Puerto Rico-Congo Musical Routes and Roots

One of my favorite things about listening to classics of Congolese music is the covers and allusions to popular songs from Cuba or the Caribbean. In this case, a classic from African Jazz (one of my favorite groups who recorded numerous songs praising Congolese independence), one hears a horn arrangement from Cortijo y su Combo that is quoted by African Jazz. Although it's only the horn arrangement, it's excellent to hear music from Cuba and Puerto Rico taking on 'local' colors and distinctive style in the Congo. El chivo de la campana!

Angolan Merengue

 

Who knew merengue was once popular in Angola? Because of its 'psychedelic' sounds and it is guitar-driven, Angolan merengue sounds somewhat like Congolese music or some Haitian compas of the 1970s, with very strong local rhythms (semba) invigorating the drums and ...some obvious influences of Congolese 'rumba'. Nothing short of marvelous to hear the mélange of African, Caribbean, and Latin influences in one song.



The Beauty of Ryco Jazz

From Congo-Brazzaville to the French Caribbean, enjoy Ryco Jazz! Their Congolese 'rumba' is thoroughly rooted in the Cuban son and the Afro-Caribbean music of the Caribbean, so it's magical to hear their recordings from their relocation in the French Caribbean. Check out the following songs:

1. "Tu bois beaucoup" is jazzy, Cuban-sounding, proudly affirming a Creole identity, and in every conceivable way classic.

2. "Kumbele" is a classic recorded earlier by Les Bantous de la Capitale, a band from Congo-Brazzaville.

3. "Marie Jose (Merengue Scoubidou)"

4. "Bana Ryco"

5. "Wachi Wara"

6. "Josephine Mama"

Merengue President

Who would've thought that the president of merengue would be from the Congo, and not the Dominican Republic. From what I've found out online, Nico believed his electric guitar sounded like the accordion in older Dominican merengue records available in the Heart of Africa. And yes, it does kinda sound like Dominican merengue, even if Congolese music owes much more to Cuban son. 

Africa Mokili Mobimba: The Triumph of the Congo

Awa ngai na vandi motema mobongi te oh

Okomo omonisa ngai bambanda na miso (2x)

Iya la baneri African Jazz la compagne

Nakei mobembo sima na nga banzaka 

Kokanisa te cherie nakozongela yo

Na Kinshasa na Matadi pe na Boma pe mayombe

Mayi mongala ekwatele,kivu maniema,kisangani

pena brazza,puente nuare kamerun,ghana guinee

pe na mali pe na poto amerika mokili mobimba

balingi babina miziki ya afrika...

The following post began as an email sent to two Egyptian-American friends about Congolese music, perhaps the best genre in all of the vast continent of Africa's forms of music. Here is what I sent them:

"Africa Mokili Mobimba" by African Jazz, and composed by Mwamba Dechaud, is one of the best songs I have ever heard. Recorded in Belgium by the Congolese rumba band after Congolese independence in 1960, the band also features a white jazz drummer from Europe. The song is about African Jazz's music playing across Africa and the world, which, coincidentally, it did. Their song "Independence Cha Cha" became an anthem for African independence and this song in particular was a hit. The lyrics refer to various African countries and even America as places where their music can be heard, although, in 1961, nobody in the US was really listening to Congolese music.

Part of the reason I love it is because of the inherent Pan-Africanist, pro-black ethos pouring out of this song. The way they sing Africa in the chorus makes that quite clear, as well as lyrics alluding to several regions and cities of the Congo, such as Matadi, Kinshasa, Kivu, Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, and other African nations such as Ghana and Mali. In addition, the band copies traditional praise song by naming the bandmates in the lyrics, thereby keeping alive local traditions and music. Furthermore, the band African Jazz, like most Congolese groups from this period, were creating music partly based on Afro-Caribbean, especially Cuban, music. Thus, this music is a product of the Black Atlantic world, of the Atlantic slave trade, and European imperialism. Music of the Caribbean, of African origin, travels back to its source in Central Africa and strengthens the bridge connecting the African diaspora in the Americas with our distant ancestral shores. Africa!

Mwamba Dechaud, who was actually Dr. Nico's brother as well as composer of "Africa Mokili Mobimba." Both brothers were great guitarists.

"Africa!" can be listened to here.

Here is a contemporary version of the song by what appears to be Americans who specialize in mixing Afrobeat, Soukous, and other African and African diasporic genres of music. Their version of the song is actually quite close to the original for the first 4 minutes before shifting to a more contemporary soukous groove. They get brownie points for singing the song in Lingala, too. "Balingi babina miziki y Afrika!"

Here is a version from 1972 that is shorter and features Tabu Ley Rochereau.

Dr. Nico, who played guitar on the original recording, also recorded another great version of the song in the future. Listen to it here. Dr. Nico is great on guitar as usual, playing smooth, ethereal solos with little distortion, a feature I've come to love about Congolese music.

This song, by the way, like many Congolese gems, is based on or loosely inspired by Cuban music. "El  Que Siembra Su Maiz" apparently influenced the "Africa Mokili Mobimba." Indeed, Grand Kalle et l'African Jazz recorded the Cuban song in the same year as "Africa Mokili Mobimba"and it sounds eerily similar.

Sam Mangwana also recorded a great version of "Africa." Check it out. He also performed the song live with Tabu Ley Rochereau in 1975 for posterity to enjoy.

Amazing World of "World" Music

An incomplete playlist of Jamaican rocksteady, reggae, and ska music with some Jamaican-influenced songs from the US and UK. Worth listening to here.

A West African music playlist including Afrobeat, highlife, folk music, mbalax, and other genres from Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, and Mali. Enjoy!

An Art Blakey playlist, also incomplete, but a good start. Listen!

Rough start on a John Coltrane playlist here.

Brazilian playlists galore! I have 3 different playlists encompassing MPB, samba, bossa nova, jazz, and a few other genres, such as baiao.
Check them out here, here, here, and here.

A Blues playlist here

A playlist including Curtis Mayfield, The Impressions, and other Chicago soul artists here

A Soul/R&B playlist also worth checking out

Congolese rumba 

Latin Jazz

Boogaloo/Latin Soul including many of the best Nuyorican artists of the genre's zenith in the 1960s

Miriam Makeba, South African kwela, marabi, and jazz included here

Hip-hop playlist as well

Jacques Sarasin's On the Rumba River

Jacques Sarasin's On the Rumba River is a beautiful, albeit, rambling film exploring Wendo Kolosoy's life, Congolese rumba, and displaying the beauty of human life as well as the majestic Congo river. For someone who has seen little of contemporary Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, nothing prepares one for the lush beauty yet haunting depravity of the slums depicted in the film. Despite the incredible poverty and depressing situations these older Congolese rumba musicians from the 1940s and 1950s find themselves in as impoverished, their beautiful music, which brings together people through dance, shows the ingenious and creative will to live of the Congolese people.

The genre, Congolese "rumba," is arose during the colonial period when records and radio stations played music derived from Afro-Caribbean sources in Cuba, as well as beguine music from Martinique. In addition to incorporating Afro-Cuban rhythms (ultimately from Central and West Africa themselves) and instruments associated with Cuban music, especially the guitar, local instruments and playing styles remained an ever-present influence. Indeed, the likembe, or thumb piano, is played by a fellow old timer musician from Brazzaville across the Congo river in the Republic of Congo. Indeed, the heartfelt reunion between Wendo and Moundanda in the film at the harbor not only displays the beauty of the Congo river, the wonders of reunion with old friends and acquaintances, but the problems of Kinshasa, the DRC's gigantic, but poorly administered capital city. Indeed, Kinshasa, the largest officially Francophone city in the world, is poorly served by the Congolese government, something Wendo alludes to at the film's conclusion when commenting on the state of disrepair of the ships along the Congo and the train system due to government corruption, greed, and self-interest.

Anywho, the film focuses on Wendo and fellow older, out of work musicians recording and playing music for fun in what appears to be a slum of Kinshasa. One's heart goes out for the people behind the beautiful music, played expertly by mostly elderly men (trumpet, saxophone, guitars, drums, clave, etc). It has been compared to Buena Vista Social Club since the film depicts the lives of wizened musicians recreating the popular music of the 1940s and 1950s, a time when their music was popular in the bars and nightclubs of Brazzaville and Kinshasa, when their music was the theme song for anti-colonial movements and an emerging Congolese identity. In fact, the film begins with Wendo and friends performing the song that made him a legend and "father" of Congolese rumba back in 1948, "Marie-Louise," which got him arrested by the Catholic Church for it's "satanic powers."

Wendo was also said to have risen the dead with this infectious, unforgettably beautiful and sweet love song. It laid the foundation for decades of rumba and soukous in Kinshasa and Brazzaville, including the sembene instrumental sections and characteristic fusion of Cuban son and other influences with Congolese styles and sung in Lingala. Now, to accredit Wendo with the creation of the famed Congolese genre is problematic, but his association with a Greek record label owner who started N'Goma in the 1940s was a brilliant decision that led to scores of locally recorded "rumba" by musicians in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. Listen to the original "Marie-Louise" and Wendo's other version of the classic. This live version is also good as well as "Camille" here because of the strong Cuban influences on the guitarist. Despite his early string of hits for N'Goma and pivotal role in the spread of the genre, his career died off after the rise of Mobutu. Wendo found himself returning to his former occupation as a boatman mechanic in order to make a living and not become a pawn of Mobutu's kleptocratic regime.

The rest of the film consists of interviews with other musicians and older residents of Kinshasa with connections to Fondation Wendo, the band and location in Kinshasa where Kolosoy's group performs. Some are quite poignant and moving, especially the older woman lamenting the death of her husband, a Malian, and children, leaving her alone in poverty in this world. The children and poor younger generation, whose lives are also depicted as one of triumph and joy within the horrible economic situation and political crisis of the Congo, seem to appreciate this music from a "golden age" of Congolese music where life seemed easier, people were more optimistic about the fate of the Congo after the formal end to Belgian rule, and the catastrophes and international actors contributing to the crisis in the eastern Congo or the rise of Mobutu did not happen yet. Now, of course life in the 1940s to early 1960s was hardly ideal in Congo, but everyone seems to want to escape to the past through nostalgic eyes...

There were some interesting moments in the film where the musicians themselves or other interviewees discussed colonialism and the postcolonial crisis quite clearly. Indeed, the end of the film, besides Wendo criticizing the current Congolese state, also features text explaining how international forces, including mining companies and Western powers, have intervened in the Congo and contributed to the political crisis, civil war, and deaths of untold millions in recent years over the Congo's wealth of precious metals in Katanga and other provinces. Likewise, one scene shows different murals and street art in Kinshasa featuring Patrice Lumumba, Wendo Kolosoy himself, and other scenes in the history of the Congo, including the slave trade and colonialism, represented by the Arab/Swahili traders on the eastern border and the Europeans coming from the west. In a different vein, Wendo and others also say nearly pro-imperialist sentiments at different points in the film. I see this most explicitly in Wendo calling for the band to pray and thank God but also expresses gratitude for "Christian salvation" that seems to, in some subtle way, justify Belgian colonialism and genocide inflicted upon the peoples of the Congo. Perhaps I am reading too much into it, and perhaps, since Wendo was an orphan raised by Catholics, his "gratitude" for being freed from the pagan ways of the past is misrepresented in the film. The film never fully explores the crisis in the Congo nor the history of Congolese rumba, so anyone looking for a deep analysis of Congolese politics or the civil war should look elsewhere. This film is really about the performances and the musicians telling their story with nostalgic, wistful eyes as they recall learning to play music by ear, their origins, the deaths of loved ones, and enjoy each other's company. Anyone interested in Congolese music or just seeing Kinshasa and the people who live there, watch this documentary.

Brazzaville musician on likembe performing with the band in Kinshasa

Amazing Song: Franco et le TP OK Jazz's "Tcha Tcha Tcha de Mi Amor

Amazing song with lyrics partly in Spanish. Franco plays some nice guitar licks as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RKxe0z4s08

Another gem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kez8AxEXZA

Congolese 'Rumba' and Popular Music

Here is a link to my youtube playlist for Congolese rumba and soukous

My favorite Congolese song is African Jazz Mokili Mobimba by African Jazz, another pan-African jam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvnhiELp2GE&feature=related

It is also one of the most widely covered songs in the Congolese repertoire.

1. "Independence Cha Cha" by Joseph Kabasele Tshamala  and featuring Dr. Nico on guitar, composed in honor of Congolese independence. Long live the legacy of Patrice Lumumba and African self-determination. Also, a beautiful song showing how Congolese music is indebted to Cuban and Caribbean styles. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reModLpEloc

Indépendance cha cha tozui e
Oh! Kimpuanza cha cha tubakidi
Oh! Table Ronde cha cha ba gagné o
Oh! Dipanda cha cha tozui e

Franco and OK Jazz were legends of Congolese popular music. Franco, a singer and guitarist, carried on the fusion of Cuban, Caribbean, and local Congolese styles with OK Jazz. His song, "Mario," a statement on gender relations in 1980s Congo DRC became an international hit sung in the Lingala language, which is a widely spoken and understood language used in Kinshasa and western Congo. Unfortunately, Franco was not an outspoken critic of Mobutu's regime, but his music has unquestionably changed the course of not only Congolese but African pop music in the 20th century. Several of his songs are beautiful lyrically and always feature aesthetically pleasing guitar lines.

2. "Mario" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JTWuPjW6Dw&feature=related

Oh Mario
Luka ata mwasi yo moko obala
Mario mosala kolinga ba maman mobokoli
Basuka yo te ?
Lelo makambo lobi makambo nalembi
Lelo bitumba lobi koswana nabaye
Naboyi kobebisa nzoto na manzaka nalembi eh
Mario nalembi e e
Mario nabaye e e

Dr. Nico, or Docteur Nico, was a great guitarist and composer himself. He helped create the 'merengue' style of Congolese 'rumba" (but 'rumba' in Congo owes far more to Cuban son than Cuban rumba and has nothing in common in Dominican merengue). He was also a founding member of African Jazz, a 1950s band that included Joseph Kasabele, author of "Independence Cha Cha." Like other guitarists in the 1950s, he began using an electric guitar and moving away from acoustic music. However, Congolese music did not become heavily dependent on electric instruments until more recently, when soukous international fame and spread to Paris led to increased use of synthesizers, etc.

3. "Merengue" has some nice saxophone lines. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDr_Zk5V9mQ

4. "Parafifi" by African Jazz is also good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftd18tr1M6g&feature=related

5. "Maria Valente" is also great. Sounds like Cuba. 

6. Franco did a sequel to "Mario" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVFg7nCUWB8

7. "Papy Sodolo" is a live recording of Congolese musiciens in London in the 1980s. "Africa!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ASvTcFjWk

8. Wendo Kolosoy's "Marie Louise" is also worth hearing. Beautiful name, beautiful voice. Also one of Kolosoy's early hits dating back to the late 1940s, when he became one of the first Cuban-styled bands in Kinshasa (Leopoldville back then) to record his music. He worked with a Greek who established Ngoma, a record label where Wendo starred and helped increase the production of Congolese records.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S_YVhK4Mts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3yJ6l8IpmM live 

9. "Mosala Mibala Ya Bato" by Franco & OK Jazz has some great guitar playing and a nice saxophone solo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7MrYv5jmIc&feature=relmfu

10. "Paquita" by Dr. Nico http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TJBvqI2MZQ&feature=related

11. African Jazz's "Merengue Scoubidou" by Dr. Nico

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHbMDttZktU

12. "Merengue President" by Dr. Nico

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWeMYsCUWbY

13. "Bella Mambo" by Franco & OK Jazz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgZ9GU_HxpI&feature=relmfu

14. Franco & OK Jazz's "Misele"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLsdZIzleWU

15. "Merengue" by Franco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmixJ8mZ1WQ

16. Franco & OK Jazz's "On Entre OK, On Sort OK"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-_bsKkpxhM&feature=related

17. "Pepe Kalle" by Wendo Kolosoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdufbSIkzfU&feature=related

18. "Lokumisa Congo" by Les Bantous de la Capitale 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lviFJXl405Q&feature=related

19. Wendo Kolosoy's "Bangala" and "Inongo"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckLPU-MXOW8&feature=related

20. "Ele Wa Bolingo" from Franco & OK Jazz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OO3jwHAX0U&feature=related

21. "Les temps passe" by Franco & OK Jazz 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_pjrIr-cjw&feature=related

22. "Mobutu" by Franco. Even though it's a praise song for an autocrat, the saxophone sounds amazing.

23. "Candidat na biso Mobutu" by Franco 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cSTL4dpcsA&feature=related

24. "Likambo Ya Ngana"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvkwOfLiDNc

25. "Ambiance Calle Katho" by African Jazz is one of the first Congolese songs to use saxophone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q2ObK85t-w

26. Succes African Jazz  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcJZN8fo7mA

27. "La mulata rumbera" http://grooveshark.com/s/La+Mulata+Rumber/3vo1AE?src=5

28. "Banana ages" http://grooveshark.com/s/Bana+Ages/3vntxm?src=5

29. "Massu" 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa09d1ioU3E

30. "Ngai oyo nazongi" 

http://grooveshark.com/s/Ngai+Oyo+Nazongi/3vnsPO?src=5

31. "Grupo OK Jazz" http://grooveshark.com/s/Grupo+O+K+Jazz/3vnxzm?src=5

32. "Finga Mama Munu" by Franco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxtywNOr4V8

33. "Aya La Mode" 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvnnWzMyf2k

34. "Attention na Sida" is important because Franco himself had AIDS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2dwiZ5pRFU

35. "Matanga Yo Modibo" by African Jazz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkVr8Ara7oE

36. "Table Ronde" by African Jazz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReDXC0yK31M