Kékélé
{{Short description|Congolese band}}
Kekele was a band formed in 2000, composed of leading veteran African musicians, mostly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They played Congolese rumba in a revival style harkening back to the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, using acoustic guitars. Kekele seems to be dormant or defunct, having not released a recording since 2006 nor performed since (apparently) 2010.
Origins
The African-record producer Ibrahim Sylla formed Kekele in 2000 to record its first album, Rumba Congo.{{cite web|title=Kekele - Biography|url=http://www.rfimusic.com/artist/congolese-rumba/kekele/biography.html|website=RFI Musique|accessdate=8 August 2017|archive-date=10 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810093048/http://www.rfimusic.com/artist/congolese-rumba/kekele/biography.html|url-status=dead}} According to one report, the band was originally intended as a "one-off" effort, only meant to exist for that one album.{{cite news|last1=Margasak|first1=Peter|title=Kekele|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/kekele/Content?oid=916150|accessdate=8 August 2017|work=Chicago Reader|date=22 July 2004}} The word kekele in the Lingala language means a type of fibrous vine, sometimes woven together to make rope. One writer speculated that this is a metaphor for the musicians who comprise the band.{{cite web|title=Kekele Biography|url=http://www.gatewayofafrica.com/artists/biography/279.html|website=Gateway of Africa|accessdate=8 August 2017}}
The band's inspiring spirit was a dissatisfaction with the direction Congolese popular music had recently taken, and a desire to return to its roots.{{cite news|last1=Nyanga|first1=Caroline and Owuor, Mike|title=Devil of the guitar|url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/1144008148/devil-of-the-guitar|accessdate=8 August 2017|work=The Standard (Nairobi)|date=6 March 2009|language=en}}{{cite news|last1=Hudson|first1=Mark|title='Kekele: Congo Life,' in CD reviews: Dave Matthews and more|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3603831/CD-reviews-Dave-Matthews-and-more.html|accessdate=9 August 2017|work=Telegraph|date=4 Oct 2003|language=en}} As Kekele guitarist Syran Mbenza said, "There were no more songs, no more melodies. . . . Our music was becoming decadent. We had to wake it up again."{{cite web |last1=Eyre |first1=Banning |title=Syran Mbenza speaks on the eve of Kekele's 2004 U.S. tour |url=http://www.afropop.org/multi/interview/ID/58/Syran+Mbenza+speaks+on+the+eve+of+Kekele%27s+2004+U.S.+tour |website=Afropop Worldwide |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211070927/http://www.afropop.org/multi/interview/ID/58/Syran+Mbenza+speaks+on+the+eve+of+Kekele's+2004+U.S.+tour |archive-date=11 February 2007}}
As an effort by a group of older musicians to revive an older style of music, many writers compared this group's work to the Buena Vista Social Club, the 1990s Havana band and album.{{cite news|last1=Denselow|first1=Robin|title=Kekele, Congo Life|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/oct/03/worldmusic.shopping2|accessdate=9 August 2017|work=The Guardian|date=2 October 2003}}{{cite news|title=Rock/Pop Listings|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/arts/04pop.html|accessdate=9 August 2017|work=The New York Times|date=4 August 2006}}{{cite news |last1=Montague |first1=Tony |title=Festival Vancouver - The Return of the Rumba: Kékélé gives the Congolese sound new bounce |url=https://www.straight.com/article/festival-vancouver-the-return-of-the-rumba |accessdate=5 May 2019 |work=Georgia Straight-Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly |date=29 July 2004 |language=en}} Perhaps along similar lines to the Buena Vista Social Club, Kekele seems aimed at a largely non-African target audience; Martin Sinnock, a U.K. expert in Congolese music, described Kekele's first album as "the most popular Congolese release of 2001"—among those "[o]utside the African community," because African fans of Congolese music were more interested in other musicians such as Koffi Olomide.{{cite web|last1=Sinnock|first1=Martin|title=Live report on Kékélé's UK Tour, November & December 2001, saved version from 19 July 2012 of unavailable site |url=http://www.africasounds.com/kekele.htm|website=archive.is|accessdate=10 August 2017|date=19 July 2012|url-status=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120719090544/http://www.africasounds.com/kekele.htm|archivedate=19 July 2012}}
Personnel
As Kekele has recorded and toured, its membership, the ten to twenty musicians in the studio or on stage, has regularly changed. Each lineup, however, has consistently been an all-star cast of experienced musicians, most from the Democratic Republic of the Congo but some from elsewhere in Africa.
The consistent core members of Kekele include vocalists Nyboma (Nyboma Mwan'dido), Wuta Mayi, Bumba Massa, and Loko 'Djeskain' Massengo, and guitarist Syran Mbenza. Loko 'Djeskain' Massengo is from the Republic of the Congo, while the other four are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and all were between age 50 and 55 in 2001. These five core members of Kekele include three of the four "stars" who comprised the supergroup Les Quatre Etoiles (The Four Stars): Nyboma, Wuta Mayi, and Syran Mbenza.
History: personnel changes, musical styles, critical reactions
=First album, ''Rumba Congo'' (2001)=
The first iteration of Kekele was led by the older guitarist Papa Noël Nedule as music director, and included, in addition to the five core members named above, Jean-Papy Ramazani (vocals), Yves Ndjock of Cameroon (guitar), Sungu Debat (conga), and Viviane Arnoux of France (accordion).{{cite web|title=Kekele Biography|url=http://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Kekele.html|website=OLDIES.com|accessdate=8 August 2017|ref=Source: Colin Larkin, The Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}
By contrast to the increasingly fast, electronic Congolese music of the 1990s, the album's musical style was a throwback, with slow rumba tempos, acoustic guitars, and accordion. Reviewers noted the high quality of the musicians and the slow, smooth nature of the music. For example, Mark Romano wrote, "Here is the full glory of Congolese rumba, played with style and an elegant sensuality that is without equal in the world of African music. . . . There is no filler here, only unguent guitar work, honey-laced vocals, piping-hot percussion, and tight fat horns."{{cite web|last1=Romano|first1=Mark|title=Rumba Congo - Kekele (Review)|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/rumba-congo-mw0000702754|website=AllMusic|accessdate=9 August 2017}} Christina Roden wrote, "The tunes uniformly reflect the languid yet well-marked Cuban clavé beat, chiming strings, and close-harmony vocals that characterized the older, more classic styles. There is not a single rough edge or hurried tempo within earshot. Ultimately, the project comes across as a mellifluous living history taught by those who know."{{cite web|last1=Roden|first1=Christina|title=Rumba Soukous [sic], Kekele, Review|url=http://www.rootsworld.com/reviews/kekele.shtml|website=RootsWorld|accessdate=9 August 2017}} Rock critic Robert Christgau wrote "As long on lilt as it is devoid of drive, the abiding quietude is irrelevant to an up-and-at-'em mood. But when nothing seems sweeter than home, it's a blessed comfort--the harmonies whispering, the drums twining, the groove massaging each overtaxed muscle until the blood can do its work there and flow on."{{cite web|last1=Christgau|first1=Robert|title=CG: Kekele|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=K%E9k%E9l%E9|website=robertchristgau.com|accessdate=9 August 2017}}
The album was critically well-received. Christgau gave the record an A−, and Romano concluded "It would be difficult to top this recording for Congolese rumba album of the year or, for that matter, African album of the year."
=Second album, ''Congo Life'' (2003)=
Papa Noël was ill when the second Kekele album was recorded, and did not participate. He was replaced on guitar by Rigo Star Bamundélé. Ramazani and Ndjock also did not return for the second album.{{cite web|last1=Bessem|first1=F.J.|title=Kékélé|url=http://www.musiques-afrique.com/frames/art_kekele.html|website=Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique|accessdate=9 August 2017|archive-date=3 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190303214938/http://www.musiques-afrique.com/frames/art_kekele.html|url-status=dead}}
Similar to the first album, the second featured acoustic guitars and slow conga rhythms. Differently, it added flute, clarinet, and violin. It includes a tribute to OK Jazz, Souvenirs-OK-Jazz. Reviewers again focused on the record's beauty. John Armstrong, for BBC Music, described the album's "[d]elicious melodies, inspired and original arrangements, faultless and non-indulgent playing, scalp-tingling voices."{{cite web|last1=Armstrong|first1=John|title=Review of Kekele - Congo Life|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/mfp2/|website=BBC - Music -|accessdate=9 August 2017}} The album's song composed by Rigo Star, Oyibi Bien, was singled out by two reviewers as particularly outstanding.{{cite web|last1=Nickson|first1=Chris|title=Congo Life - Kekele|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/congo-life-mw0000353563|website=AllMusic|accessdate=10 August 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Sanders|first1=Rick|title=Kekele / Congo Life (quoting review for fRoots)|url=http://www.cdroots.com/st-kekele2.html|website=cdroots.com|accessdate=10 August 2017|archive-date=16 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716160924/https://www.cdroots.com/st-kekele2.html|url-status=dead}}
Christgau preferred the first album over the second, but other reviewers felt differently. Rick Sanders of fRoots magazine wrote "here, a couple of years down the line, comes number two, an album that shows even more warmth, wit and soul than its predecessor." John Pareles wrote in the New York Times, "Kekele is an alliance of musicians who have played in some of Congo's best-known bands, and on "Congo Life" (World Music), they feature acoustic instruments—guitars, woodwinds, marimbas—in pristinely recorded soukous that's no less danceable for its gentle arrangements."{{cite news|last1=Pareles|first1=Jon|title=CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; This Is the Sound of Globalization|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/15/arts/critics-notebook-this-is-the-sound-of-globalization.html?_r=0|work=The New York Times|date=15 April 2005}}
Live performances
Between their first concert tour, ten or eleven performances in the UK in November–December 2001, and what appears to be their most recent concert, a July 9, 2010 show at Bozar in Brussels,{{cite web|title=Bozar a Bruxelles: 'African Gospel Day' et concerts de rumba acoustique|url=http://www.congoforum.be/fr/nieuwsdetail.asp?subitem=4&newsid=169036&Actualiteit=selected|website=Congo Forum|accessdate=8 August 2017|archive-date=8 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808073843/http://www.congoforum.be/fr/nieuwsdetail.asp?subitem=4&newsid=169036&Actualiteit=selected|url-status=dead}} one source reports that Kekele toured the United States and Canada in summer 2004 and summer 2006, and Europe in summer 2005 and summer 2007, as well as performing in the Canary Islands, Réunion, Guadeloupe, the Dominican Republic, Morocco, and Congo Brazzaville. Additionally, their 2006 live album is described as being recorded "during Kekele's 2005 winter tour in Canada and the U.S."{{cite web|title=Live: Tournée Américaine & Canadienne - Kékélé|url=https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/kekele|website=CD Baby|accessdate=9 August 2017}}
An incomplete list of reviewed or noteworthy performances include the following:
{{bulleted list
| Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK (shortly before Nov. 27, 2001){{cite news|last1=Griffiths|first1=James|title=Kekele (concert review)|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/nov/27/artsfeatures3|accessdate=9 August 2017|work=The Guardian|date=26 November 2001}}
| Bataclan, Paris (opening for Africando) (November 15, 2003){{cite news|title=Le show salsa d'Africando|url=http://www.leparisien.fr/essonne/le-show-salsa-d-africando-15-11-2003-2004543157.php|work=Le Parisien|date=15 November 2003}}
| Skirball Center, New York (May 1, 2004){{cite news|title=POP AND JAZZ GUIDE|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/movies/pop-and-jazz-guide-413070.html?_r=0|accessdate=9 August 2017|work=The New York Times|date=30 April 2004}}
| Central Park Summerstage, New York (opening for Thomas Mapfumo) (July 11, 2004){{cite news|title=POP AND JAZZ GUIDE|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/movies/pop-and-jazz-guide-244236.html|work=The New York Times|date=9 July 2004}}
| HotHouse, Chicago (July 28, 2004)
| Grant Park, Chicago (July 29, 2004)
| Concert de bienfaisance “CONGO-Rythmes et rumba,” UNESCO, Paris (September 23, 2004){{cite web|title=Concert de bienfaisance "CONGO-Rythmes et rumba"|url=http://portal.unesco.org/fr/ev.php-URL_ID=22508&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html|website=portal.unesco.org|accessdate=18 August 2017}}
| San Francisco Bay area, California (July 3, 2006){{cite web|title=Kékélé: Congolese Rumba (4 July 2006)|url=http://wandasabir.blogspot.com/2006/07/kkl-congolese-rumba_04.html|website=Interchange (Blog)|accessdate=10 August 2017}}
| Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Washington, D.C. (August 4, 2006){{cite news|last1=Kiviat|first1=Steve|title="Kekele" in PERFORMING ARTS|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/08/07/performing-arts/f8e912b0-07e8-4f8f-9c5f-2ea0d3d5175b/|accessdate=9 August 2017|work=The Washington Post|date=7 August 2006}}
| Celebrate Brooklyn African Festival, New York (August 5, 2006)
| Tempo Latino Festival, Vic-Fezensac, France (July 26, 2007)
}}
Discography
{{Discography list
| Type = Studio
| Name = Rumba Congo
| Other info =
| Format = CD
| Label = Sterns Africa
| Writer =
| Writers =
| Producer = Ibrahim Sylla
| Director =
| Chart position =
| Sales =
| Certification =
| Tracks = "Mbote Ya Pamba" (Syran Mbenza), “Dido” (Nyboma Mwan Dido), “Mandze Mandze” (Loko Massengo), “Baninga” (Papa Noël Nedule), “Elembetele Lala” (Jean-Papy Ramazani), “Massamour” (Bumba Massa), “Pinzoli Ya Africa” (Wuta Mayi), “Kubola” (Loko Massengo), “Patenge” (Jean-Papy Ramazani), ”Gina” (Nyboma Mwan Dido), “Kaka Ngai” (Bumba Massa), “Success Ya Grand Kalle” (Joseph Kabasele), “Otage Ya Bolingo” (Wuta Mayi), “Likambo” (Yves Ndjock)
| Bonus tracks =
| Singles =
}}
{{Discography list
| Type = Studio
| Name = Congo Life
| Other info =
| Format = CD
| Label = Sterns Africa
| Writer =
| Writers =
| Producer =
| Director =
| Chart position =
| Sales =
| Certification =
| Tracks = “Delali”, “Lolita”, “Issake Shango”, “Affaire Mokuwa”, “Bebe Yaourt”, “Nakobala Te”, “Mandoyi”, “Lili”, “Souvenirs-Ok-Jazz”, “Oyebi Bien”, “Silence”
| Bonus tracks =
| Singles =
}}
{{Discography list
| Type = Studio
| Name = Kinavana
| Other info =
| Format = CD
| Label = Sterns Africa, Syllart
| Writer =
| Writers =
| Producer = Ibrahim Sylla{{cite web|title=Kinavana - Kekele - Credits|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/kinavana-mw0000543664/credits|website=AllMusic|accessdate=9 August 2017}}
| Director =
| Chart position =
| Sales =
| Certification =
| Tracks = “Mace”, “Tokobaka Mikuwa”, “Tapale”, “Ponton La Belle”, “Ba Kristo”, “Fungola Motema”, “Yo Odeconer”, “Yoka Biso”, “Oh Miguel”, “Tubela”, “Chérie Sandra”, “Consequence”
| Bonus tracks =
| Singles =
}}{{Discography list
| Type = Live
| Name = Live: Tournée Américaine & Canadienne
| Other info =
| Format = CD
| Label = Kekele [self-published]
| Writer =
| Writers =
| Producer =
| Director =
| Chart position =
| Sales =
| Certification =
| Tracks = “Baninga”, “Lili”, “Delali”, “Dido”, “Lolita”, “Affaire Mokuwa”, “Mandoyi”, “Mandze-Mandze”, “Kubola”, “Massamour”
| Bonus tracks =
| Singles =
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3QlS4VSMmo Souvenirs video]
- {{Discogs artist|Kékélé}}
- {{imdb name|2990384}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kekele}}
Category:Democratic Republic of the Congo musical groups
Category:Musical groups established in 2002
Category:Lingala-language musical groups from the Democratic Republic of the Congo