LingalaPop, Volume 9

This is Volume 9 of the Mauri Yambo Blog's series of #LingalaPop music. The point was made in Volumes 1 and 2 that certain Congolese music productions have all the features -- and effects on audience (or fan) sensibilities -- which are typically found in pop music as broadly understood. The hashtag given above highlights and groups what I consider to be stand-out examples of that kind of music. 

As previously indicated, Lingala is deliberately made a part of the hashtag in order to give due respect to that expansive lingua franca of the Greater Congo, which serves (in word and/or tone) as the base for the songs referenced here. Most of the songs under the hashtag are sung by Congolese nationals at home or in the diaspora -- but, interestingly, not all. In Volume 3, for example, two Kenyan Queens (Victoria Kimani and Akothee) featured in two separate songs in a full-throttle sort of way. 

Nor is Lingala the language that Congolese artistes, or those that they sing with, exclusively use in the included songs. French is a common ingredient across many songs; and so is Swahili. Choices are made from song to song, but perhaps not randomly. In Tucheze, Ferre Gola sang a considerable chunk of the lyrics in 'heavy-accent' but recognizable Swahili, while Victoria Kimani sang her part almost entirely in English. But Lingala did join them at the hip in terms of both tone and the synchronized flow of body texts. 

Nigerian artiste J. Martins appears with Ferre Gola in Ekelebe, in Volume 4, with enough gravitational force to influence the latter's celestial orbit. The same Ferre Gola, that is, who in that piece sings not, shall I say, in lyrical Lingala but -- in order to 'keep up' with J. Martins -- in bemusing English. Still, Lingala's tonal influence on both proceedings is not escaped, in whatever charming mix we may come upon the ingredients.

Volume 5, like the earlier four, showcases 10 video (or audio) clips steeped in #LingalaPop. Indeed, I think that the songs are among the leading ones. Here, too, not everything is pure Lingala. Barbara Kanam, for example, finely weaves her song, Reste, out of three language strands: French, Swahili and Lingala. She's as good in each just as she, herself, is. And Enemy Solo is sung in a 'volatile' mix of funky Lingala and lyrical 'pidgin' (that's English) by an irrepressible Awilo Longomba and super-charged P-Square! It is a match of equals.

In Volume 6, Linah (who is Tanzanian) and Christian Bella (Congolese) team up to deliver an exceptionally tuneful and colourful song: Hellow. Linah sings almost entirely in Swahili. The song as a whole is mostly in Swahili as well. However, Christian Bella renders his portion of the 'purely' Swahili lyrics with a decidedly Lingala accent. Arguably, this tilts the overall weight of the song's tonality toward Lingala, Christian Bella having already 'state captured' a significant portion of Lina's intonation in the first half of the song. 

In Olla as well, Christian Bella sings in Swahili with the same Lingala-accentuated verve. One should expect the same result, but Khaligraph Jones, the Kenyan Rapper King, blends, and so tempers, all that with his signature "stream of Consciousness" rapping style. And yet the Lingala imprimatur doesn't lose enough force to disappear. This is a win-win, in the end. We can declare a similar result in Nagharamia (sung by Tanzania's Alikiba and Christian Bella). Alikiba succeeds in creating a context in which Swahili (infused in a subtle and measured fashion with Taarab 'elements') cedes as much ground as it gains from Christian Bella's Lingala.

The songs in Volume 7 are sung mostly in Lingala, though four have French (or partly French) titles, and two English. They are all sung by Congolese artistes. Six of the individuals or groups featured here are appearing for the very first time in the #LingalaPop series. They are mostly men.

Three women sing four of the ten songs offered, all in video form. We have seen Claudia Bakisa and Mpongo Love before, but not Yondo Sister. She, Yondo Sister, is, I find, the finest of the bunch of artistes, male or female, gathered in Volume 7. She is among the very top in all the other volumes that we've seen as well. She dances with no restraint at all, as if possessed by the very words she sings and the tunes her ears and lithe body attend to. She goes, in the end, totally wild. Congo wild. Great funk! If you haven't seen Yondo Sister, I dare say, you haven't seen anyone.

Among the male singers, Cedric Embangu -- the lead singer in Cherie Enlevee Djino Kezipama (Song Number 4) -- is the most impassioned interpreter of the mood and all else that his song packs. He's really, really "intoit" -- body and 'soul'! And so it goes. READ MORE. 

But Sam Mangwana, with his fast-paced Fati Mata, makes an important point as well. It is that Rumba (Rhumba) has changed, and is no longer necessarily slow-motion music plus low-energy dance. He is not alone in this view, as artistes like Ferre Gola, Claudia Bakisa, Cedric Embangu, Fally Ipupa, Heritier Watanabe, Fabregas Le Metis and Didier Milla, among others, amply demonstrate. 

Five singers in total appear in Volume 8, as individuals or as artistic pairs, whom we have not seen in earlier volumes. These are: Didier Milla, Papa Wemba and Nathalie Makoma, and Madilu System and Nyboma. Papa Wemba and Nathalie Makoma (You shall place her by her 'family' name!) sing an attention-grabbing song, emphasizing their sense of freedom to break with 'set pieces' in order to catch, as catch can, nouveau sounds and styles. 

Didier Milla's team, likewise, delivers superbly innovative Rumba sounds and unfettered, stylized dance moves. Madilu System and Nyboma serve us a more 'mainstream' fare, but the dancing girls garnish it. They garnish it, with no apologies, with a "spirit of the dance" that's something of a bridge between Old R(h)umba and an Ascendant Soukous. 

Sure-footed Yondo Sister appears here, too, with two songs and sets of dancing shoes. And that silky voice. It's not a cameo appearance by any means. And all's well with Perdue de Vue. All's even better with Maweke's surround magic.

In this Volume 9 we have four singers we haven't encountered in previous volumes. These are, first and second, the late superstar Madilu System (aka Jean de Dieu Makiese, aka Jean Bialu Madilu) and Wuta Mayi. The two sing and share deserved accolades in a funky -- and 'just too tuneful' and truly dance-worthy -- piece titled L'heure c'est L'heure. 

Third, Alain Kounkou, who gives us as fine and thoroughly modern interpretation of Soukous as any in R.A.S Riens A Signaler. Fourth, Kidum, who pairs with lovable Alicios in Pete, in a touching tribute to love and the optimism and trust that it invariably engenders and rides on.

Eight of the titles in Volume 9 were sung and published after 2010; that is, in this second decade of the 21st century. But these cannot include L'heure c'est..., since Madilu System (born in 1950) died too soon, at 57, in 2007. We have already touched on two of the eight above; that is, R.A.S.... and Pete. The other six are: C'est Facile, Logik, Kin Fever, Jeudi Soir, Mwana Kento and Nashindwa.  

Let's touch only briefly on two of the remaining six for now; namely, Logik and Nashindwa. Sung in English, Lingala and French in different measures, Logik is, in tone and dance moves, a genre as far from Rumba as can be. It's a musical cocktail in a distinctly millennial style. That's to say, it has a beat, and dance memes, that place it at the very eye-of-the-storm that's today's youth-driven and increasingly borderless pop. But for the lyrics, and the people who play assigned roles in the clip, Logik might as well be a production out of New York City; or a major European city, for that matter -- which it most probably is in a literal sense. And yet Innoss'B's talent isn't getting as much attention in the social media as it truly deserves.

Christian Bella (Master of Melody), is a Congolese who has lived in Tanzania since 2006. He sings Nashindwa (= I'm beat) entirely in Swahili. But the lyrical tone is distinctly Lingala. So is the song's pervasive beat. The dancing that we see in the clip is a cross between Rumba and Soukous -- and consequently projects a slower version of Soukous. He may choose to live outside DR Congo, but Lingala isn't parting company with his musical muse.

Let's turn now to high-strung Yondo Sister, who sings both C'est Facile and Mwana Kento. The sounds in C'est Facile, we find, are pure melody, and are well interpreted by Yondo Sister's dancing belles. The mood that all the 'artwork' spreads is cabaret-like and all-alluring. And, out of the blue, the clip 'installs' a mellow ambience superbly tailored for a cocktail, or dinner, get-together of cool-society types -- products of multiple cultures and (ad)ventures. The inspired piano accompaniment just lets everything soar, and affirms -- affirms everything one would want affirmed. 

Mwana Kento is another thing altogether -- a moving and lyrical cultural statement. As an aural-ocular offering, it is an inspired and deeply touching, and perhaps 'possessed', feline-fed interpretation of the African spirit, which touches all things that there are to touch. The mood is deeply rooted in all that has (ever) happened in this big, big, big portion of Mother Earth -- and so, so deeply African. She, Yondo Sister, is the sole soul-sorceress here, at this moment in our time; an agile purveyor of our deep culture -- in its aural and all its danced dimensions. She's a true personification of it all.

The other female singer on the above list of six is Anita Mwarabu (in Swahili, it is tempting to translate this to Anita "The Arab"), already encountered in Bolingo Mabe (which she sings with such refinement with Innoss'B) and To Dondwa (with, among others, Fally Ipupa). Here, as already indicated, she sings a song with an English title, Kin Fever. She does not veer in any way here, or anywhere else we have seen her, toward any sort of avant garde frame of mind, contrary to what we will presently say of Yondo Sister. She just does what she's got to do, it seem, in the moment -- from song to song. 

She's proving that she is multi-talented, for sure, but is yet to affirm a distinct persona for her artistic calling. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though, since movie stars are not hampered by such. Many/most remain stars even though they play very different roles in their cinematic careers. What matters there is the quality of their performance from one movie to another. And yet we know that a good number of really outstanding stars are very particular about the roles that they agree to play, and that their fans have come to expect. The choice is as much the artiste's as it is the star's, and it is for the rest of us to judge.

Unlike Mbilia Bel -- who's always been "current" and flowing without sideshows with the LingalaPop flow of 'the day' -- Anita Mwarabu is unmistakably 'modern' in a different kind of way in Kin Fever, and thoroughly 'hip'. She's trendy and 'in the groove' here, and doesn't flinch. She's the epitome of the global "now". Just look at the body texts that populate the clip! And yet this is not typical Anita Mwarabu -- certainly not yet. She'll have to do more stuff like this for the divergent personae to stick, in a collective way, in her fans' minds. One doesn't know if she really wants to, or if this is a passing phase. We'll wait to see. But her performance in Kin Fever is good, regardless -- very good.

In general, it can be said that among the girls (and even among the men), Yondo Sister chose the avant garde path very early in her career, when the environment in which she grew up musically demanded only that one stayed "current" -- and flowed with 'it'. One detects great rebelliousness in her in this respect. The rebellion long ago became the habit that informs our reading of her art, and her approach to broader life. All of us who  savor her music and her characteristic counter-intuitive acts -- in sum, her magic -- we're all the richer for it. So ends my comments on the songs in Volume 9.

This growing selection of #LingalaPop titles, now in the ninth volume, includes a number about which I have made 'substantive' comments already or, alternatively, ranked in #TheYamboSelection series -- over the stretch of a few years. And, as mentioned in earlier volumes, I have restricted my commentary essentially to songs that have "reached my ears" in one way or another -- or, let's say it, via smart algorithms. It has not been a total scouring of the Great Lakes and Rivers (etc) universe -- which would have been an exercise in futility for one man.

The urge to share exemplary or exciting 'finds' on a particular list (scheduled or not) may prompt -- indeed already has (in #TheYamboSelection series), and in some instances perhaps should -- the publication of the list before the narratives related to particular titles are ready for release, or even 'fully' drafted. The fact is that there's just so much Lingala music from the past, leave alone the numbers being produced these days -- and increasingly "all over". The urge to share must keep reasonable pace with the volume and accelerating velocity of creative productions. 

The lister's and commentator's work is never done, experience teaches! Such comments as I have already made are available on this blog, but the links I give below take you only to the clips associated with the songs listed in Volume 9. Links to any comments that I will make in the days and months ahead about particular titles on the list below will be added to an updated version of this post as soon as those comments are ready to share. 

As has been the practice in earlier volumes, the songs appearing below are not arranged in any particular order of rank. I really love all of them, and think you will do so too. Let me also add that the 'burst' of incoming evidence that I have encountered as I have continued with my (re)search on songs that deserve inclusion means that we are now even closer to Volume 10 than imagined just three or so volumes back.

Here below are the video/audio clips that make up Volume 9:
Click (you may have to Right Click) the song of your choice on the list below, and then (if you have Right Clicked) choose the "Open link in new tab" option in order to watch or listen to the clip.

1. L'heure c'est L'heure by Madilu System ft. Wuta Mayi (2017?)
2. C'est Facile by Yondo Sister (2012)
3. Logik by Innoss'B (2017)
4. R.A.S. Rien A Signaler by Alain KounKou (2012)
5. Kin Fever by Anita Mwarabu ft. Oliverman (2016)
6. Jeudi Soir by Fally Ipupa (2017)
7. Mwana Kento by Yondo Sister (2013, Here's the 2008 ver.)
8. Zazou by Ferre Gola (2009)
9. Nashindwa by Christian Bella (2015) 
10. Pete by Alicios ft. Kidum (2016)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find below links to previous Volumes ~ 1 to 8:
1. LingalaPop, Volume 1
2. LingalaPop, Volume 2
3. LingalaPop, Volume 3
4. LingalaPop, Volume 4
5. LingalaPop, Volume 5 
6. LingalaPop, Volume 6
7. LingalaPop, Volume 7

8. LingalaPop, Volume 8

LingalaPop, Volume 8

This is Volume 8 of the Mauri Yambo Blog's series of #LingalaPop music. The point has been made in Volumes 1 and 2 that certain Congolese music productions have all the features -- and effects on audience (or fan) sensibilities -- which are typically found in pop music as broadly understood. The hashtag given above groups and highlights what I consider to be stand-out examples of that kind of music. 

As previously indicated, Lingala is deliberately made a part of the hashtag in order to give due respect to that expansive lingua franca of the Greater Congo, which serves (in word and/or tone) as the base for the songs referenced here. Most of the songs under the hashtag are sung by Congolese nationals at home or in the diaspora -- but, interestingly, not all. In Volume 3, for example, two Kenyan Queens (Victoria Kimani and Akothee) featured in two separate songs in a full-throttle sort of way. 

Nor is Lingala the language that Congolese artistes, or those that they sing with, exclusively use in the included songs. French is a common ingredient across many songs; and so is Swahili. Choices are made from song to song, but perhaps not randomly. In Tucheze, Ferre Gola sang a considerable chunk of the lyrics in 'heavy-accent' but recognizable Swahili, while Victoria Kimani sang her part almost entirely in English. But Lingala did join them at the hip in terms of both tone and the synchronized flow of body texts. 

Nigerian artiste J. Martins appears with Ferre Gola in Ekelebe, in Volume 4, with enough gravitational force to influence the latter's celestial orbit. The same Ferre Gola, that is, who in that piece sings not, shall I say, in lyrical Lingala but -- in order to 'keep up' with J. Martins -- in bemusing English. Still, Lingala's tonal influence on both proceedings is not escaped, in whatever charming mix we may come upon the ingredients.

Volume 5, like the earlier four, showcases 10 video (or audio) clips steeped in #LingalaPop. Indeed, I think that the songs are among the leading ones. Here, too, not everything is pure Lingala. Barbara Kanam, for example, finely weaves her song, Reste, out of three language strands: French, Swahili and Lingala. She's as good in each just as she, herself, is. And Enemy Solo is sung in a 'volatile' mix of funky Lingala and lyrical 'pidgin' (that's English) by an irrepressible Awilo Longomba and super-charged P-Square! It is a match of equals.

In Volume 6, Linah (who is Tanzanian) and Christian Bella (Congolese) team up to deliver an exceptionally tuneful and colourful song: Hellow. Linah sings almost entirely in Swahili. The song as a whole is mostly in Swahili as well. However, Christian Bella renders his portion of the 'purely' Swahili lyrics with a decidedly Lingala accent. Arguably, this tilts the overall weight of the song's tonality toward Lingala, Christian Bella having already 'state captured' a significant portion of Lina's intonation in the first half of the song. 

In Olla as well, Christian Bella sings in Swahili with the same Lingala-accentuated verve. One should expect the same result, but Khaligraph Jones, the Kenyan Rapper King, blends, and so tempers, all that with his signature "stream of Consciousness" rapping style. And yet the Lingala imprimatur doesn't lose enough force to disappear. This is a win-win, in the end. We can declare a similar result in Nagharamia (sung by Tanzania's Alikiba and Christian Bella). Alikiba succeeds in creating a context in which Swahili (infused in a subtle and measured fashion with Taarab 'elements') cedes as much ground as it gains from Christian Bella's Lingala.

The songs in Volume 7 are sung mostly in Lingala, though four have French (or partly French) titles, and two English. They are all sung by Congolese artistes. Six of the individuals or groups featured here are appearing for the very first time in the #LingalaPop series. They are mostly men.

Three women sing four of the ten songs offered, all in video form. We have seen Claudia Bakisa and Mpongo Love before, but not Yondo Sister. She, Yondo Sister, is, I find, the finest of the bunch of artistes, male or female, gathered in Volume 7. She is among the very top in all the other volumes that we've seen as well. She dances with no restraint at all, as if possessed by the very words she sings and the tunes her ears and lithe body attend to. She goes, in the end, totally wild. Congo wild. Great funk! If you haven't seen Yondo Sister, I dare say, you haven't seen anyone.

Among the male singers, Cedric Embangu -- the lead singer in Cherie Enlevee Djino Kezipama (Song Number 4) -- is the most impassioned interpreter of the mood and all else that his song packs. He's really, really "intoit" -- body and 'soul'! And so it goes. READ MORE. 

But Sam Mangwana, with his fast-paced Fati Mata, makes an important point as well. It is that Rumba (Rhumba) has changed, and is no longer necessarily slow-motion music plus low-energy dance. He is not alone in this view, as artistes like Ferre Gola, Claudia Bakisa, Cedric Embangu, Fally Ipupa, Heritier Watanabe, Fabregas Le Metis and Didier Milla, among others, amply demonstrate. 

Five singers in total appear in Volume 8, as individuals or as artistic pairs, whom we have not seen in earlier volumes. These are: Didier Milla, Papa Wemba and Nathalie Makoma, and Madilu System and Nyboma. Papa Wemba and Nathalie Makoma (You shall place her by her 'family' name!) sing an attention-grabbing song, emphasizing their sense of freedom to break with 'set pieces' in order to catch, as catch can, nouveau sounds and styles. Didier Milla's team, likewise, delivers superbly innovative Rumba sounds and unfettered, stylized dance moves. Madilu System and Nyboma serve us a more 'mainstream' fare, but the dancing girls garnish it. They garnish it, with no apologies, with a "spirit of the dance" that's something of a bridge between Old R(h)umba and an Ascendant Soukous. 

Sure-footed Yondo Sister appears here, too, with two songs and sets of dancing shoes. And that silky voice. It's not a cameo appearance by any means. And all's well with Perdue de Vue. All's even better with Maweke's surround magic.

This growing selection of #LingalaPop titles includes a number about which I have made 'substantive' comments already or, alternatively, ranked in #TheYamboSelection series -- over the stretch of a few years. And I have restricted my commentary essentially to songs that have "reached my ears" in one way or another -- or, let's say it, via smart algorithms. It has not been a total scouring of the Great Lakes and Rivers (etc) universe -- which would have been an exercise in futility for one man.

The urge to share exemplary or exciting 'finds' on a particular list (scheduled or not) may prompt -- indeed already has (in #TheYamboSelection series), and in some instances perhaps should -- the publication of the list before the narratives related to particular titles are ready for release, or even 'fully' drafted. The fact is that there's just so much Lingala music from the past, leave alone the numbers being produced these days -- and increasingly "all over". The urge to share must keep reasonable pace with the volume and accelerating velocity of creative productions. 

The lister's and commentator's work is never done, experience teaches! Such comments as I have already made are available on this blog, but the links I give below take you only to the clips associated with the songs listed in Volume 8. Links to any comments that I will make in the days ahead about particular titles on the list below will be added to an updated version of this post as soon as those comments are ready to share. 

The songs appearing below are not arranged in any particular order of rank. I really love all of them, and think you will do so too. Let me also add that the 'burst' of incoming evidence that I have encountered as I have continued with my (re)search on songs that deserve inclusion means that we are now inexorably headed toward Volume 10. Soon enough, but no one really knows when.

Here below are the video/audio clips that make up Volume 8:
Click (you may have to Right Click) the song of your choice on the list below, and then (if you have Right Clicked) choose the "Open link in new tab" option in order to watch or listen to the clip.

1. Sosola by Makoma (2012)
2. Jalousie by Madilu System feat. Nyboma (2013)
3. Cadence Mudanda by Mbilia Bel (2017) 
4. Vie a Zero by Didier Milla (2009)
5. Perdue de Vue by Yondo Sister (2013)
6. "6 Millions ya ba Soucis" by Papa Wemba ft. Nathalie Makoma (2010)
7. Coupe Bibamba by Awilo Longomba (2008)
8. Sans Trace by Claudia Bakisa (2013)
9. Maweke by Yondo Sister (2013)
10. Mwinda by Makoma (2012)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find below links to previous Volumes ~ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7:
1. LingalaPop, Volume 1
2. LingalaPop, Volume 2
3. LingalaPop, Volume 3
4. LingalaPop, Volume 4
5. LingalaPop, Volume 5 
6. LingalaPop, Volume 6
7. LingalaPop, Volume 7

LingalaPop, Volume 7

This is Volume 7 of the Mauri Yambo Blog's series of #LingalaPop music. The point has been made in Volumes 1 and 2 that certain Congolese music productions have all the features -- and effects on audience (or fan) sensibilities -- which are typically found in pop music as broadly understood. The hashtag given above groups and highlights what I consider to be stand-out examples of that kind of music. 

As previously indicated, Lingala is featured in that hashtag in order to give due respect to that expansive lingua franca of the Greater Congo, which serves (in word and/or tone) as the base for the songs referenced here. Most of the songs under the hashtag are sung by Congolese nationals at home or in the diaspora -- but, interestingly, not all. In Volume 3, for example, two Kenyan Queens (Victoria Kimani and Akothee) featured in two separate songs in a full-throttle sort of way. 

Nor is Lingala the language that Congolese artistes, or those that they sing with, exclusively use in the included songs. In Tucheze, Ferre Gola sang a considerable chunk of the lyrics in 'heavy-accent' but recognizable Swahili, while Victoria Kimani sang her part almost entirely in English. Lingala joined them at the hip in terms of both tone and the synchronized flow of body texts. 

Nigerian artiste J. Martins appears with Ferre Gola in Ekelebe, in Volume 4, with enough gravitational force to influence the latter's celestial orbit. The same Ferre Gola, that is, who in that piece sings not, shall I say, in lyrical Lingala but in bemusing English. Still, Lingala's tonal influence on both proceedings is not escaped, in whatever charming mix we may come upon the ingredients.

Volume 5, like the earlier four, showcases 10 video (or audio) clips steeped in #LingalaPop. Indeed, I think that the songs are among the leading ones. Here, too, not everything is pure Lingala. Barbara Kanam, for example, finely weaves her song, Reste, out of three language strands: French, Swahili and Lingala. She's as good in each just as she, herself, is. And Enemy Solo is sung in a 'volatile' mix of funky Lingala and lyrical 'pidgin' (that's English) by an irrepressible Awilo Longomba and super-charged P-Square! 

In Volume 6, Linah (who is Tanzanian) and Christian Bella (Congolese) team up to deliver an exceptionally tuneful and colourful song: Hellow. Linah sings almost entirely in Swahili. The song as a whole is mostly in Swahili as well. However, Christian Bella renders his portion of the 'purely' Swahili lyrics with a decidedly Lingala accent. Arguably, this tilts the overall weight of the song's tonality toward Lingala, Christian Bella having already 'state captured' a significant portion of Lina's intonation in the first half of the song. 

In Olla as well, Christian Bella sings in Swahili with the same Lingala-accentuated verve. One should expect the same result, but Khaligraph Jones, the Kenyan Rapper King, blends, and so tempers, all that with his signature "stream of Consciousness" rapping style. And yet the Lingala imprimatur doesn't lose enough force to disappear. This is a win-win, in the end. We can declare a similar result in Nagharamia (sung by Tanzania's Alikiba and Christian Bella). Alikiba succeeds in creating a context in which Swahili (infused in a subtle and measured fashion with Taarab 'elements') cedes as much ground as it gains from Christian Bella's Lingala.

The songs in Volume 7 are sung mostly in Lingala, though four have French (or partly French) titles, and two English. They are all sung by Congolese artistes. Six of the individuals or groups featured here are appearing for the very first time in the #LingalaPop series. They are mostly men.

Three women sing four of the ten songs offered, all in video form. We have seen Claudia Bakisa and Mpongo Love before, but not Yondo Sister. She, Yondo Sister, is, I find, the finest of the bunch of artistes, male or female, gathered in Volume 7. She is among the very top in all the other volumes that we've seen as well. She dances with no restraint at all, as if possessed by the very words she sings and the tunes her ears and lithe body attend to. She goes, in the end, totally wild. Congo wild. Great funk! If you haven't seen Yondo Sister, I dare say, you haven't seen anyone.

Among the male singers, Cedric Embangu -- the lead singer in Cherie Enlevee Djino Kezipama (Song Number 4) -- is the most impassioned interpreter of the mood and all else that his song packs. He's really, really "intoit" -- body and 'soul'! And so it goes. READ MORE. 

But Sam Mangwana, with his fast-paced Fati Mata, makes an important point as well. It is that Rumba has changed, and is no longer necessarily slow-motion music and low-energy dance. He is not alone in this view, as artistes like Ferre Gola, Claudia Bakisa, Cedric Embangu, Fally Ipupa, Heritier Watanabe and Fabregas Le Metis, among others, amply demonstrate.

My growing selection of #LingalaPop titles includes a number about which I have made 'substantive' comments already or, alternatively, ranked in #TheYamboSelection series -- over the stretch of a few years. And I have restricted my commentary essentially to songs that have "reached my ears" in one way or another -- or, let's say it, via smart algorithms. It has not been a total scouring of the Great Lakes and Rivers (etc) universe -- which would have been an exercise in futility for one man.

The urge to share exemplary or exciting 'finds' on a particular list (scheduled or not) may prompt -- indeed already has (in #TheYamboSelection series), and in some instances perhaps should -- the publication of the list before the narratives related to particular titles are ready for release, or even 'fully' drafted. The fact is that there's just so much Lingala music from the past, leave alone the numbers being produced these days -- and increasingly "all over". The urge to share must keep reasonable pace with the volume and accelerating velocity of creative productions. 

The lister's and commentator's work is never done, experience teaches! Such comments as I have already made are available on this blog, but the links I give below take you only to the clips associated with the songs listed in Volume 7. Links to any comments that I will make in the days ahead about particular titles on the list below will be added to an updated version of this post as soon as those comments are ready to share. 

The songs appearing below are not arranged in any particular order of rank. I really love all of them, and think you will do so too. Let me also add that the 'burst' of incoming evidence that I have encountered as I have continued with my (re)search on songs that deserve inclusion means, alas/happily, that even Volume 7 will not be the last. Opportunity and ambition -- which are good and energizing to have -- suggest that there's going to be a Volume 10, sometime. No one knows when.

About the video/audio clips included in Volume 7:
Click (you may have to Right Click) the song of your choice on the list below, and then (if you have Right Clicked) choose the "Open link in new tab" option in order to watch or listen to the clip.

1. Fati Mata by Sam Mangwana (Audio 2009)
2. Aminata by Madilu System (Audio July 2017?)
3. Bizu Bizu by Claudia Bakisa (2018)
4. Cherie Enlevee Djino Kezipama by Cedric Embangu x JB Mpiana (2011)
5. Double Double by Nyboma (2014?) 
6. Faute ya Commercat by (Poet) Simaro Massiya Lutamba (Audio 1974/2009)
7. Cheri Enleve Integrale by Claudia Bakisa (2012)
8. Bakake by Mpongo Love (video 2014)
9. Mbuta Mutu by Yondo Sister (2015)
10. Double Face by Fabregas Le Metis (2018)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find below links to previous Volumes ~ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6:
1. LingalaPop, Volume 1
2. LingalaPop, Volume 2
3. LingalaPop, Volume 3
4. LingalaPop, Volume 4
6. LingalaPop, Volume 5 
7. LingalaPop, Volume 6

LingalaPop, Volume 6

This is Volume 6 of the Mauri Yambo Blog's series of #LingalaPop music. The point has been made in Volumes 1 and 2 that certain Congolese music productions have all the features -- and effects on audience (or fan) sensibilities -- which are typically associated with, or seen in, pop music as broadly understood. The hashtag given above groups and highlights what I consider to be stand-out examples of that kind of music. 

As previously indicated, Lingala features in that hashtag in order to give due respect to that expansive lingua franca of the Greater Congo, which serves (in word and/or tone) as the base for the songs referenced here. Most of the songs under the hashtag are sung by Congolese nationals at home or in the diaspora -- but, interestingly, not all. In Volume 3, for example, two Kenyan Queens (Victoria Kimani and Akothee) featured in two separate songs in a full-throttle sort of way. 

Nor is Lingala the language that Congolese artistes, or those that they sing with, invariably use in the included songs. In Tucheze, Ferre Gola sang a considerable chunk of the lyrics in 'heavy-accent' but recognizable Swahili, while VK sang her part almost entirely in English. Lingala joined them at the hip in terms of both tone and the flow (the synchronized flow) of body texts. 

Nigerian artiste J. Martins appears with Ferre Gola in Ekelebe, in Volume 4, with enough gravitational force to influence FG's celestial orbit. The same FG who in that piece sings not, shall I say, in lyrical Lingala but in bemusing English. Still, Lingala's tonal influence on both proceedings is not escaped, in whatever charming mix we may come upon the ingredients.

Volume 5, like the earlier four, showcases 10 video (or audio) clips which exemplify #LingalaPop. Indeed, I think that the songs are among the leading ones. Here, too, not everything is pure Lingala. Barbara Kanam, for example, finely weaves her song, Reste, out of three language strands: French, Swahili and Lingala. She's as good in each just as she, herself, is. And Enemy Solo is sung in a 'volatile' mix of funky Lingala and lyrical 'pidgin' (that's English) by an irrepressible Awilo Longomba and super-charged P-Square! 

In the present volume, Volume 6, Linah (who is Tanzanian) and Christian Bella (Congolese) team up to deliver an exceptionally tuneful and colourful song: Hellow. Linah sings almost entirely in Swahili. The song as a whole is sung mostly in Swahili as well. However, Christian Bella renders his portion of the 'purely' Swahili lyrics in a decidedly Lingala accent. Arguably, this tilts the overall weight of the song's tonality in favour of Lingala, Christian Bella having already 'state captured' a significant portion of Lina's intonation in the first half of the song. 

In Olla as well, Christian Bella sings in Swahili with the same Lingala accent. One should expect the same result, but Khaligraph Jones, the Kenyan Rapper King, blends, and so tempers, all that with his signature "stream of Consciousness" rapping style. And yet the Lingala imprimatur doesn't lose enough force to disappear. This is a win-win, in the end. We can declare a similar result in Nagharamia (sung by Tanzania's Alikiba and Christian Bella). Alikiba succeeds in creating a context in which Swahili (infused in a subtle and measured fashion with Taarab 'elements') cedes as much ground as it gains from Christian Bella's Lingala.

My growing selection of #LingalaPop titles includes a significant number about which I have made 'substantive' comments already or, alternatively, ranked in #TheYamboSelection series -- over the stretch of a few years. And I have restricted my commentary essentially to songs that have "reached my ears" in one way or another -- or, let's say it, via smart algorithms. It has not been a total scouring of the Great Lakes and Rivers (etc) universe -- which would have been an exercise in futility for one man.

The urge to share exemplary or exciting 'finds' on a particular list (scheduled or not) may prompt -- indeed already has (in #TheYamboSelection series), and in some instances perhaps should -- the publication of the list before the narratives related to particular titles are ready for release, or even 'fully' drafted. The fact is that there's just so much music being produced these days -- and increasingly "all over". The urge to share must keep reasonable pace with the volume and accelerating velocity of creative productions. 

The lister's and commentator's work is never done, experience teaches! Such comments as I have already made are available on this blog, but the links I give below take you only to the clips associated with the songs listed in Volume 6. Links to any comments that I will make in the days ahead about particular titles on the list below will be added to an updated version of this post as soon as those comments are ready to share. 

The songs appearing below are not arranged in any particular order of rank. I really love all of them, and think you will do so too. Let me also add that the 'burst' of incoming evidence that I have encountered as I have continued with my (re)search on songs that deserve inclusion means, alas/happily, that even Volume 6 will not be the last. There's going to be a Volume 7.

About the video/audio clips included in Volume 6:
Click (you may have to Right Click) the song of your choice on the list below, and then (if you have Right Clicked) choose the "Open link in new tab" option in order to watch or listen to the clip.

1. Hellow by Linah ft. Christian Bella (2015)
2. Dance 4 Me Remix by J.Martins ft. Koffi Olomide (2015)
3. Kibombanda by Ferre Gola (2014)
4. Service by Fally Ipupa (2013)
5. Nagharamia by Alikiba x Christian Bella (2015)
6. Muzangila by Mbilia Bel (2017)
7. Bolingo by Makoma (2012)
8. Olla by Christian Bella ft. Khaligraph Jones (2017)
9. Cobetox by Koffi Olomide ft. Ferre Gola (2016)
10. Alidor by Koffi Olomide (2017)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find below links to previous Volumes ~ 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5:

1. LingalaPop, Volume 1
2. LingalaPop, Volume 2
3. LingalaPop, Volume 3
4. LingalaPop, Volume 4
6. Lingala Pop, Volume 5 

LingalaPop, Volume 5

This is Volume 5 of this blog's series of #LingalaPop music. The point has been made in Volumes 1 and 2 that certain Congolese music productions have all the features -- and effects on audience (or fan) sensibilities -- which are typically associated with or seen in pop music, as broadly understood. The hashtag given above groups and highlights what I consider to be stand-out examples of that kind of Congolese music. 

As previously indicated, Lingala features in that hashtag in order to give due respect to that expansive lingua franca of the Greater Congo, which serves (in word and/or tone) as the base for the songs referenced here. Most of the songs under the hashtag are sung by Congolese nationals at home or in the diaspora -- but, interestingly, not all. In Volume 3, for example, two Kenyan Queens (Victoria Kimani and Akothee) featured in a full-throttle sort of way. 

Nor is Lingala the language that Congolese artistes, or those that they sing with, invariably use in the included songs. In Tucheze, Ferre Gola sang a considerable chunk of the lyrics in 'heavy-accent' but recognizable Swahili, while VK sang her part almost entirely in English. Nigerian artiste J. Martins appears with Ferre Gola in Ekelebe, in Volume 4, with enough gravitational force to influence FG's celestial orbit. The same FG who in that piece sings not, shall I say, in lyrical Lingala but in bemusing English. Still, Lingala's tonal influence on both proceedings is not escaped, in whatever charming mix we may come upon the ingredients.

Volume 5, like the previous four, showcases 10 video (or audio) clips which exemplify #LingalaPop. Indeed, I think that the songs are among the leading ones. Here, too, not everything is pure Lingala. Barbara Kanam, for example, finely weaves her song, Reste, out of three language strands: French, Swahili and Lingala. She's as good in each just as she, herself, is. And Enemy Solo is sung in a 'volatile' mix of funky Lingala and lyrical 'pidgin' (that's English) by an irrepressible Awilo Longomba and super-charged P-Square!  

My growing selection of #LingalaPop titles includes a significant number about which I have made 'substantive' comments already or, alternatively, ranked in #TheYamboSelection series -- over the stretch of a few years. And I have restricted my commentary essentially to songs that have "reached my ears" in one way or another -- or, let's say rather too generally, via smart algorithms. It has not been a total scouring of the Great Lakes and Rivers (etc) universe -- which would have been an exercise in futility for one man.

The urge to share exemplary or exciting 'finds' on a particular list (scheduled or not) may prompt -- indeed already has (in #TheYamboSelection series), and in some instances perhaps should -- the publication of the list before the narratives related to particular titles are ready for release, or even 'fully' drafted. The fact is that there's just so much music being produced these days -- and increasingly "all over". The urge to share must keep reasonable pace with the volume and accelerating velocity of creative productions. 

The lister's and commentator's work is never done, experience teaches! Such comments as I have already made are available on this blog, but the links I give below take you only to the clips associated with the songs listed in Volume 5. Links to any comments that I will make in the days ahead about particular titles on the list below will be added to an updated version of this post as soon as those comments are ready to share. 

The songs appearing below are not arranged in any particular order of rank. I really love all of them, and think you will do so too. Let me also add that the 'burst' of incoming evidence that I have encountered as I have continued with my (re)search on songs that deserve inclusion means, alas/happily, that even Volume 5 will not be the last. There's going to be a Volume 6 -- and a Volume 7.

About the video/audio clips included in Volume 5:
Click (you may have to Right Click) the song of your choice on the list below, and then (if you have Right Clicked) choose the "Open link in new tab" option in order to watch or listen to the clip.

1. Zazou by Ferre Gola (2009) 
2. Reste by Barbara Kanam (2015) 
3. Orgasy by Fally Ipupa (2013)
4. Enemy Solo by Awilo Longomba ft. P-Square (2015)
5. Muzangila by Mbilia Bel (2017)
6. Ju[d]gement by Ferre Gola (2017)
7. Je t'en Prie by Koffi Olomide (2017*, 2012)
8. Gate le Coin by Awilo Longomba (2009)
9. Symposium by Koffi Olomide ft. Cindy le Coeur (2016)
10. "Ya Mado" Mascara by Fabregas Le Metis Noir (2018) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Find below links to previous Volumes ~ 1, 2, 3 and 4:
1. LingalaPop, Volume 1
2. LingalaPop, Volume 2
3. LingalaPop, Volume 3
4. LingalaPop, Volume 4

LingalaPop, Volume 4

This is Volume 4 of this blog's series of #LingalaPop music. The point has been made in Volumes 1 and 2 that certain Congolese music productions have all the features -- and effects on audience (or fan) sensibilities -- which are typically associated with or seen in pop music, as broadly understood. I have even grouped what I consider to be stand-out examples of that kind of Congolese music under the hashtag given above. 

As previously pointed out, I have included Lingala in that hashtag in order to give due respect to that expansive lingua franca of the Greater Congo, which serves (in word and/or tone) as the base for the songs referenced here. Most of the songs are sung by Congolese nationals at home or in the diaspora -- but, interestingly, not all. In Volume 3, for example, two Kenyan Queens (Victoria Kimani and Akothee) featured in a full-throttle sort of way. 

Nor is Lingala the language that Congolese artistes, or those that they sing with, invariably use in the included songs. In Tucheze, Ferre Gola sang a considerable chunk of the lyrics in 'heavy-accent' but recognizable Swahili, while VK sang her part almost entirely in English. Nigerian artiste J. Martins appears with Ferre Gola in Ekelebe, in Volume 4, with enough gravitational force to influence FG's celestial orbit. The same FG who sings, shall I say, not in lyrical Lingala but bemusing English. Still, Lingala's tonal influence on both proceedings is not escaped, in whatever charming mix we may come upon the ingredients.

Volume 4, like the previous three, showcases 10 video (or audio) clips which on good grounds qualify to be labelled, and which therefore exemplify, #LingalaPop. Indeed, I think that the songs are the leading ones in that genre. Perhaps I should say: among the leading ones. 

My selection of #LingalaPop titles so far published has also been been mostly restricted to those about which I have made 'substantive' comments already (or have ranked in #TheYamboSelection series) -- over the stretch of a few years. And I have restricted my commentary essentially to songs that have "reached my ears" in one way or another. 

But the urge to share exemplary or exciting 'finds' on a particular list (scheduled or not) may prompt -- indeed already has (in #TheYamboSelection series), and in some instances perhaps should -- the publication of the list before the narratives related to particular titles are ready for release, or even 'fully' drafted. The fact is that there's just so much music being produced these days -- and increasingly "all over". 

It would unduly lengthen the intervals between particular volumes in the series and, what's more, overwhelm any one commentator to endeavour to say something meaningful about each "drop", so to speak -- or even about "many enough" -- in any kind of timely fashion. That is, despite the fact that one's timing on one's blog is 'entirely' one's own. The lister's work is never done, experience teaches! Such comments as I have already made are available on this blog, and I give below the link associated with each listed song. Those that are not yet made will, hopefully in the main, follow. 

The songs listed below are not arranged in any particular order of rank. I really love all of them, and think you will do so too. Let me also add that the 'burst' of incoming evidence that I have encountered as I have continued with my (re)search on songs that deserve inclusion means, alas/happily, that even Volume 4 will not be the last. There's going to be a Volume 5 -- and perhaps a 6.

About the video/audio clips included in Volume 3:
You may have to Right Click the song of your choice on the list below, and then choose the "Open link in a new tab" option in order to watch or listen to the clip.

1. Billi by Kanda Bongo Man (2014)
2. Ekelebe by J. Martins ft. Ferre Gola (2016)
3. Napesi by Makoma (1999, 2012)
4. Porte Monnaie by Ferre Gola ft. Gout (2011)
5. La Beaute d'un Femme by Mbilia Bel (2017)
6. Robot by Koffi Olomide (2010, 2017)
7. Etoula by Diblo Dibala ft. Loketo (2017)
8. Perdue de Vue - Espelisa by Yondo Sister (2013, 2017)
9. Magastar by Heritier Watanabe (2018)
10. La Femme et L'argent by Diblo Dibala (2016) 



Find below links to previous Volumes ~ 1, 2 and 3:
1. LingalaPop, Volume 1
2. LingalaPop, Volume 2
3. LingalaPop, Volume 3

LingalaPop, Volume 2

As mentioned in Volume 1 of this series, I have on occasion made the case on this blog and in my tweets (@MauriYambo) that certain Congolese music productions have all the features -- and, I should add now, effects on audience (or fan) sensibilities -- which are typically associate with or seen in pop music, as broadly understood. I have even grouped that kind of Congolese music under a hashtag: #LingalaPop. I have done so, essentially, in order to keep faith with that expansive lingua franca we know as Lingala -- and which serves as the base for all the songs referenced here.

You will find listed below the next volume (Volume 2) of 10 songs which qualify to be labelled as such. A third, and very likely the last, volume of 10 video (or audio) clips will follow. I think that the songs are the leading ones. Perhaps I should say: among the leading ones. 

I confess that my selection has also been restricted to songs about which I have made 'substantive' comments already (or have ranked in #TheYamboSelection) -- over the stretch of a few years. I try to restrict my commentary essentially to songs that have "reached my ears" in one way or another, and that I consider superior. But exceptions do occur. The fact is that there's just so much music being produced -- increasingly, "all over". It would overwhelm any one commentator to say something meaningful about each "drop", so to speak -- or even about many enough.

The comments that I have made are already available on this blog, and I give below the link associated with each listed song. The songs are not arranged in any particular order of rank. I really love all of them, and think you will do so too. Here they are:

[Note: You may have to Right Click the song of your choice on the list below, and then choose the "Open link in a new tab" option in order to watch or listen to the clip]

1. Makolo ya Massiya by Carlyto Lassa
2. Elengi ya Mbongo by Innoss'B ft. Koffi Olomide
3. Amour en Or by Claudia Bakisa ft. Fabregas Metis Noir
4. Cha Cha by Innoss'B
5. To Dondwa by Fally Ipupa ft. Fvicteam (Christy Lova, Boogie Black, Anita Mwarabu, Shesko Lemeraude and Master Virus)
6. Bolingo Mabe by Innoss'B ft. Anita Mwarabu
7. Fiko Fiko Fion by Claudia Bakissa ft. Koffi Olomide
8. Esopi Yo by Awilo Longomba ft. Tiwa Savage
9. Posa ya Bolingo by Alicios
10. Mannequin by Fally Ipupa ft. Keblack x Naza

LingalaPop, Volume 1

I have written severally in the past about Congolese music, sung mostly in Lingala but quite frequently interspersed with French -- and often in Swahili as well. And I have on occasion made the case on this blog and in my tweets (@MauriYambo) for a music genre -- and more specifically certain 'instantiations' of Congolese music -- which I see as having all the features of pop music as broadly understood. I have even given the genre a hashtag: #LingalaPop. So there you are.

I wish now to bring together the songs which qualify to be labelled as such. I will do so in at least three volumes of 10 video (or audio) clips each. This is the first volume. I think that the listed songs are the leading songs, but I stand to be corrected. 

I confess that my selection has also been restricted to songs about which I have made 'substantive' comments already (or have ranked in #TheYamboSelection) -- over the stretch of a few years. Those comments are already available on this blog, and I give below the link to each. They are not arranged here in any particular order of rank, however. I really love all the songs, and think you will do so too. Here they are, then:

[Note: You may have to Right Click the song of your choice on the list below, and then choose the "Open link in a new window" option in order to watch or listen to the clip]

1. Karolina by Awilo Longomba
2. Cache Cache by Awilo Longomba
3. Echantillon ya Pamba by Nico Kassanda
4. Yolanda by Kanda Bongo Man
5. Tembe na Tembe by Bozi Boziana
6. Independence Cha Cha by Le Grand Kalle
7. Non by Franco
8. Christina by Tabu Ley
9. Ndaya by Mpongo Love
10. Muchana by Kanda Bongo Man

MUSIC (Congolese): Amour en Or by Claudia Bakisa ft. Fabregas Metis Noir

A street-dance for two, and only two, is what we come upon in this secluded place, in the sun's final rays of the day. "Graceful Pair Locked in a Twilight Street-Dance", is how I would title the funky rumba -- Soukous, if you want, or #LingalaPop -- that we're all witness to; this flawless art-in-motion act, in which the dancers, oblivious of everything else, are verily birds of a feather.

Willowy Claudia Bakita, aka Black Belt, takes center-stage and figure dances her heart out in this lovers' bond, for sure. Her fine bearing and feline steps draw all, nearly all, the attention -- into her golden bosom. "Nakupenda sana" (= I love you so much), she declares -- as if in every direction. Who would blame anyone? Her sultry voice charms every man, and everyone, bewitched, will take it personally. 

But it is Fabregas. It is he, her companion on that street (in this iconic video) -- and he alone -- who's the reason we have true rumba here and, what is more, all the insinuations of love that fill the calm air in this laid-back and unobtrusive neighborhood. In those final moments of a perpetual saga in which Yin eases Yang, gently, into a dark room, it is he! Wololo!

"Emama wololo
Emama wololo
Emama wololo".


Click to watch the video

MUSIC (Congolese): Fiko Fiko Fion by Claudia Bakisa ft. Koffi Olomide

All laid back, two great sophisticates join to drop a lovely track: Fiko Fiko Fion. Koffi Olomide reigns still, an unobtrusive monarch. Claudia Bakisa patiently waits, with pent-up energy, for Africa's playing field to level.

What an enchanting voice Claudia has!

It is a song to dance to, and to listen to in a warm and cosy place. It's Rumba. It's truly Lingala. And it's Pop. #LingalaPop!

Click here to watch the video

MUSIC (Classic, Congolese): Tabu Ley's Christine

The video we have here is a re-release of an old song from the last millennium by maestro Rochereau as a 21st century #LingalaPop clip. It is widely known even by today's fans that Rochereau later assumed the more 'authentic' name of Tabu Ley, in a Congo which, in an orgy of renaming -- of people and places, and a country -- had chosen to call itself Zaire, 'under the influence' of Mobutu Sese Seko. And it is as Tabu Ley that he features in the video, as singer and dancer and more.

Click to watch the video

Tabu Ley introduces the song himself. We can't wait for the song to start. And then we see it, an old song from the sixties in a new HD light -- with a redefinition of 'contemporary' dance moves, and with dancers in sort of new-age clothes. And still all ballad and all melody -- fine, fine melody! A second coming!

But the original version of the song exists still. And it is exactly the same as the new. Except that, truer to its age and times, it is in audio. And so nobody's dancing, and no one's there to show off fancy things. All sound and neither flow nor frenzy nor fury of bodies in motion, then. Everything is vocal and so instrumental, and everything is left to the discerning ear and to the imagination -- and so so enveloping.

Click here for the original audio version of Christina

READ: A brief on Tabu Ley's early life

READ: More on Tabu Ley's life-story

Dr. Nico Kassanda's "Mokili Ya Nzambe"

I have already said all I wanted to say for now about Dr. Nico Kassanda, and will not say any more for a while -- lest I overly repeat myself. Click here to read what I've said: Nico Kassanda's "Echantillon Ya Pamba". 

All that I should possibly add is this: Mokili Ya Nzambe's vibes set us on a journey of sorts -- a journey of the mind and of reflection. The instrumental intonations spike the more even-keeled melody to yield the sense of a long train-ride, such as those which many of us remember still. Rides up and down the Great Rift (the 'escarpment'), across vast plains and awesome trees in between them -- such as the all-enveloping night would allow one to see -- all for to see Mama and the siblings who had been terribly missed.

Click here for the audio of Mokili Ya Nzambe


So Mokili Ya Nzambe is for me, in a word, an anthem for homesickness. I'm thinking just now, also, that I did listen to it a lot when I was a student at Dar. But the link between the lyrics and the reflections must remain fiction, of course, in the absence of (until there is) a translation of the words.


PS: You may click here to find my earlier take on Mokili Ya Nzambe.

MUSIC (Congolese): Nico Kassanda's "Echantillon Ya Pamba"

Maestro (Dr.) Nico Kassanda has a hallowed place in the pantheon of the golden era of Congolese music. His music, as that of a number of his great contemporaries, are integral to all that those of my generation remember from a past which, speaking about music and certain other things, was glorious. It was an era in which the dominant pop in all of Eastern and Central Africa was #LingalaPop. 

Here, I play again a song of his which stands out for me in various ways, and which brings back a certain feeling of fondness -- and a fondness of feeling, as well. We didn't interpret the songs, because the language of the lyrics was something hopelessly beyond us. We plainly savored whatever we considered the best -- as more than a handful were then, and are even now.

This Echantillon Ya Pamba [I translate that loosely, armed only with a poetic licence, as "This fine, this caressing, this enchanting bouquet of finest cotton"] -- this 7:29-minute affair -- starts slowly and in a somewhat nondescript fashion. We did  come to discover with keen listening over time that this was typical 'scripture' there, in the "Lungs of the Earth". 

We got to realize that a pick-up in pace and passion almost invariably materialized, sort of out of a predictable blue. There was, thus, nearly always a validation of the faith we had in, shall we say, the ingenuity and even genius of our heroes. A validation of the most melodious kind, if I may say so. 

And, thus, "Sikiya namuna gitaa iko na liya" -- initiated by one balladeer -- became an ever-ready 'rallying-call'. Let me loosely translate that quaint Swahili line this way: "Hey, listen to the fancy stringplay, by the guitarist!" But we did know that the trumpeter had his vital role, too; as did the saxophonist and the percussionist. What we had, indeed, was a 'full' Orchestre -- or Jazz. Or both! In the best of songs, as in Echantillon, a tumult of sound and passion.


Click here to listen to the Audio

[And now re-start a third of the way into Echantillon, and take in all those measured doses of lilting magic!]

I'd like to say this: 

"The air that hangs over
The Band is highly charged
Air, and so is that which
Sur-rounds all its sides."

Kiss Daniel's Yeba

In Lingala language, the word Yeba means to know, or to become acquainted with. The music which those of my generation grew up with (and were nourished by) in Nairobi, and other parts of Kenya and the larger East Africa, was mostly Congolese, rendered in Lingala -- with a sprinkling of French and even 'broken' Swahili (nuggets of the latter which it was fun to rummage for). 

All too often, in the course of the lyrics, one would hear the intriguing word Yeba shoot out. We didn't quite pause to ask what it meant exactly. We took it as some kind of exclamation, signalling a moment of 'ecstasy' in the song -- such as was relayed by the 'possessed' vocalist, and such as was allowed in the dance hall and over the radio.

I don't yet know what Yeba means in Kiss Daniel's Nigerian language, but I have my suspicions -- which drew my attention to Yeba, one of his most recent songs, in the first place (so to speak). Having heard the song and viewed the video, what I know already, and all that matters for now, is that this tuneful song is a Looking Glass of sorts (nay, a telescope) by means of which he takes us on a smooth, decades-long journey through musical Time -- abridged though the journey clearly is. 

The video has a magic of its own. It is a montage, inside very confined space, of a galaxy of sped-up movements and slow-motion 'posturings' (a few of which may be a turnoff to a few). Numbered years come rushing at you in one bat-like stream of charged (of awakened) sub-consciousness, if, I'm thinking, you remember them as you were. Littler. Younger. And, all of this, seemingly without a choreography. Seemingly, yes, but in the end everything falls into place as part of a grand design and laid-back artistry.

What excels in the music itself is not so much the beat as the absolutely captivating tune. Still, the beat gladdens the heart and the two (beat and tune) mutually reinforce. And they deliver to us a tropical feast of sight, sound and (techni)color that's irresistible and nourishing and deeply moving. 

Kiss Daniel's signature voice -- lush and always disarming, and here laced with naughty 'phrases' -- is simultaneously at the heart and the outer layers of the song. It is, so to speak then, the icing on this generous and lavish cake.

Click here for Kiss Daniel's Yeba, the video

Here are the Yeba Lyrics

Read: Jasper Efe (September 20, 2017) "Kiss Daniel: Yeba [Music]"










Text in para 4 partially updated (w/ an insert starting at Numbered years and ending with Younger): Nov 26, 2018

The Ballad at (as?) the Core: Popular African Music Today

The dominant genre of modern African music in 2013-14 was the ballad. Is this symptomatic of anything? Is the African singer, perhaps, at heart a balladeer(ess)? Since it began to step out of its Congolese cradle (where it nestled as rumba) in the mid-1950s, contemporary African music, increasingly a part of the global ‘pop’ culture, continues to be at its most endearing and most resonating in that modus. Since Bob Marley, however, it has been much challenged around Sub-Sahara by the infectiousness of the political-cultural messaging in reggae, the rambunctious imprint in hip-hop, and that catch-as-catch-can wave -- Afro-Fusion.

Still, the lyrical content of African pop music today is mostly about love and loneliness ('aloneness', even) and loss, in distant or forsaken places. Love: which in may sorts of ways, to an expression. The anguished heart which Zahara’s ballad evokes returns us to a period, not quite so long ago, which she probably has a personal recollection of, when parents, spouses and lovers didn’t have mobile phones, and many couldn’t even write. So absences and longings were total, and telegrams (the quickest way to say anything from afar) were dreaded for their habitus-induced capacity to totalize the end of hope. The telegram had become the default bearer of the worst kind of news -- the death of a loved one. 

Has the mobile phone, then, killed longing and lonesomeness? Not quite, for it has restored hope that, as in the traditional village or community life, no social (dis)connect is beyond rerouting and repair in the global village. But it requires a different sort of re-imagining and feeling. Perhaps Zahara should tell us how one should feel about the empty train now. 

Is not all gospel music a protestation of undivided love for The Maker? The “Kwetu” (motherland) which John Bosco, the Congolese, sang so longingly about in ‘broken’ Swahili -- that brokenness being both Sheng’s precursor and contemporary -- across East Africa of the Fifties: Wasn't it about Love?

Here below are 25 of the best African ballads of 2014. Check them out. They are not arranged in any particular order:

1. Bondo - Say You Love Me 
2. D’ija - “Awww” 
3. Jaywon - “Tana Wole”
4. Davido ft. Uhuru x DJ Buckz - “The Sound”{Nigeria+S. Africa}
5. Vanessa Mdee ft. K.O. - “Nobody But Me” {Tanzania + }
6. Skales - "I am for Real" 
7. Orezi and Davido - “Shuperu”
8. Seyi Shay - “Jangilova”
9. Yemi Alade - “Johnny”
10. Tiwa Savage - My Darlin'    
11. Adekunle Gold - Sade 
12. Rayce - For You 
13. Rayce - Tetela  
14. Mr. Flavour ft. Chidinma - “Ololufe”
15. Zahara - Limbisa {South Africa}
16. Tolu ft. Don Jazzy - My Lover 
17. Elani - Nikupende (Lyric Video) {Kenya} 
18. Waje - Coco Baby ft. Diamond Platnumz {Nigeria + Tanzania}
19. Avril - Nikimuona {Kenya}
20. Charass - Coco Butter [Remix] ft. Davido x Phyno 
21. Alicios - Posa ya Bolingo (Lingala Love) {DRC}
22. Harrysong - I'm In Love [Remix] ft. Olamide
23. Bisa Kdei - I Love You {Ghana}
24. DeeVS ft. Bisa Kdei - Yebeko 
25. Elani - Kookoo {Kenya}


NOTE
See also Zahara's Loliwe; and see how she explains the meaning of the song. The literal meaning of the word is “The Train”. Though it came out in 2011, I mention it here for the special poignancy and richness of its allusions. Loliwe is Zahara's metaphor for the deep longing for a father, a loved one, who went away in search of greener pastures. A father who went away and, it seems, isn’t ever coming back -- because trains from the big towns arrive predictably at the local station and disappoint.