Indépendence Cha-Cha

I've posted about Baloji before, but he has really out done himself this time.  Below is the music video for his latest song, "Le Jour d'Apres/Siku Ya Baadaye (Indépendence Cha-Cha)."  It is a remake of the famous song celebrating the DRC's independence, "Indépendence Cha-Cha," by the father of Congolese rumba, Le Grand Kallé et l'African Jazz.


LE JOUR D'APRES / SIKU YA BAADAYE (INDEPENDANCE CHA-CHA) from BALOJI on Vimeo.

Here's the original version of the song (click to download/listen):
Le Grand Kallé et l'African Jazz - Indépendence Cha-Cha

Congolese Sapeurs and South African Smarteez

Over the past month or so I've been really taken up by two unique fashion sub-cultures in two very different African localities: the Sapeurs of both Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo (and the Congolese diaspora in France and Belgium) and the Smarteez of urban South Africa.

Sapeurs:
The word "Sapeur" comes from the acronym for the movement, SAPE, which stands for Societé des Ambianceurs et Personnes Élégantes (aka Kitendi-the religion/cult of the cloth). The term and acronym are also a play on the french verb "Se Saper," meaning "to dress." It is a culture of high fashion, with Sapeurs sporting suits and formal clothing in a style reminiscent of the 1930s with designer labels such as Armani, Gucci, and Versace.

La SAPE has been around for at least 25 years now and was popularized by the famous Congolese (DRC) musician Papa Wemba.  The fasion cult was created in response to Mobutu's "authenticity movement," which was an attempt to break from European colonial identities and create a more "African" Congo. As part of this "authenticity movement," Mobutu advocated the banal abacost uniform, a Zairian spin on the three-piece suit, as the official attire of the new Zaire (now DRC). Papa Wemba and other Sapeurs developed their style in opposition to this aspect of the "authenticity movement."

Here are a few pictures of Sapeurs:

For more information and pictures:

The Congolese Sape by Héctor Mediavilla
Colors: Paradise is a Fabulous Suit
SAPE by Francesco Giusti

the Smarteez:
I know considerably less about the Smarteez of South Africa. I can tell you that the style originated in Soweto, that it is much more of a youth sub-culture and has little to nothing to do with politics. There tends to be an emphasis on color and a lot of the ensembles are seemingly "random"-an eclectic mix of colors, accessories and styles.




For more information and pictures:

South Africa's "Harajuku" Kids
Mail & Guardian: The designer, the buyer and the irreverent edge
What a lot 'o style they've got: A close analysis of the Smarteez

Karibu Ya Bintou

I just wanted to share this great video I came across today. It's titled "Karibu Ya Bintou" ("Welcome to life in limbo"). The song is off the album "Kinshasa Succursale" by Baloji and features the incredible Konono N°1 on likembe (if you haven't heard of Konono N°1, I highly recommend you check them out-their album Congotronics is amazing). The video was shot in the streets of Kinshasa. Enjoy!

BALOJI feat. KONONO n1 - KARIBU YA BINTOU from BALOJI on Vimeo.

The Congo-Kenya Connection

I know that I said my next post would be on Biafran highlife, but it's taking me a little longer than I expected to put that entry together. Instead, this post will be about Congolese musicians in East Africa.

As I said in the previous post, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) experienced prolonged periods of civil unrest throughout the 60s. The majority of the unrest that contributed to the appearance of Congolese musicians in East Africa was seen during the period in which Joseph Mobutu* was president. He came to power after the two former heads of state, Patrice Lumumba (prime minister) and Joseph Kasavubu (president) had a falling out and Kasavubu kicked Lumumba out of office. Mobutu, who was the head of the army at the time, was able to manufacture a mutiny within the army in large part due to the fact that he payed his soldiers privately because he was receiving financial support from the US and Belgium. Thus, he took advantage of the crisis of leadership and took over the country in a coup. Interesting fact: Lumumba was kidnapped and executed by Congolese and Belgian troops who had the support of the CIA.

Anyway, back to the music, I'm getting off-track. It was because of this unrest that East Africa (particularly, Kenya) was inundated with Congolese musicians. This golden age of Congolese music in East Africa lasted from the late 60s/early 70s to 1985 when the president of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi, ordered foreign workers to leave the country (this included musicians).

Here are a few songs by Congolese bands who were based in East Africa (click on the track title to listen/download). Some of the musicians may be familiar (e.g. Franco, Baba Gaston), while others will be less so.

Baba Nationale (Baba Gaston) - Zala Reconnassant Fa Fan

Orchestre Festival du Zaire - Shauri Yako pts 1 & 2


Franco et le T.P. O.K. Jazz - President Leon Mba


*He later renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, meaning something along the lines of "The Great Unstoppable Warrior Who Goes From Victory to Victory"

-For more info on Congolese musicians in East Africa check out Muzikfan's piece "congo in kenya"

Welcome! Let's Begin!

Welcome to Poly-Rythmo d'Afrique. First things first, let me tell you a little about myself: My name is Steffan and I come from Brooklyn, New York.

This blog is a product of my obsession with African music of all kinds. I am by no means an expert, but collecting and learning about music from Africa has been a hobby of mine for a few years now. The idea behind this blog is to not only post music, but to give readers some historical and social context to the music as well.

OK. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's begin! I would like to use this first post to give you a sample of some of the kinds of sounds you can look forward to hearing on this blog.

Charlotte Dada - Don't Let Me Down
First up is Ghanaian singer Charlotte Dada with a great Beatles cover. I haven't been able to find much info on her, but I really love the song so I decided to post it. This is off a compilation album called "Money No Be Sand-1960's Afro-Lypso, Pidgin Highlife, Afro-Soul, Afro-Rock" (Original Music, 1995).

Onesmus Musyoki & Kalambya Boys - Katelesa
This song is an example of the kind of music made by the Akamba (Kamba music) of south-central Kenya in the 60s and 70s. Kamba music, which is still popular today, is often grouped under a Kenyan style of pop music known as "Benga." The Kamba forms of Benga are generally characterized by the presence of quick-paced, higher pitched rhythm guitar loops, as you can hear in this song. It is heavily influenced by a type of Afro-pop originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo called Soukous. I really like Kamba Benga and plan on dedicating a whole post to it somewhere down the road.

Orchestre Hi-Fives - Belina Mon Amour
This band formed in Lubumbashi, DRC under the name Bana Kibushi Batano. Then in 1965 they moved to Tanzania and changed their name to the Hi-Fives.

East Africa saw a huge influx of Congolese immigrants in the 60s and 70s as a result of civil unrest in the Congo. These immigrants brought their music with them and East African radio waves were quickly saturated with music made by Congolese musicians living in East Africa. Ever since then, East African pop has been heavily influenced by these Congolese sounds. I plan on doing an entry in the very near future on Congolese musicians in East Africa so I will not include any more info here (you'll just have to wait for my post).

Ashanti Afrika Jah - Onyame
This song acts as a more well-polished example of the legendary West African music genre called Highlife. You will be hearing plenty of Highlife of all kinds on this blog because of how good it is and because of how much of it there is. Highlife music was born in Ghana and developed out of the big band sound popular among European colonizers and the urban elite, as well as from palm-wine music. Palm-wine music is the term for the music that had its beginnings in the local palm-wine bars along Ghana's coast and was associated more with the country's lower class. True highlife, as we know it today, popped up in the mid to late-50s, but the golden age of highlife came in the years following independence (1957) and lasted through the mid-70s. Highlife has begun to influence a lot of American pop music (e.g. Vampire Weekend, High Places, etc).

Tinariwen - Matadjem Yinmixan
I love Tinariwen. This is off their newest album "Aman Iman: Water Is Life" (interesting side note-the title of this album comes from a Tuareg proverb: "Aman iman, akh issudar," meaning "water is life, milk is survival." Some of the members of Tinariwen are in another band called Terakaft and they just released their second album: "Akh Issudar"-clever, right?). Anyway, this is an example of the type of music made by the Tuaregs of Mali, Niger, Algeria, and small portions of Libya and Burkina Faso. The music is often called Desert Rock. I will have a full post on this very soon, but this type of music is often very political and talks of the marginalization of the Tuareg people by the governments of the countries in which they live.

Fool's Gold - The World Is All There Is
Finally, I wanted to include one example of how the West has adopted and integrated African music into their pop industry. Fool's Gold is an LA-based collective of up to 12 musicians. The band's lead singer, Luke Top, comes from Israel, so most of their songs are in Hebrew. Enjoy!

Well, that's it for now. If anyone actually reads this, I hope they get as much pleasure out of these songs as I do. Look out for my next post (my first real post) which will be on Biafran Highlife.