A fascinating two CD compilation of Angola popular music, The Soul Of Angola: Anthologie De La Musique Angolaise 1965-1975 (Lusafrica, 2001), landed on the WorldBeat desk this week, sparking a celebration of Angola’s rich musical culture.
Long-time readers will remember reviews in the 1990s of the music of two of Angola’s most celebrated musical exports, Bonga (Barceló de Carvalho) and Waldemar Bastos, and before that the acoustic semba songs of the Kafala Brothers. Of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa, only musicians from Cape Verde have had success internationally; unlike its northern neighbours in the Congo region and those in Southern Africa, Angolan music remains largely unknown outside of Lusaphonic circles.
Bonga popularised one of the most important Angolan musical genres: semba. Brazilian samba comes from the same musical roots but is distinctly different, and semba was the root not only of the samba but also two other potent local styles, kizomba and kuduro. Semba is sung in an achingly beautiful vocal style and is a kind of cautionary tale; as a result, semba is found at many social occasions such as weddings, funerals and parties.
The independence struggle against Portugal’s suffocating colonial rule led to resistance through music. In 1972, Bonga released Mona Ki Ngi Xica (1972) and the authorities issued an arrest warrant. Like many of his contemporaries, he had to go into exile to survive; Bastos also later left Angola.
The Soul Of Angola compilation highlights some of the great music that was created during the independence struggle. The excellent liner notes say that the music from this period was “the result of the subtle mix of local beats like semba or the rebita, and the influences coming from close Congo (rumba), from Brazil (samba) and from the Caribbean (the Afro-Cuban rhythms and the merengue)”. The local beats included many of the traditional dances found in Angola’s provinces, including the kazukuta, cidralia, maringa, varina and dizanda.
Most of the pioneering bands like Os Kiezos and Artur Nunes emerged at roughly the same time, around the mid-sixties. Three musical styles were hugely influential — “lamentos” (typical ballads), the socially-connected and humorous semba semba and the sensuous “semba-rumba”. You can hear Nunes on the beautiful Angolan standard Tia on the compilation.
As with Congolese music, the key to creating popular musical styles was to transcribe the music from the local iconic instrument; in the case of the Congo this was from the likembe (sanza or thumb piano) to the guitar, for Angola, musicians worked from the marimba to the guitar. And like Congolese music this led to guitar based music, with up to four guitars replacing marimbas. So from the mid-sixties, Angolan bands and orchestras had as many as four guitars driving the music. You can hear this being developed in some of the foot-tapping and sultry hits of Os Kiezos, like my favourite Saudades de Luanda, who were one of the first bands to unleash the “Luanda sound”. As the music matures you can hear the bands that followed like Oscar Neves and his smooth guitar style (echoes of Dr Nico of the Congo), as on Tia Sessa.
The Cuban influence can be heard on many tracks (it should be remembered that during the civil war Cuban military and medical corps were stationed in Angola), especially those by Paulino Pinheiro (on Pachanga de Juventade) and Os Bongos (on Lena), while a thorough dance workout like Africa Merengue by Jovens Do Prenda shows the connection to Dominican merengue.
If you like Cape Verdean music and want to explore other popular music from former Portuguese colonies in Africa, then this compilation is a great place to start and it dovetails nicely with Analog Africa’s 2010 release, Angola Soundtrack: The Unique Sound Of Luanda 1968-1976.
Bonga has several greatest hits compilations, while the Waldemar Bastos album I like most is Pretaluz (Luaka Bop, 1997). One other contemporary Angolan musician worth checking out is Ricardo Lemvo, whose family comes from northern Angola; he grew up in Kinshasa and moved to the US at the age of 15; as a result of his unique background Lemvo, back by his band Makina Loca, produced music that blends Congolese, Angolan and Caribbean music.
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This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.