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At nearly 70, Antoine Moundanda is one of the prominent figures of African music and in particular of the Congolese scene… Singer and composer, he plays the Kisansi, better known as the Sanza (traditional instrument composed of metal slats fixed on a hollow wooden chamber).
As early as 1955 an international career opened up for Antoine Moundanda. He travelled to the four corners of the Earth, with his Sanza in his hand, now solo then with other artists. A perfectionist, resolutely modern, he has given a new dimension to this traditional instrument by taking it from 9 to 22 blades. An exceptional singer, an inspired composer, Antoine Moundanda is one of the creators of Rumba, one of the founding fathers of all modern Zairo-Congolese music.
April 1997: Abidjan. A tidal wave of rolling rhythms invades the stage of the 3rd MASA (Marché des Arts du Spectacle Africain / Market for African Performing Arts). From song to song, the Likembé Géant trio and their virtuoso of the “thumb piano” set free all the sonic aromas that made the golden age of Lingala music: rumba, guaracha, beguine, cha cha cha… Approaching his seventieth birthday, Antoine Moundanda – one of the most emblematic pioneers of Congolese music – leads the dance and brings his accomplices Papa Kourant and Albert Mahela into the trance. He pinches, rubs and caresses the little metal plaques of his Likembé, attempts a few heroic riffs, breaks the rhythm, in order to make his instrument’s vibrant warmth ring better. When the glorious grandfather leaves the stage the crowd stays standing, under the spell. Following this memorable concert and a well-earned repose, the musicians of Likembé Géant record their first album in Abidjan. An album that reflects the Likembé, the instrument of travellers who honour their hosts with a sample of their immense repertoire. This recording in also an essential piece for collectors of Antoine Moundanda’s records, a prolific songwriter born in 1928 in the Kilouimba region (Congo), an authentic living encyclopaedia of Congolese and Zairian music.
“I learnt music playing the Kisani, accompanying my father in his work as a healer. As he looked after the sick I played music to keep out the bad spirits and to calm the patients. After his death I went to Brazzaville where I worked for the first time, in a Senegalese engineer’s family. At this time, under French and Belgian colonisation the industrialisation of Brazzaville and Leopoldville was in full swing. Numerous factories were flowering on either side of the river as were nightclubs, like the “Congo Bar”, where Paul Kamba performed with his “Victoria Brazza Orchestra”. Kamba encouraged me to become professional and to create Likembé Géant at the beginning of the 50s. We recorded with this group thirty or so albums for the label Ngoma, several of which won the Osborn Prize, notably because we had introduced the likembé into modern Congolese music. We played polka, djebola, rumba and traditional themes… resolutely inspired by our regional folklore. We had a lot of success. For example, for the opening night of a bar-restaurant in Bangui on the 31st December 1954 the audience preferred us to Kabelese’s African Jazz! We got the privilege of making people dance all evening. Quite dismayed, Kabalese and his band left before the end of the night! But at the end of the 50s everything started to change. The public was no longer interested in us. They preferred to listen to pop music and the electric guitar: O.K. Jazz, the Bantous, Tapu Ley, things like that…. Ngoma’s studio was shut down. After that there was Independence and Papa Kourant and I found ourselves isolated. We had to go back to the jungle! Years of suffering followed up until 1967 when we got first prize at Dakar’s Festival des Arts Noirs (Festival of Black Art). After that, with a bit of good luck, we were able to work with the Congolese National Ballet and to collaborate with the Sony Labou Tansi’s Rocado Zulu theatre. Today if the general public want to re-discover their love of acoustic music, then they can count on us.”
Francis Gay.
Contacts
Agent
Country: France
Name: Marabi/Christian Mousset
Tel: 0545619320
Fax: 0545618779
E-mail: marabi@wanadoo.fr
Adress: Pépinière Tremplin Sud
1, Bd Jean Moulin
16023 Angoulême
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