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Samba Mapangala's 70s-style rumba
From the D.R.C. to Washington D.C.
Paris
18/05/2009 -
Brussels, 1960. Joseph Kabasele and his African Jazz orchestra brought their driving rumba beats to Europe when international politicians sat down for Round Table talks about the future independence of the Belgian Congo. Forty-nine years to the day after Kabasele's rumba anthem Table ronde, Congolese music accompanied another historical political event in Washington with Samba Mapangala's song Obama Ubarikiwe celebrating Barack Obama's arrival in the White House.
Mapangala, the man behind the English and Swahili lyrics of Obama Ubarikiwe (Obama God Bless You), was invited to perform at an official function on Obama's Inauguration night which was attended by a host of high-ranking African diplomats. "I spent nearly twenty years living in Kenya so I feel close to Obama", the singer remarked on this prestigious occasion. Like countless other musicians of his generation, Mapangala followed in the footsteps of Baba Gaston and formed part of the Congo's mass rumba exodus in the 1970s, relocating to neighbouring countries to form orchestras such as Boma Liwanza, Super Mazembe, Les Noirs and Les Mangelepa.
Mapangala was born in Matadi (in the Bas-Congo region) in 1955, but before taking the music scene in Nairobi, Kenya, by storm in 1977, he headed off to Kinshasa to complete his secondary school education. It was in Kinshasa that young Samba discovered his passion for music and made a teenage vow that one day he would "sing like Tabu Ley Rochereau and dance like James Brown! " Like other young men of his generation, Mapangala was marked by the concert America's Godfather of Soul performed in Kinshasa on the occasion of the legendary boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. Samba went on to tour in eastern Congo with his group and ended up meeting the owner of a club in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The latter offered him a year-long contract in Kampala and the Congolese musician jumped at the chance, knowing that his musicians who did not even have their own instruments would be able to use the club's impressive array.
From Lingala to Swahili
Once they wound up their contract in Kampala, Mapangala and his group headed off to Kenya where the local record industry had a better infrastructure. Here, they recorded a debut LP together adopting the name Les Kinois (The Kinshasans). Sadly, personal differences put an end to the band, but Mapangala persevered with his music career and went on to form another group, Orchestra Virunga. The group scored a huge hit in Kenya with Malako and once Mapangala stopped singing in Lingala (one of the many languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo) and started writing his songs in Swahili (the official language of Kenya and Tanzania) the group's popularity spread further afield to Tanzania and Burundi.
In 1990, a number of cult Virunga classics were released on the album Virunga Volcano (included in Simon Broughton's World Music: 100 Essential CDs) However, despite his growing status on the 'world music' scene, Mapangala was badly hit by the fall-out of music piracy in Africa. His reaction ? To up sticks once again and head to Europe to make a fresh start.
Mapangala recorded the album Karibu Kenya in Paris, in 1995, working with the renowned producer Ibrahima Sylla, but he soon came to realise the difficulties his musician-compatriots faced in France. Deciding it was time to find a market with less direct competition, Mapangala packed his bags again and headed off on two major tours of North America. The success of these tours led to the Congolese star settling in the U.S. in the 1990s. And his experience in the English-speaking world is now a trump card in hand when it comes to spreading his funky, danceable rumba sound abroad. Samba Mapangala and Orchestra Viruna's impressive on-stage energy is perfectly captured on a vibrant new album entitled Live on Tour.
Bertrand Lavaine
Translation : Julie Street
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