Music of Colonial Times in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Since the colonial period, Kinshasa, Congo’s capital has been one of the great centres of the musical invention, reaching alongside of Nai...
http://worldhitz4u.blogspot.com/2014/01/music-of-colonial-times-in-democratic.html
Since
the colonial period, Kinshasa, Congo’s capital has been one of the great
centres of the musical invention, reaching alongside of Nairobi, Lagos,
Johannesburg and Abidjan in influence. The country, however, was created out from
the territories controlled by several different ethnic groups, many of which
had little in common with one another. Each maintained (and also continue to do
so) their own folk music traditions, and there was little in the way of the
pan-Congolese musical identity until in the year 1940.
source of picture: jukwaa.proboards.com
Like
much of the Africa, the Congo was conquered during the World War II period by
the rumba, the fusion of the Latin and African musical patterns that came from
the island of the Cuba. The Congolese musicians accepted the rumba and adapted
this characteristic for their own instruments and taste. During the World War
II, the record company started appearing, and they include CEFA, Ngoma,
Loningisa and Opika, and each issuing many 78 rpm records; the Radio Congo
Belge also started operation during this era. Bill Alexander, a Belgian working
for CEFA, brought about the electric guitars to the Congo.
The
famous early musicians such as Feruzi, who is said to have promoted the rumba
during the year 1930 and the guitarists such as Zachery Elenga, Antonie Wendo
Kolosoy, and the most influentially, Jean Bosco Mwenda alongside with rumba,
other imported genre such as American swing, French cabaret and Ghanaian
highlife were also famous.
In
the year 1953, the Congolese music scene started to separate itself from
formation of African Jazz (which is led by Joseph Grand Kalle Kabasele), the
first full time groups to record and perform, and the debut of the
fifteen-year-old guitarist, Francois Luambo Makiadi (also known as Franco).
Both of them will go on to be some of the earliest Congolese music, as well as
famous Cameroonian saxophonist and keyboardist, Manu Dibango who has become one
of the most popular groups in Africa, and this is largely due to 1960s
independence Cha Cha , which celebrated the Congo’s independence and it
became anthem for Africa over the continent.
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