Sam Mangwana, a life of rumba
Audio
Sam Mangwana.
© RFI
By: Hortense Volle
3 min
For SessionLab, Hortense Volle met Sam Mangwana, one of the legends of Congolese rumba.
At 76 years old, the man who studied with Tabu Ley Rochereau and Franco Luambo, looks back on a life punctuated by songs.
An original podcast with lots of music to dance in!
Listen to headphones (3D audio).
Publicity
A true prodigy of the song, Sam Mangwana enlightened with his voice and his texts the greatest Congolese orchestras of his time: the one formed by singer Tabu Ley Rochereau and the guitarist Doctor Nico, the African Fiesta (from 1963 to 1972), then that of guitarist Franco Luambo, TP OK Jazz (from 1972 to 1975).
Lord Rochereau taught him how to stand in front of an audience and advised him to
"read whatever (him) fell into his arms"
.
As for the
wizard of the guitar, he made him a
"real professional"
with salary, vehicle and entertainment expenses before calling him "the International Sam Mangwana".
The fathers of modern Congolese music appreciated his
"discipline"
and his sense of humor:
"I was very equipped, says the one who was already singing in several languages at the time. That's why I was expensive! "
On the strength of his experiences, Sam Mangwana began a solo career at the end of the 1970s and became a true pan-African star.
For 15 years, he had lived in Angola, the country of his parents.
Today, "the homing pigeon" is back in Europe with a new record,
Lubamba
, one of the 2021 world music favorites of the Charles Cros Academy.
For SessionLab, at the CO, "a third place restaurant - bar - cultural and artistic place" in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, Sam Mangwana looks back on a life punctuated by songs: from
Parafifi
by Joseph Kabasele, whom he listened to
"in the street , at 8 years old, on the way to school in Léopoldville where the Belgian administration had installed radio megaphones at all the major crossroads "
, until
Félicité,
the resumption that he is doing today, in passing through the
Suzanna Coulibaly
or
Minha Angola
tubes
.
Social networks
Facebook
/
YouTube / Site
Titles broadcast during the podcast
Extracts from the
Lubamba
album
(2021):
Lubamba
;
Felicite
;
Juventude Actual
;
JB Kavunga
Other Titles:
Coopération
;
Consume local
;
Zela Ngai Nasla
;
Always ok
;
Ngoyarto
;
Luzingue Ke Pidina
;
Suzana Coulibaly
;
Minha Angola;
Patria Querida
;
Felicity
;
Marie clara
During our conversation with Sam Mangwana we mentioned:
Tabu Ley Rochereau
His son Youssoupha
Franco Luambo Makiadi
Ray lema
Guitarist Dizzy Mandejku
To see
: Sam Mangwana's digital concert at 360 Paris Music Factory for the Au Fil des Voix Festival (February 2021)
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Music