Zacharie Elenga

Zacharie Elenga was a virtuoso guitarist and one of the founding fathers of modern Congolese music. His unique style of playing led him to be popularly known as Jhimmy the Hawaiian, or simply Jhimmy.

Born in Brazzaville to a Congolese father and a mother from the Ubangi-Shari territory of Central African Republic, Zacharie Elenga initially had plans for the priesthood, but it is said that he had a fiery temperament and he was likely expelled from seminary by the priests. Subsequently he found employment, as a stenographer with the firm Solbena, a workshop that manufactured shirts, and was owned by Greek brothers Gabriel and Moussa Benathar. The Benathar brothers were proprietors of a number of businesses in the Belgian Congo and fortuitously they decided to launch the Opika recording company in challenge to the monopolistic Ngoma record label.

In 1947, Elenga had been living in the Usoke Street area near Leopoldville’s city center, and it was there that he met Paul Mwanga. The two formed a musical collaboration named, “Groupe Jhimmy na Mwanga” (The Jhimmy and Mwanga Group), with Elenga playing rhythm guitar and Mwanga contributing vocals. The Benathar brothers had found ready stars in the Zacharie Elenga and Paul Mwanga duo, and they were signed almost as soon as Opika’s doors opened in 1949. Elenga had a unique way of stringing his guitar, choosing to replace the D string with a second E string, and picking the notes with his thumb and forefinger in a style that he called, “Hawaiian.” Further, Zacharie Elenga named himself after American country legend Jimmy Rodgers, who he admired, but spelling Jhimmy with an “h.” Hence he came to be known amongst his fans as Jhimmy the Hawaiian.

Pépé Kallé

Pépé Kallé, sometimes written as Pepe Kalle (November 30, 1951 – November 28, 1998) was a soukous singer, musician and bandleader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Pépé Kallé was born Kabasele Yampanya in Kinshasa (then Léopoldville) in the Belgian Congo, but later assumed his pseudonym in hommage to his mentor, Le Grand Kallé.

With a multi-octave vocal range and a dynamic stage presence, the 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) and 136 kg (300 lb) vocalist recorded more than three hundred songs and twenty albums during his two decade-long career. Known affectionately as "the elephant of African music" and "La Bombe Atomique," Kallé entertained audiences with his robust performances.

Musical career

His musical career started with l'African Jazz, the band of Le Grand Kallé. He later performed in Bella Bella and became the lead singer of Lipua Lipua, where he sang alongside Nyboma Mwandido. In 1972, Kallé along with Dilu Dilumona and Papy Tex, left Lipua Lipua to form their own band named Empire Bakuba. Empire Bakuba took its name from a Congolese warrior tribe, and it pointedly incorporated rootsy rhythms from the interior, sounds that had long been sidelined by popular rumba. The band was an instant hit, and together with Zaiko Langa Langa they became Kinshasa's most popular youth band. With hits such as Pépé Kallé's Dadou and Papy Tex's Sango ya mawa, the band was a constant fixture on the charts. They also created a new dance, the kwassa kwassa.