Soukous (also known as Lingala and Congo) is a dance music^[1] musical genre that originated in the two neighbouring countries of Belgian Congo and French Congo during the 1930s and early 1940s, and which has gained popularity throughout Africa. "Soukous" (a derivative of the French word secousse, "shake"^[2]) was originally the name of a dance popular in the Congos in the late 1960s, an African version of rumba. Although the genre was initially known as rumba (sometimes termed specifically as African rumba), the term "soukous" has come to refer to African rumba and its subsequent developments.

Soukous is called Congo music in West Africa, and Lingala in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – referring to the Lingala language of the region from where it originated. In Zambia and Zimbabwe, where Congolese music is also influential, it is usually referred to as Rumba. In the 1980s and early 1990s, a fast-paced style of soukous known as kwassa kwassa – named after a popular dance, was popular. A style called ndombolo, also named after a dance, is currently popular. Soukous also mixes styles from zouk music.

History[link]

Cuban music has been popular in sub-Saharan Africa since the mid twentieth century. To the Africans, clave-based Cuban popular music sounded both familiar and exotic.^[3] The Encyclopedia of Africa v. 1. states:

"Beginning in the 1940s, Afro-Cubban [son] groups such as Septeto Habanero and Trio Matamoros gained widespread popularity in the Congo region as a result of airplay over Radio Congo Belge, a powerful radio station based in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa DRC). A proliferation of music clubs, recording studios, and concert appearances of Cuban bands in Léopoldville spurred on the Cuban music trend during the late 1940s and 1950s."^[4]

Congolese "rumba"[link]

Congolese bands started doing Cuban covers and singing the lyrics phonetically. Eventually they created their own original Cuban-like compositions, with lyrics sung in French or Lingala, a lingua franca of the western Congo region. The Africans adapted Cuban guajeos to electric guitars, and gave them their own regional flavor. The Congolese called this new music rumba, although it was really based on the son.

The following example is from the Congolese "rumba" "Passi ya boloko" by Franco (Luambo Makiadi) and O.K. Jazz (c. mid-1950s).^[5] The bass is playing a tresillo-based tumbao, typical of son montuno. The rhythm guitar plays all of the offbeats, the exact pattern of the rhythm guitar in Cuban son. According to the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, the lead guitar part "recalls the blue-tinged guitar solos heard in bluegrass and rockabilly music of the 1950s, with its characteristic insistence on the opposition of the major-third and minor-third degrees of the scale."^[6]

"Passi ya boloko" by Franco (c. mid-1950s). From top: lead guitar; rhythm guitar; bass guitar.

Congolese "rumba" eventually evolved into soukous.^[7] The horn guajeos of Cuban popular music were adapted by soukous guitars.^[8] In a densely textured seben section of a soukous song (below), the three interlocking guitar parts are reminiscent of the contrapuntal structure of Cuban music, with its layered guajeos.^[9]

Seben section of a soukous song. From top: solo guitar; mi-solo guitar; accompaniment guitar.

The big bands[link]

Antoine Kolosoy, also known as Papa Wendo, became the first star of African rumba, touring Europe and North America in the 1940s and 1950s with his regular band, Victoria Bakolo Miziki.^[10]

By the 1950s, big bands had become the preferred format, using acoustic bass guitar, multiple electric guitars, conga drums, maracas, scraper, flute or clarinet, saxophones, and trumpet. Grand Kalle et l'African Jazz" (also known as African Jazz) led by Joseph Kabasele Tshamala (Grand Kalle), and OK Jazz, later renamed TPOK Jazz (Tout Puissant Orchestre Kinshasa, meaning "all-powerful Kinshasa band") led by "Franco" (Francois Luambo Makiadi) became the leading bands. One of the musical innovations of Franco's band was the mi-solo, (meanin "half solo") guitarist, playing arpeggio patterns and filling a role "between" the lead and rhythm guitars.^[11]

1960s–1970s[link]

In the 1950s and 1960s, some artists who had performed in the bands of Franco Luambo and Grand Kalle formed their own groups. Tabu Ley Rochereau and Dr. Nico Kasanda formed African Fiesta and transformed their music further by fusing Congolese folk music with soul music, as well as Caribbean and Latin beats and instrumentation. They were joined by Papa Wemba and Sam Mangwana, and classics like Afrika Mokili Mobimba made them one of Africa's most prominent bands. Tabu Ley Rochereau and Dr Nico Kasanda are considered the pioneers of modern soukous.

While the influence of rumba became stronger in some bands, including Lipua-Lipua, Veve, TP OK Jazz and Bella Bella, younger Congolese musicians looked for ways to reduce the rumba influence and play a faster paced soukous, inspired by rock n roll.^[12] A group of students calling themselves Zaiko Langa Langa came together in 1969. The energy of their music, and the high-fashion sense of the singers and dancers, inspired by founding vocalist Papa Wemba, made them very popular. Pepe Kalle, a protégé of Grand Kalle, created the band Empire Bakuba together with Papy Tex, and they soon became Kinshasa's most popular youth band, equaled only by Zaiko Langa Langa.

Other greats of this period include Koffi Olomide, Tshala Muana and Wenge Musica. Soukous now spread across Africa and became an influence on virtually all the styles of modern African popular music, including highlife, palm-wine music, taarab and makossa.

The spread to East Africa in the 1970s[link]

As political conditions in Zaire, as Congo DRC was known then, deteriorated in the 1970s, some groups made their way to Tanzania and Kenya. By the mid-seventies, several Congolese groups were playing soukous at Kenyan night clubs. The lively cavacha, a dance craze that swept East and Central Africa during the seventies, was popularized through recordings of bands such as Zaiko Langa Langa and Orchestra Shama Shama, influencing Kenyan musicians. This rhythm, played on the snare drum or hi-hat, quickly became a hallmark of the Congolese sound in Nairobi and is frequently used by many of the regional bands. Several of Nairobi's renowned Swahili rumba bands formed around Tanzanian groups like Simba Wanyika and their offshoots, Les Wanyika and Super Wanyika Stars.

In the late 1970s, Virgin records got involved in a couple of projects in Nairobi that produced two acclaimed LPs from the Tanzanian-Congolese group, Orchestra Makassy and the Kenya-based band, Super Mazembe. One of the tracks from this album was the Swahili song Shauri Yako (meaning "it's your problem), which became a hit in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. About this same time, the Nairobi-based Congolese vocalist Samba Mapangala and his band Orchestra Virunga, released the LP Malako, which became one of the pioneering releases of the newly emerging world music scene in Europe. The musical style of the East Africa-based Congolese bands gradually incorporated new elements, including Kenyan benga music, and spawned what is sometimes called the "Swahili sound" or "Congolese sound".

The 1980s and the Paris scene[link]

Soukous became popular in London and Paris in the 1980s. A few more musicians left Kinshasa to work around central and east Africa before settling in either the UK or France. The basic line-up for a soukous band included three or four guitars, bass guitar, drums, brass, vocals, and some of them having over 20 musicians. Lyrics were often in Lingala and occasionally in French. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Parisian studios were used by many soukous stars, and the music became heavily reliant on synthesizers and other electronic instruments. Some artists continued to record for the Congolese market, but others abandoned the demands of the Kinshasa public and set out to pursue new audiences. Some, like Paris-based Papa Wemba maintained two bands, Viva La Musica for soukous, and a group including French session players for international pop.

Kanda Bongo Man, another Paris-based artist, pioneered fast, short tracks suitable for play on dance floors everywhere and popularly known as Kwassa kwassa after the dance moves popularized by his and other artists' music videos. This music appealed to Africans and to new audiences as well. Artists like Diblo Dibala,Jeannot Bel Musumbu, Mbilia Bel, Yondo Sister, Tinderwet, Loketo, Rigo Star, Madilu System, Soukous Stars and veterans like Pepe Kalle and Koffi Olomide followed suit. Soon Paris became home to talented studio musicians who recorded for the African and Caribbean markets and filled out bands for occasional tours.

Ndombolo[link]

The fast soukous music currently dominating dance floors in central, eastern and western Africa is called soukous ndombolo, performed by Dany Engobo, Awilo Longomba, Aurlus Mabele, Koffi Olomide and groups like Extra Musica and Wenge Musica among others.

The hip-swinging dance to the fast pace of soukous ndombolo has come under criticism amid charges that it is obscene. There have been attempts to ban it in Mali, Cameroon and Kenya. After an attempt to ban it from state radio and television in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2000, it became even more popular. In February, 2005 ndombolo music videos in the DR Congo were censored for indecency, and video clips by Koffi Olomide, JB M'Piana and Werrason were banned from the airwaves.^[13][14][15]

See also[link]

• List of Soukous musicians
• Sebene
• Music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Musicians from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Music of Africa

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Gary Stewart (2000). Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos. Verso. ISBN 1-85984-368-9. 

External links[link]

• Soukous at the Open Directory Project
• The Sound of Sunshine: How soukous saved my life
• Rare recording (1961) of rural finger style Soukous guitarist Pierre Gwa with home made guitar

Kanda Bongo Man, born 1955 in Inongo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a prominent soukous musician.^[1]

Kanda Bongo Man become the singer for Orchestra Belle Mambo in 1973, developing a sound influenced by Tabu Ley.^[2] His solo career only started to take off after moving to Paris in 1979, where his music started to incorporate elements of then-vibrant zouk music (originating in the French West Indies). His first solo albums, "Iyole" in 1981 and "Djessy" in 1982, were hits.

He is most famous for the structural changes he implemented to soukous music. The previous approach was to sing several verses and have one guitar solo at the end of the song. Kanda Bongo Man revolutionized soukous by encouraging guitar solos after every verse and even sometimes at the beginning of the song. His form of soukous gave birth to the kwassa kwassa dance rhythm where the hips move back and forth while the hands move to follow the hips.

Like many African rumba and soukous musicians before him, Kanda Bongo Man also had an entourage of musicians. Many of Kanda's musicians later moved on to start their own solo careers. Most notable of these was Diblo Dibala. Known as "Machine Gun", Diblo Dibala was a vital part of Kanda Bongo Man's lineup on several albums, including "Kwasa Kwasa" and "Amour Fou".

Kanda Bongo Man still tours in Europe and the United States. On July, 2005 he performed at the LIVE 8: Africa Calling concert in Cornwall.

Discography[link]

• Iyole (1981)
• Djessy (1982)
• Amour Fou (1984)
• Malinga (1986)
• Lela Lela (1987)
• Sai Liza (1988)
• Kwassa Kwassa (1989)
• Isambe Monie (1990)
• Zing Zong (1991)
• Sango (1992)
• Soukous in Central Park (1993)
• Sweet (1995)
• Welcome to South Africa (1995)
• Francophonix (1999)
• Balobi (2002)
• Swalati (2003)
• (2009)
• Non-Stop Feeling (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Soukous.com Kanda Biography^{[dead link]}
• Official website

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2011)

Diblo Dibala, often known simply as Diblo, is a Congolese soukous musician,^[1] known as "Machine Gun" for his speed and skill on the guitar. He was born in 1954 in Kisangani. He moved to Kinshasa as a child, and aged 15 won a talent competition which led to him playing guitar in Franco's TPOK band. Dibala remained with the group for only a short period, going on to play with Vox Africa, Orchestra Bella Mambo and Bella Bella, in which band he first played with Kanda Bongo Man.

In 1979, he moved to Brussels, and in 1981 he joined Kanda Bongo Man's band in Paris. Their first album, Iyole (1981), was a success. Diblo became a sought after session guitarist, working with Pepe Kalle and many other soukous musicians.

In the mid 1980s, he formed his own band, Loketo (meaning 'hips'), with singer Aurlus Mabele. A few years later, that band broke up, and in 1990 he formed a new group, Matchatcha, which is still active after a number of personnel changes.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Diblo at AfricanMusic.org
• Diblo at AfricaSounds.com

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Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba
Background information
Born	1949
Origin	Lubefu, Sankuru Province, DR Congo
Genres	Soukous

Papa Wemba was born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in 1949 in Lubefu (Sankuru District, DR Congo). He is a Congolese rumba (later known as soukous) musician, one of Africa's most popular musicians, and prominent in World music.

Musical history[link]

Zaiko Langa Langa[link]

Papa Wemba was one of the very musicians to join the influential Soukous band, Zaiko Langa Langa when it was created in December 1969^[1] in Kinshasa along with such well known Congolese musicians as Nyoka Longo Jossart, Manuaku Pepe Felly, Evoloko Lay Lay, Bimi Ombale, Teddy Sukami, Zamuangana Enock, Mavuela Simeon, and others.

In a Congolese musical world dominated at the time by Franco Luambo and his remarkable band TPOK Jazz, Tabu Ley Rochereau's Afrisa, and by then-new musical groups like Les Grands Maquisards, Le Trio Madjesi, and even younger bands like Bella-Bella, Thu Zaina and Empire Bakuba, the young and talented Papa Wemba (then known as Jules Presley Shungu Wembadio), was one of the driving forces that by 1973 made Zaiko Langa Langa one of the most-performing dominant Congolese groups, featuring such popular numbers as "Chouchouna" (Papa Wemba), "Eluzam" and " Mbeya Mbeya" (Evoloko Lay Lay), "BP ya Munu" (Efonge Gina), "Mwana Wabi" and "Mizou" (Bimi Ombale) and "Zania" (Mavuela Somo).

Isifi[link]

In December 1974, at the pinnacle of their fame (and just a month after the Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa), Shungu Wembadio (Papa Wemba), along with Evoloko Lay Lay, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana (who'd joined Zaiko Langa Langa a year earlier), left Zaiko Langa Langa to establish their own musical ensemble Isifi Lokole, ISIFI being an acronym for "Institut du Savoir Ideologique pour la Formation des Idoles." Yet of course, not everything that Wemba claims in earnest can be taken as gospel. In July 1975, Shungu Wembadio officially adopted the soon-to-be-well-known worldwide artist name Papa Wemba, the addition of "Papa" (father) an allusion to what were in fact rather awesome family responsibilities as the first son in a family where both father and mother (Wemba's parents) had been deceased since the 1960s.

The "feux d'artifice" (fireworks) that was Isifi Lokole would only last a year, with the single "Amazone" (Papa Wemba) as its biggest commercial "hit" record. In November 1975, Papa Wemba, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana abandoned Evoloko Lay Lay and Isifi Lokole to create the group Yoka Lokole (also known as The Kinshasa's Wa Fania All-Stars, or Lokole Isifi, or simply Isifi), along with Mbuta Mashakado, another Zaiko Langa Langa 'transfusion.' Yoka Lokole enjoyed slightly less popular success than the original Isifi Lokole, but for a time still managed to remain at the top the African pop music wave with hit songs like "Matembele Bangui", "Lisuma ya Zazu" (Papa Wemba), "Mavuela Sala Keba", and "Bana Kin" (Mavuela Somo).

Like Isifi Lokole, the electronic-instrument driven Yoka Lokole (or The Kinshasa All-Stars) would not last much longer than a year, given the merger of so many big-name talents in the band's lineup. After a year of modest success, controversies within Yoka Lokole over money and prestige (complicated by Wemba's arrest and brief incarceration in Kinshasa Central prison in December 1976 for the 'crime' of being suspected of having had physical intimacy with an influential army general's daughter) would lead Papa Wemba, then feeling diminished by peers and neglected by the public, to form his own group Viva la Musica in February 1977 after a very brief return to Isifi Lokole and Stukas Boys of Lita Bembo where he played for a few weeks as a guest.

Viva la Musica[link]

At his home in the Matonge neighborhood of Kinshasa, Papa Wemba structured Viva la Musica around young talented artists like singers Kisangani Esperant, Jadot le Cambodgien, Pepe Bipoli and Petit Aziza, guitarists Rigo Star, Syriana, and Bongo Wende. A young man of the name of Antoine Agbepa (currently known as Koffi Olomide), whose friend were calling "Cheri O", was the unknown writer of most of the hit songs of the group. The group had nearly instantaneous success, with hit songs like "Mere Superieure," "Mabele Mokonzi", "Bokulaka," "Princesse ya Sinza," and others.

During the height of his success in 1977, Papa Wemba's family home, in Kanda-Kanda street, which had become a popular, some even said hallowed/special place for Matonge youths to gather "à la mode" (i.e., to be cool) was named the "Village Molokai," and Wemba assumed the exalted moniker "Chef Coutumier" (Chief) of the Village of Molokai. That village in the heart of Matonge, included the following streets, which firsts letters were used to form the acronym: M-O-LO-KA-I: Masimanimba-Oshwe-LOkolama-KAnda-kanda-Inzia.

In those days people referred to Papa Wemba as the "chief from the heartland (village)" to differentiate him from Kinshasa-born musical bigshots Mavuela Somo and Mashakado. However years later Mavuela would say that their difficulties only simply amounted to trivial foolishness over money, ambition and fame between some very-young people (that at the time they all were).

Since 1977, Viva la Musica has seen both the 'defections' of musicians every two or three years and the entrée and emergence of other new talents. Fafa de Molokai, Debs Debaba, King Kester Emeneya (1977–1982), Koffi Olomide, as a singer, (1978–1979), Djuna Djanana (1978–1981), Dindo Yogo (1979–1981), Maray-Maray (1980–1984), Lidjo Kwempa (1982–2001), Reddy Amissi (1982–2001), Stino Mubi (1983–2001) are among the currently well-known Congolese musicians who have served at one time or another with Viva la Musica. An old Kinshasa anecdote says that a college student then-named Antoine Agbepa Koffi was such an impressive songwriter that one day in 1977 Papa Wemba exhorted, "Ooh! l'homme idee" (Oh! the idea-man!) thereby on-the-spot renaming the impressive young singer-songwriter Koffi Olomide - and the name stuck...

After the wave of African emigration to Europe in the 1990s, Wemba maintained one group in Kinshasa (called at times "Nouvelle Ecriture," "Nouvel Ecrita," and now again "Viva la Musica") and another one in Paris ("Nouvelle Generation," "La Cour des Grands," and now "Viva Tendance"). He has also consistently maintained a very high profile in World Music with such great hits as "L'Esclave" (1986), "Le Voyageur, Maria Valencia" (1992), "Foridoles, Dixieme Commandement" (1994), "Emotion" (1995), "Pole Position" (1996), "M’Zée Fula-Ngenge" (1999), "Bakala dia Kuba" (2001), and "Somo Trop" (2003).

Papa Wemba is also known as an actor. In 1987, he played the male lead role in the successful Zairean (Congolese) film La Vie est Belle by Belgian director Benoît Lamy and Congolese producer-director Ngangura Mweze.

High and low times[link]

On 18 February 2003, suspected of being involved in a network that has allegedly smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) into Europe, Papa Wemba was arrested at his home in Paris.

Papa Wemba was eventually found guilty at some level in June 2003 and spent three and a half months in prison, an experience which, on his release after a €30,000 bail was posted, he declared had had a profound psychological effect on him. The singer claimed to have undergone a spiritual conversion in jail and even recounted this episode on his new album, "Somo trop" (released in October 2003). On the song "Numéro d'écrou", Papa Wemba recalled the day "God" paid a visit to his cell.

Cross-cultural influence[link]

In 1979, Papa Wemba became the leader of the Sapeur (Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes d'Élégance or SAPE) which he promoted as a youth cult.^[2] Wemba said:

The Sapeur cult promoted high standards of personal cleanliness, hygiene and smart dress, to a whole generation of youth across Zaire. When I say well groomed, well shaven, well perfumed, it's a propriety that I am insisting on among the young. I don't care about their education, since education always comes first of all from the family.

Recently, Priyan Weerappuli, the leader of the Sri Lankan group Pahan Silu; referred to Wemba as being among his greatest musical influences.

Discography[link]

• Pauline (1970, Zaiko Langa Langa)
• L'Amoureux Decu (1972, Zaiko Langa Langa)
• Mete la Verite, Chouchouna (1973, Zaiko Langa Langa)
• Liwa ya Somo (1973–1974, Zaiko Langa Langa)
• Ainsi Va La Vie, Amazone (1975, Isifi Lokole)
• Matembele Bangi, Lisuma ya Zazu (1976, Yoka Lokole)
• Mere Superieure, Bokulaka, Mabele Mokonzi, Muana Molokai (1977)
• Princesse ya Senza, Fleur Betoko, Zonga-Zonga (1978)
• Anibo, Ata Nkale (1979)
• Levre Rose (1979, with Rochereau & Afrisa)
• Telegramme (1979, with Simaro Massiya & OK. Jazz)
• Analengo (1980), Amena (1980, duo with Pepe Kalle)
• Santa, Matebu (1980, first full album in Paris)
• Melina La Parisienne, Ufukutano (1981)
• Evenement, Rendre A Caesar (1982)
• Eliana, Bukavu Dawa (1983)
• Proclamation (1984, in Paris with Ngashie Niarchos)
• Destin ya Moto (1985)
• L'esclave, Papa Wemba – Au Japon (live) (1986)
• Papa Wemba Ekumani (1987)
• M'fono Yami (1989)
• Biloko ya Moto-Adidas Kiesse (1991)
• Le Voyageur (1992)
• Foridoles (1994)
• Emotion (1995)
• Pôle Position (1996)
• Wake-Up (1996, duo with Koffi Olomide)
• Nouvelle Ecriture (1997)
• Molokaï (1998)
• Nouvelle Ecriture dans L (1998)
• M’Zée Fula-Ngenge (1999)
• Muana Matebu(1999)
• A La Une (2000)
• Zea (2001)
• Bakala Dia Kuba (2001)
• Somo Trop (2003)
• Muana Molokaï (2004)
• Ba Zonkion (2005)
• Cheeky Summer time - Collab with Father J (2004)
• Attention L'artiste (2006)
• Notre Père Rumba (2010)

Filmography[link]

• Les Habits neufs du gouverneur (The Governor's New Clothes) (2004)
• Combat de fauves (1997) - The African
• La Vie est Belle (Life Is Beautiful) (1987) - Kourou

References[link]

External links[link]

• Biography of Papa Wemba