Tika Koseka (Rumba)
Maboka Marie (Rumba)
Modern Music Of The Belgian Congo
Capitol T10005
1956
From the back cover: POPULAR MUSIC of the Belgian Congo no longer is restricted to the monotony of thumping conga drums. The contemporary trend is to more and more "civilized" instruments, including the string bass, guitars, the violin-and these recent innovations are now combined with ages- old, traditional and simple instruments such as the likembe to give the modern "sound" an odd combination of old and new.
From the Capital, Leopoldville, in the west, to the lively city of Kasongo to the east, the Belgian Congo is home for 13 million persons – and they all adore music. Even in the most remote rural areas the visitor finds phonographs; old hand-wound, non-electric models of French and British manufacture. The records they play are, obviously, 78 r.p.m. shellacs of various vintages dat- ing back to early Cab Calloway, Maurice Chevalier and – go see for yourself – Guy and Carmen Lombardo. There are, most certainly, more recent discings to be found in the natives" collections. One of the most popular entries of the 1950-56 period was the Italian-made "Anna,' a brisk baion which the Kasongoans called "Number Three" when ordering it in Lingala, their native tongue.
The big holidays in the Congo are the King's birthday, the annual July 1 fete commemorating the declaration of the Congo as a colony of Belgium (and governed by a Governor General who reports directly to the King); June 21, Belgium's Independence Day, and all Catholic holidays. On festive occasions like these an artist like Boniface Koufoudila is top man on the pole. As one of the Belgian Congo's most famed musicians and bandleaders, he is in great demand. His talents are heard, along with other favorites of the broad Kasongo to Leopoldville area, in this collection of contemporary representative popular music of the Congo.
Easily discernible in this album is the likembe, a truly native instrument found only in Africa, and made of a flat wooden sound-box on which are attached thin bamboo or metal keys. The player holds the instrument in both hands, palming the keys with his thumbs. Among the Bantu tribes the likembe is referred to as a mbira or kalimba. In French it is known as a sansa. It is made in various sizes, and with as few as eight keys to as many as 36. It is difficult to play "in tune""
The native language, Lingala, is the principal tongue of the Central River Congo and is common along the Belgian and French banks of the river for several hun- dred miles into the interior. The vocal "style" heard on most of the album selections here, in Lingala-ese, is in parallel thirds and is, the experts say, also found commonly in French Guinea and the northern part of Madagascar. The singing gourd heard here is not unlike the kazoo – or a comb wrapped in tissue paper-except that it is made in various parts of Africa with a small hole cut in the end. The larger the gourd, the deeper the tone.
The embonga and the sebene are rhythm patterns, extremely popular in this twentieth century with the dance- loving natives in and near Kasongo. But similarly popular are the biguine (beguine) and the rumba. The waltz, however, apparently is yet to find favor.
So much for the music... The listener will learn to discover new sounds with every playing, new and fresh rhythm patterns, charming and subtle vocal nuances never discernible in European and North American music of the hour. One may also envision the gigantic Watusi tribal members of the Congo, or lovely Lake Kivu, or the Ruwenzori mountains, or the pygmies of the Ituri Forest or – and this is reaching – the mighty, hidden forces deep inside still – active Nyamalagira Volcano. For these are the places, people, and the music which may make the Belgian Congo of the 1950s one of the world's great tourist attractions of the 1980s. Kasongo!
Ntango N'Akomi Likolo (Embonga)
Bino Botuna Bosele (Sebene)
Marie (Biguine)
Tika Koseka (Rumba)
Keba Mama, Keba! (Enbonga)
Eyebo (Rumba)
Etoiles Des Neiges (Rumba)
Helene (Rhumba)
Kobota Malamu (Rumba)
Tembele Tembele (Sebene)
Maboka Marie (Rumba)
Moni Moni Non Dey (Sebene)
and Kazoo!
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