Music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Papa Wemba and Koffi Olomide, major figures in Soukous music, performing in 1988.
Music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
General topics
Genres
Media and performance
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Music media
Kinshasa Symphony
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
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"Debout Congolais"
Regional music
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Francophone Africa

Congolese music is one of the most influential

intangible cultural heritage of humanity" list.[1][2]

Music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo varies in its different forms. Outside Africa, most music from the Democratic Republic of Congo is called Soukous, which most accurately refers instead to a dance popular in the late 1960s. The term rumba or rock-rumba is also used generically to refer to Congolese music, though neither is precise nor accurately descriptive.

People from the Congo have no single term for their own music per se, although muziki na biso ("our music") was used until the late 1970s, and now the most common name is ndule, which simply means music in the

Lingala language
; most songs from the Democratic Republic of the Congo are sung in Lingala.

History

Colonial times (pre-1960)

Since the colonial era,

ethnic groups, many of which had little in common with each other. Each maintained (and continue to do so) their own folk music
traditions, and there was little in the way of a pan-Congolese musical identity until the 1940s.

Like much of Africa, Congo was dominated

CEFA, Ngoma, Loningisa and Opika, each issuing many 78 rpm records; Radio Congo Belge also began broadcasting during this period. Bill Alexandre, a Belgian working for CEFA, brought electric guitars
to the Congo.

Popular early musicians include Camille Feruzi, who is said to have popularized rumba during the 1930s and guitarists like Zachery Elenga, Antoine Wendo Kolosoy and, most influentially, Jean Bosco Mwenda. Alongside rumba, other imported genres like American swing, French cabaret and Ghanaian highlife were also popular.

In 1953, the Congolese music scene began to differentiate itself with the formation of

François Luambo Makiadi (aka Franco). Both would go on to be some of the earliest Congolese music stars. African Jazz, which included Kabasele, sometimes called the father of modern Congolese music, as well as legendary Cameroonian saxophonist and keyboardist Manu Dibango, has become one of the most well-known groups in Africa, largely due to 1960's "Indépendance Cha Cha
", which celebrated Congo's independence and became an anthem for similar movements across the continent.

Big bands (c. 1950–70)

Into the 1950s, Kinshasa and Brazzaville became culturally linked, and many musicians moved back and forth between them, most importantly

Franco Luambo Makiadi[3]
at the helm dominated soukous music for the next 20 years.

Orchestre Afrisa International
instead, but this new group was not able to rival OK Jazz in influence for very long.

Many of the most influential musicians of Congo's history emerged from one or more of these big bands, including the colossus

French Antilles
.

In Congo, students at Gombe High School became entranced with American rock and

James Brown visited Zambia in 1970 and Kinshasa in 1974. Los Nickelos and Thu Zahina emerged from Gombe High, with the former moving to Brussels and the latter, though existing only briefly, becoming legendary for their energetic stage shows that included frenetic, funky drums during the seben and an often psychedelic sound. This period in the late 60s is the soukous
era, though the term soukous now has a much broader meaning, and refers to all of the subsequent developments in Congolese music as well.

Zaiko and post Zaiko (c. 1970–90)

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Pepe Kalle and Kanda Bongo Man
, among others.

By the beginning of the 1990s, many of the most popular musicians of the classic era had lost their edge or died, and President

Mobutu
's regime continued to repress indigenous music, reinforcing Paris' status as a center for Congolese music. Pepe Kalle, Kanda Bongo Man and Rigo Starr were all Paris-based and were among the most popular Congolese musicians. New styles genres like madiaba and Tshala Mwana's mutuashi achieved some popularity. Kinshasa still had popular musicians, however, including Bimi Ombale and Dindo Yogo.

In 1993, many of the biggest individuals and bands in Congo's history were brought together for an event that helped to revitalize Congolese music, and also jumpstarted the careers of popular bands like Swede Swede. Another notable feature in Congo culture is its sui generis music. The DRC has blended its ethnic musical sources with rumba and merengue to give birth to Soukous.[4]

Influential figures of Soukous and its offshoots (N'dombolo, Rumba Rock) are

Tabu Ley, Simaro Lutumba, Papa Wemba, Koffi Olomide, Kanda Bongo Man, Ray Lema, Mpongo Love, Abeti Masikini
, Reddy Amisi, Pepe Kalle, and Nyoka Longo. One of the most talented and respected pioneers of African rhumba - Tabu Ley Pascal Rochereau.

Congolese modern music is also influenced in part by its politics. Zaire, then in 1965, Mobutu Sese Seko took over, and despite massive corruption, desperate economic failure, and the attempted military uprising of 1991, he held on until the eve of his death in 1997, when the president,

Laurent Kabila
. Kabila inherited a nearly ungovernable shell of a nation. He renamed it the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Kabila could not erase the ruinous effects of the Belgian and Mobutu legacies, and the country is now in a state of chronic civil war. Mobutu instilled a deep fear of dissent and failed to develop his country's vast resources. But the walls he built around his people and his attempts to boost cultural and national pride certainly contributed to the environment that bred Africa's most influential pop music. Call it soukous, rumba, Zairois, Congo music, or kwassa-kwassa, the pop sound emanating from Congo's capital, Kinshasa has shaped modern African culture more profoundly than any other.

Africa produces music genres that are direct derivatives of Congolese Soukous. Some of the African bands sing in Lingala, the main language in the DRC. The same Congolese Soukous, under the guidance of "le sapeur" Papa Wemba, set the tone for a generation of young guys who dress in expensive designer clothing. The numerous singers and instrumentalists who passed through Zaiko Langa Langa went on to rule Kinshasa's bustling music scene in the '80s with such bands as Choc Stars and Papa Wemba's Viva la Musica.

One erstwhile member of Viva la Musica, Koffi Olomidé, has been indisputably the biggest Zairean/Congolese star since the early '90s. His chief rivals are two veterans of the band Wenge Musica, J.B. Mpiana and Werrason. Mpiana and Werrason each claims to be the originator of ndombolo, a style that intersperses shouts with bursts of vocal melody and harmony over a frenetic din of electric guitars, synthesizers and drums. So pervasive is this style today that even Koffi Olomidé's current repertory is mostly ndombolo.

See also

References

  1. ^ Haugerud, Angelique; Stone, Margaret Priscilla; Little, Peter D., eds. (2000). Commodities and Globalization: Anthropological Perspectives. Lanham, Maryland, United States: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 34–49.
  2. ISSN 0013-0613
    . Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  3. Village Voice
    . Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  4. ^ Stone, Ruth M. The Garland Handbook of African Music. p. 133. Retrieved 24 August 2014.

Bibliography

External links

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