Congo-Kinshasa

Pascal Lokua Kanza was born April, 1958 in Bukavu in the province of Sud-Kivu, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the oldest of eight children. In 1964, the family went to live in Kinshasa in a middle class area. After his father died while captaining a ship at sea, his mother then moved to a much poorer area of the city. Pascal had to feed the family & help provide for them by taking part-time jobs while he was still in school. Setting aside a few hours each day to teach himself guitar, he soon began playing with friends in local bands.

As he got older, his approach to music grew more serious. After studying at the Kinshasa Music Conservatory & performing with Abeti in D.R.of C., Kanza moved to the Ivory Coast for a fresh start. For three years, he played guitar & handled vocal duties for a handful of African bar bands.

After being accepted to Paris' prestigious CIM, Pascal moved there to study jazz & was given the opportunity to perform with many of his role models. Working with Franky Vincent, La Mafia, Ray Lema, & Papa Wemba, he continued to carve out his own style. In 1991, he joined the Soul Makossa Gang after adopting his middle name as his performance moniker.

1992 saw Lokua debut his own material, first in a performance with Angélique Kidjo & later on his first self-titled solo offering. This caught the ear of Youssou N'Dour, who invited Lokua to sing on Womat. In 1994, he reunited with Papa Wemba at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios to lend his talents on Emotion. In December 1994 he was awarded Best African Album for his solo debut. In 1995 Kanza released his second effort, Wapi Yo.

Lokua Kanza sings in French, Swahili, Lingala, Portuguese, & English.

 Lokua Kanza – Wapi Yo, We Yo Music, 1995. 

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Tracklist –

Mungu

Yoka

Shadow Dancer

Wapi Yo

Ping Pongo

Sallé

Just to Say I Love You

Liteya

C’est Ma Terre

Anata O

Molili

Kumba Ngaï

Réunion

Life 

bonus track –

Oh, Shadow Dancer (Version Francaise)

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Sam Mangwana was born July 18th, 1945 in Kinshasa, Congo. A protégé of Tabu Ley (aka Rochereau) & Franco, vocalist/composer Mangwana is one of Zaïre’s least conventional stars. He is known as Le Pigeon Voyageur, the traveling pigeon. He is a musician who constantly travels, side-stepping the usual stereotypes. He has no regular band, he doesn’t own fancy cars or palatial homes or designer clothes. He places no value on any of that. When in Zaïre he couch surfs with his friends.    

He started his career with a five-year stint with Rochereau’s Africa Fiesta, before leaving for L’Orchestre Maquisards. In 1969, after several hits, including ‘Zelangaina Sala’, the band folded. Mangwana formed Vox Afrique with Dalienst. He then went solo while also working as musical director & arranger for Rochereau, even standing in for him during his absences abroad & recording the harmony parts for him in the studio.

His career has provoked controversy & violence. In 1972, he changed camps & moved to Franco’s OK Jazz. The switch caused unprecedented uproar. Rochereau & Franco were considered to be polar opposites. They each had their own individual styles & their own fans in opposing camps. The change was viewed by many as musical treason. Mangwana received threatening letters, & was forced to hide in a hotel guarded by gendarmes. Finally the furor proved too much for him. In 1976, he moved to Cote D’lvoire. There he formed a band called Amida, with the intention of modernizing Zaïrean music.

When Amida fell apart, Mangwana formed the African All Stars, with guitarist Syran Mbenza & a large fluctuating membership that included, at various times: Nyboma; Lokassa Ya Mbongo; Syran Mbenza; & Bopol (some of whom would later form Les Quatre Étoiles). This band created a hugely influential new style. Rather than stick to the old Zaïrean rumba, African All Stars blended it with highlife, Afrobeat, & above all, biguine, to create a formidable Afro-Antilles crossover.

In Zaïre, when "Georgette Eckins" grabbed the country by the ear, Mangwana & his band were heralded as major stars & creative stylists. After this came a string of hits, each mixing Zaïrean guitars with a solid beat & a singing style from the sweetest of tenors to the most swaggering of middle registers that was to become Mangwana’s hallmark.

In 1979, Mangwana recorded the album Maria Tebbo which mixed the tenderness of the title track with the political exultation of "Chimurenga Zimbabwe", a song in celebration of Zimbabwe’s new-found independence. In 1982, Mangwana traveled to southern Africa to throw himself further into the great political struggles of the region. That same year he released Co-Operation with Franco, & joined him onstage at a concert in Kinshasa. Politically, Mangwana has shown himself as a strong champion of African liberation, through albums such as 1983’s Canta Moçambique (Vamos Para o Campo), which he recorded as a tribute & an encouragement to the revolution that had ousted the Portuguese in favor of a new, independent Mozambique.

I am including both the two song Abidjan-recorded rumba set Consommez Local, & the two song Canta Moçambique (Vamos Para o Campo) recorded at Radio Mozambique Maputo. All four songs appeared on a 1989 re-release called simply Canta Moçambique. I have posted the two separately because of their differing styles that don’t really seem to go together, other than both being Sam. The first two songs are fine rumbas built for dancing, while the second two are the pointedly political homages to the anti-colonial struggle in Moçambique, sung in Portuguese with a completely different musical character.

 Sam Mangwana – Consommez local EP, Badmos International Records, 1982.

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Side A –

Liwa Ya Nickesse

Side B –

Faute Ya Commercant

Sam Mangwana – Canta Moçambique(Vamos para o Campo) EP, System Art Music SAM 004, 1983.

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Side A –

Vamos Para o campo

Side B –

Moçambique Oyé

Enjoy,

NØ