Disaster in Japan I have been wanting to do an entry regarding the connection between the Congo and Japan as far as there being many fans of Congolese music in Japan and the Congolese
having their own fascination with Japan. It makes me sad to say that a tragedy like
the 8.9 earthquake, the tsunami that followed AND the threat of nuclear meltdown (!!!) in and around the Tokyo area is what reminded me of my idea for that post.
About 5 years ago I noticed the connection in the Zaiko Langa Langa song "Elo". In the classic song the vocalists sing a few lines in what I *assume* is in Japanese (I've never confirmed what the lyrics in mean). Now when I first started putting those location maps on this site I noticed right away that we had several hits from Japan. "Elo" to this day is the most downloaded song on this website with several hits and I always wondered (and still do) how big of a hit this song might have been in Japan.
Before THAT there was the Nippon Banzai album that I grew up listening to. It never occurred to me until years later that the album was an actual recording of a live show in Japan. All of this leads me to believe that Congolese music has had a following in Japan for a while (much in the same way that Pop, Dancehall and Hip Hop have niche followings within the Japanese population).
I was extremely pleased to find that my hypothesis was right.
If anyone has any information on this band please feel free to leave comments.
I downloaded their album from ylow.blogspot.com (a wonderful collection of world and african music over there. please give them a visit).
Zaiko Langa Langa sings Muvaro in 1986.
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