USA Africa Dialogue Series - Remembering Tabu Ley Rochereau

Where, oh where have I been amidst the minutiae of work and the
multiple, ongoing laments over Madiba's death? Oh dear, I didn't know
about the great, great Rochereau's death until yesterday. The giant
Congolese singer and bandleader died on November 30th. Only Franco
and Fela (though, the latter not in popularity) were his and Afrisa's
equal of his generation. Je suis triste, mais je le remercie pour cette
musique fantastique.

Those incomparable tumbling rhythms, those swaying, rocking guitars (oh
Huit Kilos and Caen Madoka); those propulsive horns, the wonderful
coros, and THAT voice, so honeyed, so unhurried, like the music, just
carried you along. Please listen to, for example, "En Amour Il n'y a
pas de calcul" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oze4Kht5dsw), and how Ley
and the band build up to Huit Kilo's sembene; how the tempo
imperceptibly speeds up, the multiple call and responses between him,
the other guitars and the horns, never getting in each others' way,
complementing and challenging each other, punctuated and driven along
by the la caisse claire, and the other two guitars, along with the
peppered interaction with the unison saxophones. It was music that was
never long enough, and you just didn't want it to stop. It never
will. Popular music has to move, but it can be inimitably complex too.


RIP Tabu Ley, the great general of Congolese music.

P.

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