Project Album "Difference" - Anthology of Modern Congolese Music

• Arrangments : Michel Kibonge

In 1973, as part of his cultural politics of “Authenticity”, then president, MOBUTU SESE SEKO organized an anthology of Congolese music. (At the time, the country was called Zaire.) This anthology of Congolese/Zairean music paid tribute to the musical pioneers of the first generation of Congolese RUMBA. Antoine Kibonge, a first-generation musician of Congolese descent, first introduced the piano as a musical instrument to Congo in the early 1940s. Kibonge was then called upon to supervise the Anthology and to accompany the Congolese veteran musicians on this new instrument.

CONGOLESE RUMBA music is an original creation derived from the musical movement of the new urban population of KINSHASHA (formerly LEOPOLDVILLE). This musical movement has been compared to the birth of jazz in the San Francisco Bay area. Rumba roots can be traced to early recordings of the Cuban “son” sound popularly known as the rumba. This music was first played in bars and night clubs in the new Congolese capital at the turn of the twentieth century. With this rich cultural and historical background, the Congolese RUMBA is the birth of a new “voice” of a liberated people. The new URBAN revolution of that particular period. To commemorate this event, and to celebrate his father’s one-hundred-year anniversary, Michel Kibonge, the son of the late Antoine Kibonge, is attempting to create a second Congolese anthology. Michel intends to pay a special tribute to the BAKOLO MIZIKI (veteran musicians) with this anthology. This album has been in the works since 2016 with a goal to releasing the album late 2025. Michel’s project goes one step further in that it blends jazz and a symphonic orchestra with traditional Congolese Rumba. In bringing together Congolese veteran artists, European and Latin-American musicians for the project, Michel Kibonge turned to the Rumba cultural revolution at the beginning of the twentieth century coupled with contemporary jazz and symphonic elements, Latin American rhythms as well as Cuban percussions to create and re-create a unique sound with strong Rumba roots. The project album will consist of twenty-four tracks perceived to be of historical significance dating back from the early 1940s all the way up to the 1970s. First and foremost in keeping with tradition, the album will pay tribute to such traditional artists like Lucie EYENGA (the first Congolese female music singer), Wendo KOLOSOY, Manuel d’OLIVEIRA, Tino BAROZA as well as other artists from the Congolese Rumba school such as The Grand Kalle’s African Jazz and the Franco Luambo Makiadi’s O.K.Jazz band. Tabu Ley ROCHEREAU and his Afrisa will also feature on the album. When selecting the artists to participate in this ambitious project, Michel Kibonge, has opted for the special talents of musicians of the third and fourth generation of Rumba artists still around today, willing to participate in this cultural heritage project. A few names dropping; Ray LEMA, Papa Noel, Pepe Felix MANUAKU WAKU, the brothers MANDJEKU. Note from the author : We would like to remember and immortalise a great musical tradition that we can pass on to our children and survivors so that they can carry the tradition for centuries to come. Notable is the concept of remembering such talented guitarists like Doctor NICO and his brother DECHAUD.

STYLES The album is entirely instrumental, in the style of the German James Last Orchestra of the seventies, and carries Afro-Latin beats, Jazz and piano-bar rhytms, Caribbean background influences, as well as music from the BAKONGO culture. Special tribute to Ray LEMA for his contribution to the traditional Congolese music vibes.

• Alena Shahadat
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