Category: Great Music

A Heritage of militant Music of the African continent

“Le Bucheron”/”The Woodcutter” by Franklin Boukaka

On By Dr. Y.In Great Music, Great PeopleLeave a comment
Franklin Boukaka
Franklin Boukaka

As stated earlier in the week, Franklin Boukaka was a visionary ahead of his time, and his songs are very politically engaged. His most acclaimed song is “Le Bûcheron” / “The Woodcutter” which has been timeless and covered by many singers over the years. Most know the song as “Aye Africa”.  “Le Bûcheron” (the woodcutter; the Kenyan version of the single was titled “Le Bûcheron (Africa)”), is a complaint about the state of Africa and its poor, the refrain lamenting “Oh, Africa, where is your independence? … where is your liberty?” Boukaka even goes further, showing that the politicians of today who have replaced yesterday’s colonizers cannot really be differentiated from them. He laments the fact that some he believed in, have turned their back on the people and instead developed greed for power, only showing good sides during election times (isn’t this true of politicians around the globe, who only remember the people come election time with empty promises?), ” Some to whom I gave my voice, have developed the greed of power and cars; When the elections come I become important then in front of them.” Lastly, it is impossible to hear the saxophone notes coming from Manu Dibango.

As you read the lyrics and listen to the song, why do you think Franklin Boukaka titled his song The Woodcutter?

Ayé Africa eh                                      … Ayé Africa eh
Eh Africa oh Lipanda                          … Eh Africa oh where is your independence?
Ayé Africa eh                                      … Ayé Africa eh
Eh Africa oh liberté                             … Ayé Africa eh where is your freedom? 

Ko kata koni pasi                                … Cutting firewood is hard work
Soki na kati, ko teka pasi                    … To sell this wood is another
Na pasi oyo ya boye                           … With this lot of misfortunes and children
Ngaï na bana mawa na koka te          … I’m far from getting out

Basusu oyo na ponaka                       … Some to whom I gave my voice
Bawela bonkonzi mpe na ba voitures … Have developed the greed of power and cars
Ba voti tango e komaka                      … When the elections come
Ngaï na komi moto mpo na bango      … I become important then in front of them

Na ko mituna mondele a kende          … I wonder: has the colonizer gone,
Lipanda to zuaka, oh ya nani eh?       … For whom did we obtain independence?
Africa eh                                              … Oh Africa

Ayé Africa eh                                       … Ayé Africa eh
Oh Africa oh Lipanda                          … Eh Africa oh where is your independence?
Ayé Africa eh                                      … Ayé Africa eh      
Oh Africa oh liberté                             … Ayé Africa eh where is your freedom?

“The Immortals” by Franklin Boukaka

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Franklin Boukaka
Franklin Boukaka

Let’s do a trip down memory lane. Several years ago we published a post on the song “Les Immortels” / “The Immortals“ written and composed by the late Congolese singer Franklin Boukaka. The song honored the great Moroccan leader Mehdi Ben Barka, African resistants, and world revolutionaries. For those who do not know or remember Franklin Boukaka, you have probably heard his song “Aye Africa” which has been repeated by so many singers on the continent (one of my favorite renditions is the one by the group Bisso na Bisso). Franklin Boukaka was a freedom fighter, a poet, composer, activist, and fought for the independence of Africa both politically and in all his songs. He was ahead of his time, and a new patriot. So sad that he was murdered during the coup that deposed Ange Diawara during the night of 23-24 February 1972. He was clearly a threat to many.

Mehdi Ben Barka
Mehdi Ben Barka

As the title says it all, The Immortals honors our great leaders of the past, those who fought for our liberties, and who have become martyrs. They are now immortal. The song was so popular in those days that it was sung in schools. No wonder Boukaka was murdered for this. Please find below, the English version. Enjoy!

« The Immortals » by Franklin Boukaka

Africa mobimba e ……… The whole of Africa
Tokangi maboko e …….. crossed her arms
Tozali kotala e …….. We observed powerless
Bana basili na kokende … The loss of her children
Bana basili na kotekama e … The traffic of her children
Na banguna a ……………… near ennemies
Tolati mokuya ata maloba te … Silent, we have carried the black veil of mourning
Congo na bana Africa baleli … Congo and Africa burst into tears
(2X)
Oh O Mehdi Ben Barka … Oh ! Mehdi Ben Barka
Mehdi nzela na yo ya bato nyonso … Mehdi, your way is that of all humanity
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Lumumba … Mehdi, your way is that of Lumumba
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Che Guevara … Mehdi, your way is that of Che Guevara
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Malcolm X … Mehdi, your way is that of Malcolm X
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Um Nyobé … Mehdi, your way is that of Um Nyobé
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Felix Moumié … Mehdi, your way is that of Felix Moumié
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Nguyen Van Choi … Mehdi, your way is that of Nguyen Van Choi
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Tsoroki … Mehdi, your way is that of Tsoroki
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Camilo CienFuegos … Mehdi, your way is that of Camilo CienFuegos
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Hoji Ya Henda … Mehdi, your way is that of Hoji Ya Henda
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Camilo Torres … Mehdi, your way is that of Camilo Torres
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Abdel Kader … Mehdi, your way is that of Abdel Kader
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Coulibaly … Mehdi, your way is that of Coulibaly
Mehdi nzela na yo ya André Matsoua … Mehdi, your way is that of André Matsoua
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Simon Kibangu… Mehdi, your way is that of Simon Kibangu
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Albert Luthuli… Mehdi, your way is that of Albert Luthuli
Mehdi nzela na yo ya Boganda … Mehdi, your way is that of Boganda
Oh ya Tiers-monde … Oh ! Third world
Oh ya libération ya ba peuple … Oh ! that of the liberation of the people

Words: An old man, whom I consider always young, said to me one day : « My son, all men
should die one day ; but not all deaths have the same meaning »

Mehdi Ben Barka (XXX)
Mehdi Ben Barka (XXX)

Syllart Records – A Classic from Pépé Kallé & Empire Bakuba

On By Dr. Y.In Great Music, Great People2 Comments

On Monday, we talked about Syllart Records: The African Equivalent to Motown Records, a label which owns some of the largest African music catalog in the world. Let us pray it remains so, and they can be remunerated at their right One of African’s legends is incontestably Pépé Kallé. Enjoy this rare pearl of Pépé Kallé and Empire Bakuba… this is one is from the Syllart Records Youtube channel.

Syllart Records: The African Equivalent to Motown Records

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments, Great Music, Great PeopleLeave a comment
Syllart Records
Syllart Records

I recently heard about the Syllart Records, a music records label which many considered to be the equivalent of the African continent’s Motown records. The record label leader is Binetou Sylla, the daughter of the founder, the late Senegalese producer Ibrahima Sory Sylla. The label owns the largest African music catalog in the world, spanning the last sixty years of music creation. Its founder, Sylla’s impact on African pop music and its global influence is really wide. Imagine the hard work, the quality, the authenticity, and innovation that went on in his studios! Yet, I had never heard of his name. However, I had heard about some of the artists produced under his label, and danced to their music, such as Ismael Lo, Salif Keïta, Empire Bakuba, Sam Mangwana, Gadji Celi, M’Pongo Love, Tshala Muana, M’bilia Bel, Oumou Sangare, Pépé Kallé, Miriam Makeba, Papa Wemba, or Africando, and so many others.

Syllart Records_Binetou Sylla
Binetou Sylla of Syllart Records (Source: Panafricanspacestation.org.za)

Today, his daughter is working on digitizing all that hard work, and trying to find ways to give rights to the musicians. She says of her father on OkayAfrica, “[My father] preferred to let his work, his music speak for him. He was an ambassador for African music. … [He] excelled at scouting new talent and used Syllart as a launching pad for many who would rise to global stardom.” Enjoy her recent interview to BBC. Check out the Syllart Records YouTube channel.

Congolese Rumba Wins UNESCO Protected Status

On By Dr. Y.In Great Music3 Comments

Rumba_putumayo-african-rumba
Putumayo cover of African Rumba disc (Source: Putumayo)

Two months ago, the 2 Congos, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), filed jointly for the Congolese Rumba to be recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage (The 2 Congos Seek to have the Rumba Recognized as a World Treasure). I hope that this is a start for both Congos to transcend their differences to rise together more often, and join efforts. Isn’t it Unity nice? Enjoy this article from the BBC.

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One of the most influential genres of African music and dance, Congolese rumba, now has Unesco-protected status.

Congo_Brazzaville_Flag
Flag of the Republic of Congo

It is the culmination of campaigning by two countries – the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville.

They both occupy what was once the ancient kingdom of Kongo – where the sinuous dance originated according to the two nations’ joint application.

The word “rumba” itself comes from the Kikongo word for navel, “nkumba“.

DRC_flag
Flag of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Congolese rumba joins other living traditions such as Jamaican reggae music and Singaporean hawker food on Unesco’s “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” list. The UN’s cultural body says bestowing this status helps to “maintain cultural diversity in the face of growing globalisation”.

… Rumba “has been part of our identity, descendants of Africa and all of us, throughout the ages,” said DR Congo’s Culture minister Catherine Kathungu Furaha earlier this year. “We want rumba to be recognised as ours. It is our identity.

“When our ancestors who were taken abroad wanted to remember their history, their origin, their memory, they danced the navel dance.”

Papa Wemba1
Papa Wemba

Among the earliest heroes of Congolese rumba were Wendo Kolosoy, Paul Nkamba, Franco and TPOK Jazz, Tabu Ley Rochereau and Dr Nico. As African nations fought for independence from their colonial rulers, The Independence Cha Cha by Le Grand Kallé galvanised many and is seen as the first truly pan-African hit song. … Later that decade saw the arrival of Zaïko Langa Langa and its breakout star Papa Wemba. Among his many protégés was Koffi Olomidé, who remains popular today along with younger stars such as Fally Ipupa.

… There is no doubt that rumba’s influence is felt across the world, and its champions say it is only right that this be recognised by Unesco and benefit the next generation of musicians.

 

The 2 Congos Seek to have the Rumba Recognized as a World Treasure

On By Dr. Y.In Great Art, Great Music4 Comments
Putumayo cover of African Rumba disc (Source: Putumayo)

There is no doubt that the Rumba has gone global, or that it has influenced other musical types throughout the world. To those who do not know, Rumba is a music style that originates from Kongo … and here I mean the whole area that is encompassed by both Congos, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and in the olden days it was even bigger including areas of Angola, Central African Republic and Gabon. The rumba was born in Cuba from the enslaved Africans who had been taken there from the Kongo.

Flag of the Republic of Congo

Today, authorities in both Kinshasa and Brazzaville, the capitals of the DRC and the Republic of Congo, have submitted a joint bid to add Congolese Rumba to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Don’t you wish both countries could join together more often on other topics as well?

Flag of the Democratic Republic of Congo

The submission will help showcase the diversity of the heritage and raise awareness about its importance. If Congolese rumba were to be added, it would join the Budima dance of Zambia, hawker food of Singapore, sauna culture of Finland, handmade weaving in Upper Egypt, traditional pomegranate festivity and culture of Azerbaidjan, Traditional Thai massage, and traditional irrigation systems in the United Arab Emirates, among countless other customs on the list.

Papa Wemba, the king of Congolese Rumba, on his cover of Emotion

The word Rumba derives from “nkumba,” meaning belly button in the local Kikongo language, a dance originating in the ancient kingdom of Kongo.

The music style was born of the melting pot of 19th century Cuba, from the enslaved Africans, combining their drumming and dancing with their melodies and those of the Spanish colonizers. The African slaves who were taken to the Americas created the rumba as a way to stay connected to their inner beings, their histories, cultures, and probably also as a way to escape the daily grind of slavery, the inhumane practice that ripped them of their dignity of human beings.

It was re-exported to Africa in the early 20th century on vinyl, where it found a ready audience in the two Congos who recognized the rhythms as their own.

Catherine Kathungu Furaha, the DRC’s minister of art and culture, said, “when our ancestors who were taken abroad wanted to remember their history, their origin, their memory, they danced the navel dance.”… “We want rumba to be recognized as ours. It is our identity.”

Cuban rumba has been inscribed in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2016. It only makes sense that its counterpart, the mother-source, the origin, the Congolese Rumba be inscribed in the list as well. We will know in November when the committee will decide.

Happy Mother’s Day 2021

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments, Great Music, Great PeopleLeave a comment
Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba

To celebrate all the mothers out there… I thought of sharing this beautiful song by the legendary Papa Wemba “Mama,” from his album Nouvelle Ecriture 1997 dedicated to his mother. I dedicate it to all the mothers out there, and future mothers. Papa Wemba was the King of Rumba and King of La SAPE, and an African Planetary Star. Of his mother who was a professional ‘wailing woman,’ he said: “My mother was my first teacher and my first public. … I grew up with my mother’s melancholic singing. … When I will sing, she will say “my son, block here, and now project your voice“… when I did well, she will clap for me“(source: Tv5 – Africanité). For his mother, he composed Mama and Maria Valencia. Enjoy! Happy Mothers’s Day.

“Souffrance d’Amour” / “Love Suffering” by Ben Decca

On By Dr. Y.In Great Music, Great People2 Comments
Ben Decca (Source: KamerLyrics.net)

For this year’s Valentine, we will introduce you to “Souffrance d’Amour” by the Cameroonian singer Ben Decca. The song, “Souffrance d’Amour” translated as “Love suffering” tells of a love so deep, so strong between two people, but which does not work. So it is, in the words of Ben Decca himself, “proof that two people can go their separate ways and remain in love despite everything. “Souffrance d’Amour” is a shout-out to people who give themselves entirely to the other with sincerity and loyalty, but unfortunately, in general they receive the opposite of what they put in… sad reality…” [“Souffrance d’Amour” est la preuve que deux personnes peuvent se quitter et demeurer amoureuses l’une de l’autre malgré tout. Souffrance d’Amour” est une dédicace aux personnes qui se donnent à l’autre entièrement avec sincérité et loyauté, hélas en général ils reçoivent l’opposé de ce qu’ils ont misé… triste réalité…]. “To love is to forget oneself and to think only of the one we love” [“Aimer c’est s’oublier soi-meme, et ne penser qu’a celui qu’on aime…”]

For those who do not know him, Ben Decca, he is the ultimate crooner of Cameroon… You could think of a Luther Vandross type… His career spans over 40 years of constantly amazing music. He is a pure talent, and hails from a family of musicians, with 3 younger siblings who are also renowned singers  Grâce Decca, Dora Decca, and Isaac Decca, and nephew to the great Cameroonian legend Eboa Lotin, and great grandson to Lobe Lobe Rameau one of the pioneers of Makossa in Cameroon. His work has been the legendary, and he has lightened to lives of so many of us lovers of life, given life to our feelings of joy, pain, grace, hurt,…. Kudos to the great, and only Ben Decca.

Mory Kante : So long to an Electrifying Griot

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Music, Great People3 Comments

Mory Kante_2
Mory Kante with his kora (Source: RadioKing.com)

I remember dancing to the tunes of “Yé ké yé ké” as a child… I also have fond memories of seeing Mory Kante play his kora, and being amazed by his dexterity, finesse, and charisma. Every note transported me to different horizons. It did not matter that I did not understand his language, I could feel the emotions he conveyed with his voice and kora… it was like magic: one could travel all the way to Guinea and back within the confines of one’s room.

On May 22, 2020, an honorable member of the Griot (Djeli) family, Mory Kante, moved to the land of his ancestors. In reality, he just changed dimensions, and left us with the electricity of his music. Born in 1950 in a small town near Kissidougou in Guinea, Mory Kante came from a long family tradition of griots (Djeli). Both of his parents were griots, his father was from Guinea and his mother from Mali  Mory absorbed the singing of his parents and as a child learned to play the balafon. As a child, his family sent him to Mali to study the kora and other griot traditions. 

Mory Kante_3
Mory Kante with some of the instruments he played including the balafon, kora, and djembe (Source: Express.co.uk)

Mory Kante is often known as the “electronic griot” because he modernized local traditional instruments such as his kora which he electrified, and fused African music with styles and instruments from Western pop. Kante’s 1987 single “Ye Ke Ye Ke” was a hit, first in Africa and then across Europe. It became the first African single to sell more than a million copies and has been licensed frequently for commercials and film soundtracks. It has even been reworked by other musicians into German techno, Bollywood film music and Chinese Cantopop.

If you ever come across a kora, or listen to Ye Ke Ye Ke remember this great man who modernized the ancient ways to share with us his love of the music of his forefathers. His music has inspired countless singers from the new generation. The New York Times , BBC, and Guardian have written articles about this great man.

Francis Bebey introducing us to the Communication System of Pygmy People

On By Dr. Y.In Great Literature, Great Music, Great People, Uncategorized7 Comments

Francis Bebey_1
Francis Bebey

As we saw on Monday, Francis Bebey’s poem ‘Je suis venu chercher du travail’ / ‘I Came to Look for Work’ is the story of many immigrants, living their homes, families, friends and countries, to journey to far-away lands in search of a better living.

More than a writer, Francis Bebey was also a musician. Below is a video where Francis Bebey introduces the viewer to the one-note flute, and the communication system invented by the pygmy peoples of Central Africa to converse with each other using that instrument. As I told you earlier, Francis Bebey headed the music department at the UNESCO‘s office in Paris, where he focused on researching and documenting African traditional music. Enjoy a lesson from the maestro!