Congolese journeyman Tresor making waves across Africa and Europe

News recently broke of the performer signing an “exclusive pan-African deal” with Sony Music Africa, under exclusive license from Vth Season Audio, home to MTV MAMA-nominated rapper AKA. Meanwhile, his single ‘Mount Everest’ is making waves throughout Europe, where it has been remixed by a German producer and released by influential Italian label Time Records.

On 19 June, Vth Season confirmed on Twitter: “African singer-songwriter & producer @tresorofficial has signed exclusive Pan African deal with @SonyMusicAfrica!!”

Born Mukengerwa Tresor Riziki in Goma, Tresor (French for "treasure" and pronounced "Trezor") is fluent in English, French and Swahili. Since his arrival in South Africa several years ago, he has been compiling songs for his debut album, tentatively titled VII, set for release later this year.

His first offering, ‘Mount Everest’, features AKA. The single, a fresh combination of urban, alternative music peppered with African influences, was released earlier this year. The song has been remixed by Freddy Verano, a rising German DJ who is part of the circle of DJs/producers who are conquering the world with their ‘Sunshine House’ sound. The song apparently drew a great reaction at recent International Music Summit in Ibiza and is now ready to conquer the whole of Europe. Both the original ‘Mount Everest’ ft AKA and the Freddy Verano Remix will be launched across Europe in the coming weeks under Time Records and Atlantic Records UK, part of the Warner Music Group .

Tresor recently announced on his Facebook page: “I am thrilled to announce that 'Mount Everest’ ft AKA, the debut single off my forthcoming album VII, has officially been released in Europe! It's always been a dream of mine to share my music with the world and I am super excited for great things ahead. The song has been released on radio across Italy this week and will be available on all digital stores from tomorrow exclusively under Time Records, a label which has successfully released music by some of the European finest talent such as Avicii, Hardwell and [Afro-Norwegian duo] Nico & Vinz, just to name a few.”

The song was released on all digital stores on 23 June, including on iTunes.

As part of Tresor’s major label debut, another single is due out soon titled ‘Never Let Me Go’, co-written and co-produced by Matthew Field from Beatenberg.

Fans in South Africa can also vote for Tresor to perform at the upcoming Vodacom Durban July on 4 July and stand a chance to win some great prizes. More details here.