soundtrack to his pained life: “When I sing I feel like I’m cleansing myself: music is a way for me to forget”.

On “Free Me” tough funk jams segue into deep southern soul and heart-felt ballads, with a unique vibe present throughout this modern funk-soul masterpiece thanks to Bimeni’s uplifting African ‘soul’ and style of singing.