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Ndombola fever
The Hip-swingin' Sound from Congo
Paris
11/04/2003 -
As fans await the imminent return of JB Mpiana, Zaïko Langa Langa have just hit record stores with Euréka(released on the JPS label) and Werra Son have brought out their new album, A la queue leu-leu, on the same label at the same time. Meanwhile, King Ester Emeneya re-emerges with Nouvel ordre on Lusafrica and Koffi Olomide, glowing from his recent success at the Kora Music Awards, is back in the limelight with Affaire d’Etat (released on Next Music). There's no doubt about it, rumba is hot, hot, hot these days and each week sees the release of at least one – and sometimes two or three – new albums. Everyone from unknown new acts to retired veterans are currently scrambling for a place on the Ndombolo scene. And the only way to sort the musical wheat from the chaff is to take a look at what's happening on the dancefloors. If dancers are not instantly jumping up to shake their hips to the rumba beat, you can guarantee the record's headed for the trash pile!
As far as actual sales go, reliable figures are hard to obtain – and all the more so as a good part of rumba records still circulate on the black market! In France, a veritable Ndombolo hotbed where some of the best Congolese rumba sounds are produced, no-one can give you exact sales figures for rumba chart-toppers. Apparently, a track can be a dancefloor hit on the club scene for a full three weeks and receive non-stop play on specialist radio stations, private parties and taxi cabs. But that doesn't necessarily mean that that record will sell more than any of its rivals as pirating has to be factored in. As we said before, the only way to get any idea of what's currently happening on the rumba scene in Paris is to check out local dancefloors or record stores.
According to Patrice, head of the rumba department in a major record store in the Paris region, Ndombolo is proving a hit right across the board. "You only have to look at the people who are coming in here to buy rumba records right now," he says, "They're not necessarily Congolese, African or even black; a lot of white people and Arabs are into this music too! When I hear people going on about rumba being 'black' music I get the impression they don't know the history of this music at all! Do they know that rumba ended up becoming 'white' music in Cuba after having started out from Africa, then went back down the river Congo. Do they know it was originally produced by whites? Do they realise the incredible success Zaïko and Wemba are enjoying in Japan right now?"
Seeing rumba move beyond African communities in Paris, which have helped erect the legends of many a Congolese Ndombolo star over the past years, is a real thrill for many fans. Rumba now appears to be following the same route as Kassav's zouk – where the Antillais diaspora's enthusiasm caught on with the rest of France – or the music of the Orchestre National de Barbès – which was nurtured in the heart of the Maghrebin community before taking off on the national scene. There was a time when Congolese rumba was restricted to French-speaking Africa, but its infectious beat has gradually spread to English and Portuguese-speaking parts of Africa. And the fusion heartland of Paris and African communities in Europe have both played a major role in spreading the word.
"It's important to realise that these days these communities are increasingly integrated in France," explains Philippe Gouttes, director of the Zone Franche network. "Just because you belong to the Maghreb community doesn't mean you're going to spend your whole time listening to exclusively Maghrebin music, that you're not interested in discovering other sounds. There's a lot more exchange between different communities these days and that means that when you talk to a Senegalese guy about Congolese music he's going to know what you're talking about. And it's the same thing when you talk to someone from central Africa about Mandingo sounds. Music circulates freely these days!"
Thanks to the non-stop rise of Koffi Olomide and friends packing out major French venues such as the Olympia, Le Zénith and Bercy stadium, rumba is moving out of community circles and taking off on the national mainstream. Even the media are waking up to rumba fever these days – and Koffi, the great “Mopao”, the self-proclaimed king of Ndombolo, is setting off on an extensive tour of the U.S. in May.
The beat that was born on the banks of the river Congo, as a result of the encounter between sounds from Havana and Kasaï, went on to conquer the whole of Africa. A number of African 'world' stars, envious of rumba's success, have rushed in to criticise the "poverty" of Ndombolo's musical arrangements. It's certainly fair to say that many of the current acts are a long way from the legendary Kallé (who modernised traditional rumba in such a brilliantly audacious way). It's also fair to say that a lot of contemporary rumba stars have become too focused on the dancefloor, often neglecting their songwriting and composition in favour of the beat. And yes, certain melodies, choruses and sebene (the frenetically rhythmic section of Ndombolo) appear to copy whatever is currently in vogue. Guitars – an essential element in Ndombolo structure – are often left on the backburner, drums are not vibrant enough, and the mode for synthesisers and rhythm boxes has led more than one rumba artist to dumb down Ndombolo. But it's still hard to beat rumba produced by the crème de la crème.
Ndombolo comes from a dance invented by Kinshasa street kids, known as the chegue, where the steps revolve around a sort of disjointed limp. According to Pierre Sow, this bizarre style originated as a caricature of the "clumsy gait" of Mobutu's "legendary ladykiller," Kabila Senior. It's hard to prove the veracity of this explanation, but there's no doubt that the dance took off with the local population at lightning speed and soon caught on further afield (like other famous dances: Docteur Nicio's kono, Zaïko's kotcho kotcho, Lipwa Lipwa's kavacha and the soum soum popularised by Tabu Ley). From a dance point of view, those original "limping" steps have evolved little today and musically speaking, Ndombolo has not changed much in the past ten years either.
Ndombolo still involves the same basic structure – i.e. a generally slow intro followed by the frenetic rhythm of the sebene, a spot of alternating between musicians and ambianceurs (crowd-warmers), a burst of solo guitar riffs and show-stopping hip-swaying from the dancers. As for the lyrics, not always understood by the majority of the audience, these tend to revolve around the same old themes: "love is our greatest strength" and "victory will be ours". Such statements appear to be ludicrously optimistic when you consider the current social and political situation in Congo, but at the end of the day maybe it's precisely this absence of "message" which ensures Ndombolo's appeal. After all, the dancefloor is a place where feet take over, not a venue for political debate! Listen to the hypnotic rhythms and the slick, sultry vocals and you'll understand why Koffi has more fans than Johnny Hallyday, even if (officially) he sells a lot less records!
Albums: Koffi Olomide, Affaire d’Etat (Next Music). Zaïko, Eureka! (JPS). Werra Son, A la queue leu-leu (JPS), King Ester Emeneya (Lusafrica) Nouvel Ordre
Soeuf Elbadawi
Translation : Julie Street
23/03/2011 -
16/07/2001 -
