Soukous or Lingala dance - Congo

by Gloria Ssali

Title

Soukous or Lingala dance - Congo

Artist

Gloria Ssali

Medium

Drawing - Drawing

Description

Soukous (also known as Lingala and Congo) is a dance music[1] 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.
As political conditions in Zaire, as Congo DRC was known then, deteriorated in the 1970s, some groups made their way to Tanzania and Kenya. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Congolese musicians fused Afro-Cuban rhythms that were made available through the EMI G.V. Series and were not entirely foreign to the region, having been based - to varying degrees - on musical traditions from the area[3][4] with Congolese and other African traditional music. This music emerged in the cities of Leopoldville, as Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was then called, and Brazzaville, then capital of the French Congo, now capital of the Republic of the Congo. Most of the musicians performed in Lingala language, but some also used Swahili, Tshiluba and Kikongo languages

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".
In the 1980s soukous became popular in London and Paris. 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.
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.

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September 11th, 2011

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