Antoine Moundanda

b. 1928, Kikouimba, Congo. A get good at from the likembe, (Congolese ‘thumb piano’), Moundanda started playing the kisansi (the likembe’s ancestor) along with his dad who was simply a healer from the sick. It had been thought that playing music would run after away the wicked spirits evoking the sickness. Following loss of life of his dad, Moundanda relocated to Brazzaville, where he was influenced to become professional musician by Paul Kamba, innovator from the Victoria Brazza Orchestra, celebrities of the neighborhood music picture. In the first 50s he created Likembe Geant, an organization dedicated to merging then modern dance rhythms (the polka, the djebola, the rumba) with traditional Congolese likembe music. They truly became highly effective within the neighborhood music scene, liberating over 30 albums and packaging out pubs and clubs every time they performed. However, from the past due 50s the general public’s taste experienced changed. Artists such as for example Franco and Tabu Ley led organizations featuring electrical guitars as well as the acoustic Likembe Geant had been considered something of the anachronism. Over time from favour, Moundanda received a prize in the 1967 Dark Arts Festival kept in Dakar. Following this he caused the Congolese Country wide Ballet and shifted to cooperation with Sony Labou Tansi’s Zulu Theater. In 1998 the French Indigo label released Likembe Geant, an recording offering Moundanda with fellow likembe-playing aged timers Papa Kourand and Raphael Mahala. Using its calm swing and nice soulful vocals the recording offers an understanding into the root base of contemporary Congolese music.