Bukasa, Kalombo & Brainck

The Congolese music from the late 1950s has not had the recognition it thoroughly deserves. When the Esengo label got started on January 1, 1957, and Rock-a-Mambo jammed with Kabasélé's African Jazz, when Isaac Musekiwa joined Franco and Vicky at Loningisa, and when Leon Bukasa joined forces with Raymond Brainck and Albino Kalombo at Ngoma, that's when the golden era of Congolese music broke loose.

And in this post I would like to focus on the latter of the three teams.
In an earlier post I have given some biographic details about Bukasa, and I refer you to those.
I wish I could give you details about Albino Kalombo's life, but I only know that he came from the Katanga province, and from the early 1950s established himself as a multi instrumentalist, but mainly played the sax (alto). He also played with the O.K. Jazz for a while in the early 1960s.
A little more is known about Raymond Brainck*. According to Michel Lonoh (in his "Essai de commentaire de la Musique Congolaise Moderne") he was born on August 8, 1938, - but Lonoh does not mention where. As far as I have been able to ascertain he appears on the scene as a musician with the Ngoma label in 1957, playing with Leon Bukasa and others. Subsequently he re-appears with Gerard Madiata and his Kongo Jazz on the Esengo label, where he delivers what is perhaps his most famous composition, "La Belle Lucie Botayi" (and what a great composition it is too!! See this earlier post). After that he seems to have played with Dewayon in his orchestre Cobantou, but I get the impression that he left there in 1966. A few years later he re-surfaces in Les Noirs, a Congolese orchestra of some repute, which has left a big impact in East Africa. The trail goes cold there, I am afraid..... I have heard rumours though that he had gone to the US.

So let's study the 'evidence', in this case five and a half records released on the Ngoma label. Of these one was released in 1953, all the others in 1958 and 1959.

The one from 1953 is by Albino Kalombo, accompanied by not only Leon Bukasa, but also by the legendary ensemble San Salvador, featuring Georges Edouard, Manuel D'Oliviera, Henri Freitas and Bila Edouard. Their contribution in the track "Ata velo? Ata paouni? Alors c'est trop!" is evident by their typical rhythm, which even today has a lot of followers (most notably Josky Kiambukuta and Koffi Olomide), and which is derived from the polka piquée rhythm. The rhythm is less prominent in the B-side, but still seems to seep into the music. Although to our present-day ears the sax may not sound very special, Albino Kalombo is said to have had a huge influence on those who followed in his footsteps. Maybe it was his 'positioning' in the instrumentation which was different. In "Pauline wa ngai, timbe-timbe yeyeye" the sax and guitar start off almost as a duet.

Although he is not credited, I assume Albino Kalombo is also the sax player on the tracks from 1958 and 1959. Raymond Brainck, however, is credited. As far as I can reconstruct, Papa Noel had played with Bukasa until the end of 1957, his last recordings being "Simplice Wa Bolingo" / "Bibi Sultani". I am not sure if Raymond Brainck should be seen as a replacement. Because his exceptional qualities as a guitar player must have been clear from the word "go". You only have to listen to his perky chords in "Cherie Melanie", or to the brilliant way in which he dictates the course of the song in "Makutana wa Chinkolobwe" ("the encounters of Chinkolobwe"), to realise that here was Real Talent.
On this and the next two records Brainck is supported on (contra)bass by Joseph Mwena, a musician with a history and a future with Kabasélé's African Jazz, and who later played with Rochereau's African Fiesta.
Together they set the tone in what I consider to be one of the classic recording sessions in Congolese music. A session that resulted in marvels like "Penepene", "Maria bolingo wa ngai", "Louise mungambule" ("Louise carried me"), "Kobeta mwasi te" ("Don't hit a woman").

I can seriously say that it doesn't get much better than this.

"Louise mungambule" was even a hit for Bukasa, and a track that is often cited when favourites from the 1950s are named. Brainck certainly made his mark with these songs, and perhaps even more because Bukasa names him in "Kobeta mwasi te". But if you ask me there is no better proof of his genius than "Penepene", in which he appears to invent a complete new set of rules for guitar playing.

The next record, featuring two songs in swahili, was recorded in 1959. Both "Baba mama mujomba" ("Papa, mama, (my) uncle") and "Ana kwa muzee" ("He has gotten old") are good examples of the unique laid-back Bukasa style. The bassist on these songs, by the way, is not Mwena, but a certain Adolphe.

Rounding off the selection is another composition by Albino Kalombo (fourth from the left in the photo), but this time from 1959: a cha-cha-cha in the luba language called "Kamungule". Backed by the Beguen Band, which by that time had - like San Salvador before - developed into the regular accompanying band of the Ngoma label, Kalombo shows off his skills as a sax player. Although Congolese sources report that this track also features Bukasa, I have my doubts about this. I do suspect the song features Henri Etari, the trumpet player in the photo on the left, and a musician who was also a regular in Bukasa's band.

Of both Bukasa and Brainck I will be posting more in the future.

Ngoma 1434 / 1873 / 1886 / 1887 / 1960 / 1978

*Whose real name must have been Raymond Kalonji. According to Gary Stewart he intended his nickname to be "Braynck" (repeating the "ray" of his first name) but this was misspelled by Ngoma. I am somewhat curious about the source for this theory.

Cobantou

I hope you don't think I am going to go wild posting all kinds of football (soccer) related or South African music. I may be tempted to dedicate one (1) (or perhaps even two) post to football, and South African music is never off the agenda, but I'm afraid I am not going to let an over-commercialised and hyper-hyped media event dictate my blogging agenda (ahum)....

Instead I would like to dig a bit deeper into Congolese music. And in this post I would like to share three singles by Orchestre Cobantou, the orchestra founded and led by Paul Ebengo, better known as Dewayon.

You may recall that Dewayon played a crucial part at the start of Franco's career. Given this shared past, it is not surprising that when Congolese music started to be divided in two sides (or 'schools', or influences), Dewayon and his orchestra were categorised as belonging to the O.K. Jazz school. Nevertheless Dewayon has always managed to retain an authentic sound, at first - after switching from Loningisa to the new Esengo label in 1957 - with his Conga Jazz, and subsequently with Cobantou.

It is a pity that so little has been documented about the history of this orchestra, which over the years saw a great amount of very talented musicians pass through its ranks. It appears that Dewayon had some difficulty retaining these musicians, because I don't think many stayed for very long. One of these talented musicians was guitarist Raymond Brainck, whom I mentioned in these earlier posts.

I am not sure when Brainck ceased to be a member. I known he was with Cobantou in the early days of the Londende label.
It is hard to say if he is playing on Londende Lo 040, the first of these three singles, mainly because it is very hard to distinguish any individual member in these two extremely unusual tracks. This may be due to the collaboration with le Groupe Monguande Folklorique, who appear to be doing their own Monguande (does this refer to the Mongo?) thing, while Cobantou are desperately trying to get their bit in....
It is clear, however, that Mobutu is the subject of both songs.

Londende Lo 040

Equally remarkable, but for very different reasons, is the second single, released as Londende Lo 043. The A-side contains a relatively normal rumba composed by Dewayon. In the song some of the members of the orchestra are named. Raymond Brainck is mentioned immediately after Dewayon (1'55 into the song), and they are followed by singer Flamy (Pierre Kiyika a.k.a. Kiyika Masamba) and Gérard (probably sax player Gérard Kongi, and probably not Gérard Madiata), Francky (the great singer Franc Lassan?? or the sax player who played with Nico?), Chécain or Lola Djangi (who switched to the O.K. Jazz in April 1967), singers Champro (often spelled as "Champrou" or even "Champroux") and Emmano Mbala, rhythm guitarist Jacky Mambau, someone called Tollo (who can he mean??), Jean-Paul (or Champro again?), Modero (more than likely sax player Mekanisi Modero, who later played in Tabu Ley's Afrisa) and André Mazi (drummer). Although this summing up of the names of band members may sound narcissistic to present-day western audiences, it was almost a necessity for a lot of African musicians, not only to receive immaterial credit from audiences in a largely oral culture, but also to avoid being excluded when it came to dividing the revenues.
The B-side of this single is again remarkable. Composed (and sung?) by singer Champro it is a french ballad, sung with a frenchness that would have made even Kabasélé jealous. It's a pity the song only lasts 2'22.....

Londende Lo 043

The third single is from a later date; it was originally released as Londende Lo 148. This suggests, by the way, that Cobantou have recorded and released quite a few singles in a short period. I deduce this from the presence of Chécain (standing fourth from the left in the sleeve photo above and audible in the song on side A, and possibly on side B too). Apparently Raymond Brainck had left the orchestra, because Delafrance (before with Nico's African Fiesta) is named as the lead guitarist. I particularly like the A-side "Molangi Ya Pembe Communiqué".

African 90.404 [Londende Lo 148]

Again I invite you to correct, add, comment etcetera. I am trying to help in reconstructing some of the history of these glorious orchestras.

Edit (June 11, 2010): Here are all three singles in one file.

Origine Esengo

Returning to the series of posts of singles, here are two EP's on the Columbia label. Originally all the eight tracks of these records were recorded for the Esengo label, which -as I reported before- had started on January 1, 1957.
Four of these tracks are by Orchestre Bantou, which had been started in 1959 by musicians from Brazzaville who had been working in Leopoldville. With the prospect of the independence of the Belgian colony, they thought it might be wiser to return to their side of the Congo river. The heart of the new orchestra consisted of key members of the Rock-a-Mambo orchestra. With a history on the Loningisa label and the OK Jazz, Essous, Pandi and Nino Malapet had created havoc in Leopoldville. As Rock-a-Mambo or combined with Kabasélé's African Jazz and Dewayon's Conga Jazz they produced a stream of brilliant hits on the Esengo label, so they were received as veteran artist when they returned in Brazzaville.
All the four songs were composed by Jean Serge Essous, who also is the lead singer on two ("Padrona de la Musica" and "Una Noche"), and at least three of these -and especially "Una Noche" and "Luiza"- can easily be mistaken for songs by Rock-a-Mambo.

The other half of these two records is for artists which normally will be associated with the OK Jazz. Vicky Longomba had left the OK Jazz to join Kabasélé at the Table Ronde in Brussels, and on returning to Congo had founded his own orchestra, Negro Succès. For this he recruited among the existing orchestras, snatching (amongst others) a young guitarist Léon Bombolo, a.k.a. 'Bholen', away from the Loningisa stable where had just started alongside Franco. In more than one way the two songs by his Negro Succès bare a strong resemblance to tracks by the OK Jazz.

The last orchestra on these two EP's is perhaps the least known. But Kongo Jazz contains some of the most noteworthy, but unfortunately not so well-known artists of Congolese music. And I am not referring to the young rhythm guitarist Lutumba Simaro, who not much later made the move to the OK Jazz. I am, however, referring to Gerard Madiata, a singer who has performed with nearly all the great Congolese orchestras, but has nevertheless remained a solo artist throughout his entire career. And I am referring especially to -in my opinion- the star of these tracks: the unbelievable guitarist Raymond Brainck*. Listen carefully to this highly underrated master. In a future post I will be sharing more wonders by this musical hero....

Columbia ESDF 1407
Columbia ESRF 1415

*his name is spelled "Braing" or "Brainq" on this record, but this must be a mistake.

Kongo Georges

Just one EP in this post, I'm afraid. But there are still four songs by Kongo Jazz on this record, and that's two more than on the EP I posted earlier.

Two of these songs were composed by Simaro Lutumba, of O.K. Jazz fame, who in an interview in 1991 (see below) named one of these, "Lisolo Ya Ndako", as a song of which he has fond memories. Unfortunately he did not say why...

On side two there are two songs composed by a certain Bejos, both featuring a harmonica (which may suggest that there is a link between Bejos and the harmonica..). The first of these is an instrumental track.

Although I have no confirmation of this, it appears to me that one of the two singers in these songs is Lola Djangi 'Chécain', who started his musical career in 1957, in a band called Micra Jazz, alongside Simaro and Raymond Brainck while still at school. They went on to form Kongo Jazz (named after Kongo Georges, the owner of the bar where they performed, and where the O.K. Jazz had performed before them) in 1957, and were signed on to the Esengo label in 1960. At the Esengo label he met Nino Malapet and Rock-a-Mambo, and Dewayon and his Conga Jazz, which bands he joined before switching over to the O.K. Jazz in 1967.

Kongo Jazz recorded quite a few tracks at the Esengo label. Chronologically the two Simaro tracks were originally released after the two tracks in my earlier post. Of the two Bejos compositions I have no idea when they were released.

I am digging up material for a post dedicated to the lead singer of the Kongo Jazz, Gérard Madiata, who Simaro described as a great singer who sang in all the languages: flemish, dutch, english...

The interviews with Simaro and Chécain can be found here.

Columbia ESDF 1444 (new link November 2, 2010)