FAREWELL, MADIBA.

MEJE 30 CHANTE: TSHALA MWANA, LUTUMBA SIMARO, ABETI MASIKINI, FERRE GOLA, , MYRIAM MAKEBA

videos courtesy of YouTube user djomegadt


Meje 30 Chante Tshala Muana


Meje 30 Chante Abeti Masikini



Meje 30 Chante Ferre Gola


Meje 30 Chante Lutumba Simarro


Meje 30 Miriam Makeba

TAMBOUR D'AFRIQUE TONIGHT

TUNE INTO TAMBOUR D'AFRIQUE AT WWW.RADIOTRIOMPHE.COM @ 10PM EST

HOST GUY WILL BE HONORING SOME OF THE WOMEN OF CONGOLESE MUSIC IN TONIGHT'S BROADCAST.
GOING ALONG WITH THAT THEME CHECK OUT THIS NEW SONG BY MBILIA BEL FROM HER BRAND NEW ALBUM 'THE QUEEN'

MBILIA BEL - SECRETAIRE

TAMBOUR D'AFRIQUE 06.19.20

I've been struggling with technical difficulties as far as recording the show and also with streaming the show. The music sharing site, imusictweet.com, has suddenly lowered the amount of megabytes one can upload so I can't stream from there anymore. To make up for it I have made a 'video' of the show so that fans can still listen to the show while logged onto the internet. I hope you enjoy this next episode. I also invite you all to listen to Tambour d'Afrique every Saturday night from 10pm to 12am (NY EST) live at www.RadioTriomphe.com



TELECHARGEMENT/DOWNLOAD

PAPA WEMBA - BAKWETU
ZAIKO LANGA LANGA - ELO
MPONGO LOVE - NIEKIESE AYEI
MBILIA BEL - YAMBA NGAI
GABY LITA & STUKAS - SOUCI
GABY LITA & STUKAS - EKONDA SACCADE
MPONGO LOVE - REBE
MIMITAH - TATA MWASI
TSHALA MUANA & MEJE30 - FIMBO YA BAKANDJA
ABETI MASIKINI - JE SUIS FACHEE
ABETI MASIKINI - KILIKI BAMBA
YONDO SISTER - BAZO
FALLY IPUPA - CADENAS
FALLY IPUPA - NAZA COT'OYO
BLAISE BULA - LE PETROLIER
FERRE GOLA - 365 JOURS 2X
ZAIKO LANGA LANGA - ZAIKO WAWA

SUNDAY NITE VIDEOS...

A FEW VIDEOS TO PASS YOUR SUNDAY NITE...

MBILIA BEL - BOYA YE




OCHESTRE BELLA BELLA - PETIT ZIZINA



PEPE KALLE & MBILIA BEL - NALEMBI


Enjoy...PEACE

Sunday Nite Videos...on a MONDAY MORNING

Yesterday after posting a blog entry I went to the Haitian Day Parade of Unity here in Spring Valley, NY. There is a very large Haitian community here so the event drew a lot of people. Guy's sister Dr. Danielle A. Bright, who passed last year due to cancer, was honored by both the town and HAPA (Haitian American Parents Association), the organization that she birthed some 16 years ago. It was a very nice event and it was great to see so many happy faces celebrating their HAITIAN-NESS (the word is made up but you get me lol).

Anyhow when I got home I forgot ALLLL about Sunday Nite Videos so I will bring to you some videos today...

This next video is one of the few songs I remember vividly from my childhood. Me and my older sister loved this song. I've seen it labeled 'SVP MBEY' (Sil Vous Ple?). I love this performance. I love to see how the audiences reacted to the music back then.

ZAIKO LANGA LANGA...



I've been listening to this next song a lot lately...

MBILIA BEL - FAUX PAS



The sound quality is poor on this one but the performance is fantastic. You can hear a better version of the song here:

Faux Pas

both videos courtesy of INNOSITA

PEACE...

A Couple of Classic Remakes...

PEACE Come to find out the episode that aired last Saturday was indeed the very first show to broadcast. In order to not confuse anyone any further I will leave the shows numbered the way they are for now. Sorry about that. Now on with the blog...

In the first broadcast Guy briefly discussed Wendo Kolosoy and then went on to talk about the two main "schools" in Congolese music that existed during the late '50s and '60s. Those two schools were African Jazz and OK Jazz. OK Jazz spun off of African Jazz and became a 'school' in its own right. When we use the term 'school' we mean the artists who played with these orchestras learned a particular sound. Some would take what they learned and eventually spin off into another group of their own. As been stated before of these two schools several Congolese musical stars came forth. Some were more known than others. Tino Baroza is one of these lesser known stars. He was a solo guitarist for African Jazz before he left to start the band Rock A Mamba with guitarist Papa Noel and others. I bring up Tino Baroza because on last week's show my father played a version of Jamais Kolonga that the liner notes of Congo: Rumba on the River credit to him, recorded in 1959. Last week when I blogged about Sam Mangwana I linked his rousing, upbeat 1996 version of Jamais Kolonga from the album RUMBA not realizing that I had heard the song before. Tino Baroza's version is a slower and sounds more traditional as far as the rumba rhythm is concerned. I love both versions. Here is Tino Baroza's:

Jamais Kolonga (1959)

I wish I had more information on Tino Baroza. All the information I have posted on him here come from the liner notes for Congo: Rumba on the River Vol. 1. I can't even find so much of a picture of the guy. But he is remembered.

Another song they I was surprised to hear in last weeks broadcast was the original version of Kelya as sung by Tabu Ley Rochereau for African Jazz. This version of the song was recorded in 1959, the year Mbilia Bel was born. She would eventually remake the song under Tabu Ley et L'Afrisa International 24 years later and release it on her debut album "Eswi Yo Wapi" (spelled Kelhia for some reason). Here are both versions of the song, which do you like best? I personally can't choose:



Kelya (Tabu Ley/African Jazz)

Kelhia (Mbilia Bel/Afrisa International)

It's always cool to me to here the different versions of Congolese songs remade and appreciated by different artists. Hope you can appreciate them too.

PEACE

MBILIA BEL

March is Women's History month here in the States. I was going to do a feature of just female artists as there aren't so many of them in this genre of music, but I decided against it. Like Black History Month, Women should be celebrated everyday. For that I will be spreading things out some instead of covering these women back to back or all in one blog entry. Today I will showcase another woman since Guy played a little playlist of Women singers last week.

The other day I blogged about the life and times of M'PONGO LOVE.
Today I will present to you MBILIA BEL.

featured on last week's show with YALOWA
MBILIA BEL - YALOWA


I found this website which maps out her career pretty well. I don't have to struggle to translate the page from French this time, haha. Anyway here is the site:
MBILIA BEL BIOGRAPHY
*that last line about her career spiraling down hill is kind of harsh. Her 2001 release WELCOME as well as her 2004 release BELISSIMO (which both received good reviews) prove that she's still a relevant force in the Congolese music scene.





Me, I'm 24 years old, I'll be 25 later on this year. I remember this music playing through much of my life especially in the '80s but I never really got into it. Being born in America, for us kids it was like the music from your parents country was 'old people' music. And basically if you didn't see it on tv you didn't really embrace it. Even today it's hard for me to introduce this music to my friends. They say it sounds like mexican music (lol) but when I tell them what the songs are about they love it. So imagine as a kid? We (me and I'm gonna speak for my siblings and cousins too) distanced ourselves from it to an extent. At weddings and parties we danced and sang along but every other day it was Yo Mtv Raps and BET.

Better Late Than Never

Today I'm so grateful to be able to appreciate this music. I've always liked it but to truly appreciate it and understand it and know this is what I come from really makes me proud. When I listen to Mbilia Bel and Mpongo Love it gives me a look into another side of my heritage making me even prouder still. I sing. Had I been born and raised in Kinshasa I have no doubt I would have been influenced by them. I might be a 'Tigress' de Soukous today haha.

I just (re)discovered these artists this past year. As I was researching Mbilia Bel online I came across this video on Youtube.com
The name of the song isn't listed but it's a beautiful song. I've played it a million times already:




Ya Mbilia is still making music today as well and at 48 years old she still has great moves! This song is called Les Z'on Dit:



O zosakana te' ee Tantine*? haha Peace to Ya Mbilia for still making great african music and for being an exceptional artist. ms bazu and Tambour D'Afrique salute you.

PEACE

*You not playin hunh, Auntie? lol