Indépendance Cha Cha

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"Indépendance Cha Cha"
Kikongo and French
ReleasedJanuary 27, 1960 (1960-01-27)[1]
GenreCongolese rumba
Length3:05
LabelFonior
Songwriter(s)Joseph "Grand Kallé" Kabasele and Franklin Boukaka [2]

"Indépendance Cha Cha" (

cha cha") was a song performed by Joseph Kabasele (best known by his stage name Le Grand Kallé) from the group L'African Jazz in the popular African Rumba style. The song has been described as "Kabasele's most memorable song" and one of the first Pan-African hits.[3]

The song were composed by

Grand Kallé and Franklin Boukaka, and first performed in 1960, the so-called Year of Africa, to celebrate the imminent independence of the Belgian Congo (the modern-day and Democratic Republic of the Congo). The song achieved considerable successes and remains the most internationally best-known examples of the Congolese Rumba
.

Background

In 1959 the Belgian government decided to host a

Victor Longomba, bandleader of OK Jazz. Longomba consulted fellow band member Franco Luambo, who stated that he could not attend because OK Jazz had preexisting engagements. Ultimately Longomba and OK Jazz guitarist Armando Brazzos chose to accompany Kabasele and African Jazz members Nico Kasanda, Déchaud Mwamba and Roger Izeidi. Together with conga drummer Pierre Yatula, they were to play under the name African Jazz.[5]

Composition and recording

Joseph Kabasele (left) and Vicky Longomba
(right) performing at the Round Table Conference in February 1960

As a prominent Congolese cultural figure, Kabasele and his band,

Congolese Round Table Conference on Congolese independence in early 1960.[2] Kabasele took part in the discussions.[6] The song was written on 20 January 1960,[7] incorporating instruments and rhythms of music of the African diaspora, particularly Cuba.[8] It was first played at the Hotel Plaza
in Brussels on 27 January 1960.

It was sung by Longomba and Kasanda played the guitar.

OK Jazz (Longomba and Armando Brazzos).[9]

The group recorded the song during the Round Table Conference, along with Kabasele's "

masters to various other companies before reaching an agreement with Fonior to release it.[10]

Lyrics

The song's lyrics called for unity in the post-independence Congo between the different factions and prominent figures of the nationalist movement in the Congo.[2] The refrain attributed the achievement of independence entirely to the Congolese people:[8]

Indépendance cha-cha, tozoui e
Oh! Kimpwanza cha-cha, tubakidi
Oh! Table Ronde cha-cha, ba gagné o
Oh! Dipanda cha-cha tozoui e.
(Independence, cha-cha, we've won it
Oh! Independence cha-cha, we've achieved it
Oh! The round table cha-cha, we've pulled it off
Oh! Independence, cha-cha, we've won it.)

The principal verses of the song include the acronyms for the major political factions within the Congolese pro-independence movement. The

Alliance des Bayanzi (ABAZI) and Parti Solidaire Africain (PSA) are all mentioned.[11]

A number of politicians (some of them party leaders) are mentioned by surname. In order, these are:

Moise Tshombe, Cléophas Kamitatu, Ferdinand Essandja and Daniel Kanza.[11][12]

Reception

From its first diffusion, the song proved extremely popular and has been described as the "first Pan-African hit".[9] Musician Gilles Sala later said that it (along with the other two His Master's Voice recordings) "sent a musical shock wave. It was pretty extraordinary, this spontaneous, natural music."[10]

The choice of language in Indépendance Cha Cha,

Francophone countries, many of them made independent in 1960 or soon after. Indépendance Cha Cha was adopted as the "song of the emancipation of the dark continent" and became extremely popular across Africa, although it achieved longest-lasting success in the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo.[2] When Rwanda became independent on 1 July 1962, a youth group marched through Kigali singing the song.[13]

Legacy

Indépendance Cha Cha is performed in one of the scenes of the 2000 film Lumumba, directed by Raoul Peck. It also appeared in Peck's documentary Lumumba, la mort d'un prophète.[8] An adaptation was made by Belgian-Congolese musician Baloji, entitled Le Jour d'Après / Siku Ya Baadaye in the album Kinshasa Succursale. Another adaptation has been made by Gérard Addat, entitled La Liberté Cha Cha.

See also

  • "Table Ronde", another song by Le Grand Kallé about Congolese independence.
  • Congo Crisis (1960–65)
  • Cha-cha-cha (music)

References

  1. ^ "(Music) "Independance Cha Cha" - The African Independence Anthem - Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den". Dibussi.com. 2010-01-01. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Libération 2010.
  3. ^ Stewart 2012.
  4. ^ De Groof 2020, p. 285.
  5. ^ Stewart 2003, p. 83.
  6. ^ Millward 2012.
  7. ^ Indépendance cha-cha - NZOLANI
  8. ^ a b c Ndaliko 2016, p. 114.
  9. ^ a b Mondomix 2010.
  10. ^ a b Stewart 2003, p. 86.
  11. ^ a b Kabasele 1985, pp. 93–94.
  12. ^ De Groof 2020, p. 283.
  13. ^ Halberstam, David (2 July 1962). "Rwanda, Burundi Raise Their Flags". The New York Times. p. 8.

Bibliography

External links
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