J.P. Bimeni

J.P. Bimeni (né Jean Patrick Bimenyimana Serukamba; born December, 1976) is an English-Burundian singer, songwriter, and musician.

Early life
J.P. Bimeni was born on December, 1976, in Burundian capital Bujumbura. His father was a Tutsi military and his mother was a descendant of the royal family. His parents got divorced and his mother raised alone Bimeni and his three brothers. Bimeni was sent in a covent's school in the countryside. ''I played basketball with Hutus, I shared a dormitory with them [...]. I had no real idea of the difference between me and them until 1993''.

In October 1993, he was 15 at the start of the Burundian Civil War. He survived a massacre at his school; he was shot in the chest and at the hospital he was given medication that caused a dangerous reaction in his body and he lost half his body weight. He was airlifted in Nairobi's hospital.

"I was lying in a hospital bed in Kenya, watching maggots and pus coming out of my chest drain. [...]. I'd been told I wouldn't survive the gunshot wound I'd sustained in Burundi; a priest even came to read me my last rights."

He registered as a refugee and applied for a scholarship program run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In 1996, he earned a scholarship at Atlantic College in Wales and spoke little English. He earned an International Baccalaureate in Oxford and a degree in politics from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston.

In 2001, Bimeni moved to London. When he was a child, he wanted to be a performer. "I'd choreograph Michael Jackson dances with my friends." While in Wales for the first time, he bought some records from the singers Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Bob Marley and Marvin Gaye. He learned to play guitar alone and begun to sing his songs and played jam sessions with Roots Manuva's band and Shingai Shoniwa.

Career
During several years, he performed with different bands: Mantilla covered Sam & Dave, Jezebel Sextet covered Otis Redding.

In 2017, he sang with a funk group, Speedometer in Spain. The Tucxone Records label spotted Bimeni and offered him a chance to tour with the Spanish band the Black Belts. In 2018, the album Free Me was released. To Craig Charles from BBC Radio 6 Music, "very few people have a soul story to compare and from all the trauma has emerged one of the very best soul voices we’ve heard for a very long time." To Radio France Bimeni's voice recalling tones of Otis Redding and Marvin Gay and surnamed him the Burundian Otis Redding. This album with classic 60s-sounding, Motown and Stax inspired grooves, the album was written by musical director Eduardo Martínez and songwriter Marc Ibarz and Bimeni imbued these tales with his tragic experiences making ‘Free Me’ a deep soul soundtrack to his life: "When I sing I feel like I’m cleansing myself: music is a way for me to forget."

In 2022, the second Give Me Hope was released and he paid tribute to James Stern and Martin Luther King.

In 2021, Bimeni returned to Burundi for the first time in 10 years. He performed for the first time in Rwanda in 2023 under his child alias Mudibu.

In 2024, Bimeni shared a duet with Moby on his new album Always Centered at Night with the title Should Sleep. He declared :

"It is surreal for me, as I think about the journey I am on, have been on and am now working with Moby (internal scream, over the moon). I feel that through this work, there’s simple wisdom, warmth, healing, uplift, breath and steadfastness."

Albums

 * Free Me (2018)
 * Give Me Hope (2022)

Collaboration

 * "Should Sleep" with Moby (2023)