WOMAD

Lokua Kanza

From Congo Dem. Rep., France

Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2002:Keeping faith with your roots and identity on the one hand and developing a style with global appeal on the other is a challenge that all African artists have to face. Lokua Kanza has taken this challenge to heart not only for himself but for many others too. He was born in Bukavu in what is now the eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo, right in the centre of the African continent. His early experiences, singing in church choirs and studying guitar and theory at Kinshasa Conservatory, allowed him to develop an acute ear for vocal harmony, a remarkable skill that shines through his music to this day. After a spate as guitarist with the great Zairean legend Queen Abeti, Lokua Kanza left his homeland for the Ivory Coast in 1982 and then moved to Paris in 1984. There he met the star African composer Ray Lema and played in his band from 1985 to 1988. His aptitude for composing and arranging music was beginning to be well known in the Parisian music scene and he was hired by Papa Wemba to work on the Real World album ‘Le Voyageur’. Again, Kanza’s hallmark vocal arrangements are in full effect on this African classic. Living in a bedsit in the Parisian suburb of Versailles, Kanza composed and practised ceaselessly, performing with other African stars like Manu Dibango to earn a crust. He released his first album, ‘Lokua Kanza’, in 1993. The opening track ‘Mutato’ is as sublime a piece of singing and song writing, as you’re ever likely to hear, from Africa or anywhere else for that matter. Kanza’s second album ‘Wapi Yo’ was released in 1995 with the hit ‘Shadow Dancer’ which earned him the success and recognition he had deserved for so long. A third album ‘Lokua Kanza 3’ was released in 2001, featuring collaborations with Lamont Dozier and Natalie Merchant amongst others.Short biography 2002:Originally from Bukavu, Lokua Kanza remains true to his Congolese roots but skilfully crafts elements of modern Western-style harmonies sung in Lingala, Swahili, French and English to produce a sensuous, silky, lyrical sound.Biography provided by Wrasse Records, June 2002:Even before his first album came out, Lokua Kanza's notoriety had spread well beyond the already wide circle of African music spheres. His soft, melancholy acoustic music has swept away the current clichés regarding ex-Zaire music, with its rumba and diabolical Soukouss rhythms. Lokua Kanza is a musician of multiple talents, a singer, composer or arranger as required. As for his undeniable artistic feeling, it has attracted artists from many different horizons, from Youssou N'Dour to Patrick Bruel. With Ismaël Lô, Baaba Maal or Geoffrey Oryema, he has brilliantly ensured the renewal of African music.Pascal Lokua Kanza was born in April 1958 in Bukavu in the province of Kivu, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, then called Zaïre. He is the eldest of eight children, with a Mongo father and a Tutsi mother from Rwanda. In 1964, the family went to live in Kinshasa in a middle class area, until the day when Pascal's father, a ship's captain, died. His mother then moved to a much poorer area of the city, and Lokua, the eldest, had to work to feed the family. He therefore went to school part time, and took odd jobs, as well as singing in churches. He was eight years old, and his taste for music was clearly apparent. As an adolescent he took up the guitar and joined several rumba bands. As he grew up he became interested in traditional music and joined the Kinshasa conservatoire of music. His talent was recognized when in 1980, at the age of 22, he joined the band of the diva, Abeti, the superstar of Zaire. This experience taught him a lot and Lokua was then able to join the vast African music world fully fledged. With Abeti, whose fame had spread beyond the borders of the former Zaire.endsBiography provided by artist management, 2001:A universal artistIf the expression ‘world music’ did not exist, it ought to be invented just for Lokua Kanza. Although this term is sometimes hackneyed to the point of describing anything and anybody - in this case Lokua Kanza a world-wide musician or rather, a universal artist who, from album to album, takes up a wonderful challenge; managing to touch the largest audience through his songs without ever denying his deep African roots (he was born in Bukavu, ex-Zaire). "I wish" he explains "to make the heart of African music accessible to everybody while, at the same time, keeping up its genuineness and flavour."Lokua Kanza is a musician with every fibre of his person. From all his experiences, especially that of guitarist for the late Queen Abeti, the great Zairian star, to that of singer with Kay Lema and later, Manu Dibango, he listened a lot, learnt a lot, registered everything. He also deeply admires the South-African diva Myriam Makeba, for whom he recently wrote songs. Let us add, in order to make it complete and because all this will be encountered later on in his own music, he attended classes at the Consevatoire of Kinshasa and then jazz classes at the C.I.M. (well-known jazz school) as soon as he arrived in Paris in 1984.From his very first album ‘Lokua Kanza’ released by the label Night and Day in October 1993, his exceptional voice, the richness of his guitar playing and the genuineness of his inspiration draws attention to him. Lokua Kanza is not afraid to talk about peace, love, brotherhood and sincere feelings. On stage, those present at his first concerts are struck by his charisma, by this communion the artist manages to create with his audience… beyond words, since at that time, Lokua Kanza used to sing only in Lingala, his native language.‘Wapi Yo’, released in 1995 by RCA, carried on in this same vein, a mixture of humanism and intimacy, but already, Luaka’s desire to reveal all the riches of his universe to the public was perceptible. This album particularly contained a superb song – half in English, half in Lingala – ‘Shadow Dancer’, which became a hit.Today, after almost a year’s work in a studio, here is his new album ‘Lokua Kanza 3’ (RCA/BMG). It is unnecessary to say that, like every great artist, Lokua is a perfectionist as well as the producer of several songs and albums for other artists and he perfectly masters the sound technique.An album in which pleasure was made a priority. The pleasure of an artist in his prime who, even more than before, gives free rein to his qualities: his voice, entrancing and unmistakable, which now comes at the forefront of his creation; his music, now powerfully orchestrated (a string quartet orchestrated by Bertrand Richard and Jean-Claude Petit); his lyrics, less obscure, closer to people’s daily life, still sung in lingala and swahili, but also in French and English. And still, this will to reach a larger audience’s understanding.With regard to the writing, let us point out the participation of the mythical Lamont Dozier, a pioneer of Tamla Motown, which gave ‘More than Just Sex’ of Siedan Garrett, one of Michael Jackson’s lyric writers for ‘I Believe in You’; and also of Natalie Merchant (singer of the ex 10,000 Maniacs), for ‘Don’t Tell Me’. The latter two, gorgeous songs in which the well-informed listener will not fail to recognise the very McCartney / Beatles-like harmonies."This album", Lokua Kanza says (although he is not really talkative concerning his own creations and prefers to let others talk about them) deals with love, with everyday life. For example, it tells the story of this guy who arrives in Heaven and then realises it is just a dream, or of this other one, begging the woman he loves to forgive him (‘Olimbisa Ngai’)."It is a bit of everything I am trying to say beyond music". A universal inspiration, one can see it, served in several languages in order to favour its communication, and a universal music meant to be a bridge between original Africa and Occident. A music to listen to and also a music to dance to, "which swings" he says, delighted.At the moment when ‘Lokua Kanza 3’ will be released, this album in which he put so much of himself (his soul, his heart, his professionalism) Lokua Kanza is about to set off on tour for several weeks in Germany – a country where he has been very popular from the start and where his albums sell very well. This tour, organised by German star Peter Maffay, will gather artists from all over the world such as Noa, Keb Mo or Natacha Atlas.He should be on stage next spring in France. All those who were present at his previous concerts, those who stuck to their seats, shared the experience with him at the Olympia in April 1996, and all those who are about to discover him now through his new record, are already fervently waiting…(ends)