The Rhythm of Music or Bullets: Congolese Sing Their Way Out of Grief

As a young boy herding my father’s cattle in the remote green, grassy fields of Western Kenya, we had competition on various areas of childhood expertise. Apart from the swimming competition to find the best among others who can cross the deep, large and swift River Nzoia or a football match using a ball made out of waste paper bags roundly folded by long woven sisal strings, was a singing competition that would bring the best talent in Congolese Rhumba – a genre of music that was not only rhythmic but its aesthetic value was compared to none. As we tried to outdo each other, it brought us hope, unity and pleasure and I can remember these days with a lot of vigour, smile, and regret in equal measure.

I say smile and viguor because these days defined my childhood and inspired me partly because I have come from very far in my life. Even though we had an old record player and a radio that we could often listen to Congolese musicians such as the late Franco Luambo Makiadi or San Fan Thomas, we could also sneak out during the day to local parties to watch people sexily dance to the rhythmic tunes well oiled with smooth voices of what defined Rhumba. We would then sing in unison trying to follow the lines even though we could not understand the Lingala language, we would definitely replace it with our Luo words to make it easily flow. To us, rhythm was the most important thing!

The fascination with Congolese Rhumba followed me to my youthful and adult life but now with a little difference – regret! The thinking that with all the efforts the Congolese musicians are putting to give a smile of hope on my face and many others around the world particularly in Africa and Europe, there are a number of challenges Congo has faced since the Scramble and Partition of Africa. Later I realized that Congolese music had greatly influenced Luo Benga and some luos had sung together with Congolese musicians such as the legendary Ochieng Kabaselleh, Collela Mazee, among others. Luos have political songs, peace songs, love songs, and other praise songs but also dirges which have been greatly influenced by Rhumba. This has united them, made them strong to keep going in difficult times and brought a sense of respect amongst them!

Like many African states, Congo has known no peace! The different lenses with which I now see Congo is that, when I was young, I knew no Congolese history apart from its music…in fact I did not even know where Congo was in the world map in the first place. In school later, I began to read from books that Congo was colonized by Belgium; that Belgium exploration, exploitation, and administration took place from the 1870s until the 1920s and was named Congo Free State from 1877 until 1908. During the period of 1885–1908, millions of Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and disease. In some areas the population declined dramatically; it has been estimated that sleeping sickness and small pox killed nearly half the population in the areas surrounding the lower Congo River. A government commission later concluded that the population of the Congo had been “reduced by half” during this period, but determining precisely how many people died is impossible, as no accurate records exist.

The country’s name changed to Belgian Congo (1908–1960) out of international pressure particularly from Great Britain against the many deaths and mistreatment of Congolese by their colonial master. This name was sustained until independence when hell broke loose! Congo instantly degenerated into a battle zone with frequent civil wars that has left the country on the brink of collapse.

In May 1960, a growing nationalist movement, the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC) Party, led by Patrice Lumumba, won the parliamentary elections. The party appointed Lumumba as Prime Minister. The parliament elected as President Joseph Kasavubu, of the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) party.

The Belgian Congo achieved independence on 30 June 1960 under the name “République du Congo” (“Republic of Congo” or “Republic of the Congo” in English). Shortly after independence, the provinces of Katanga (led by Moise Tshombe) and South Kasai, and the Jabiyans in North Kivu engaged in secessionist struggles against the new leadership. Most of the 100,000 Europeans who had remained behind after independence fled the country, opening the way for Congolese to replace the European military and administrative elite.

As the neighboring French colony of Middle Congo (Moyen Congo) also chose the name “Republic of Congo” upon achieving its independence, the two countries were more commonly known as “Congo-Léopoldville” and “Congo-Brazzaville”, after their capital cities. Another way they were often distinguished during the 1960s, such as in newspaper articles, was that “Congo-Léopoldville” was called “The Congo” and “Congo-Brazzaville” was called simply “Congo”.

On 5 September 1960, Kasavubu dismissed Lumumba from office. Lumumba declared Kasavubu’s action unconstitutional and a crisis between the two leaders developed. (cf. Sécession au Katanga – J.Gerald-Libois -Brussels- CRISP) Lumumba had previously appointed Joseph Mobutu chief of staff of the new Congo army,Armee Nationale Congolaise (ANC). Taking advantage of the leadership crisis between Kasavubu and Lumumba, Mobutu garnered enough support within the army to create mutiny. With financial support from the United States and Belgium, Mobutu paid his soldiers privately. The aversion of Western powers to communism and leftist ideology influenced their decision to finance Mobutu’s quest to maintain “order” in the new state by neutralizing Kasavubu and Lumumba in a coup by proxy. A constitutional referendum after Mobutu’s coup of 1965 resulted in the country’s official name being changed to the “Democratic Republic of the Congo.” In 1971 it was changed again to “Republic of Zaïre.”

On 17 January 1961, Katangan forces and Belgian paratroops – supported by the United States and Belgium – kidnapped and executed Patrice Lumumba! Amidst widespread confusion and chaos, a temporary government was led by technicians (Collège des Commissaires) with Evariste Kimba. The Katanga secession was ended in January 1963 with the assistance of UN forces. Several short-lived governments, of Joseph Ileo, Cyrille Adoula, and Moise Tshombe, took over in quick succession.

Between 1971 and 1997, the name changed to Zaire with Mobutu in power backed by the United States because of his staunch opposition to Communism. A one-party system was established, and Mobutu declared himself head of state. He periodically held elections in which he was the only candidate. Although relative peace and stability were achieved, Mobutu’s government was guilty of severe human rights violations, political repression, a personality cult and corruption. (Mobutu demanded every Congolese banknote be printed with his image, hanging of his portrait in all public buildings, most businesses, and on billboards. It was common for ordinary people to wear his likeness on their clothing).

In 1971, Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire, its fourth name change in 11 years and its sixth overall. The Congo River was renamed the Zaire River. In 1972, Mobutu changed his legal name from Joseph-Désiré Mobutu to Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (translated as “the all powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, shall go from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake”), although he only used the first three of his new names. Furthermore, he decreed that Christian names had to be Africanized and refused to allow Western-styled clothing to be worn by anyone.

Opponents within Zaire stepped up demands for reform. This atmosphere contributed to Mobutu’s declaring the Third Republic in 1990, whose constitution was supposed to pave the way for democratic reform. The reforms turned out to be largely cosmetic. Mobutu continued in power until the conflict forced him to flee Zaire in 1997. Thereafter, the nation chose to reclaim its name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, since the name Zaire carried such strong connections to the rule of Mobutu.

Civil Wars

By 1996, following the Rwanda Civil War and genocide that claimed several lives in 1994 and the ascension of a Tutsi-led government, Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe) fled to eastern Zaire and began refugee camps as a basis for incursion against Rwanda. These forces allied with the Zairian armed forces (FAZ) to launch a campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire. A coalition of Rwandan and Ugandan armies then invaded Zaire to overthrow the government of Mobutu, and ultimately control the mineral resources of Zaire, launching the First Congo War. This new expanded coalition of two foreign armies allied with some longtime opposition figures, led by Laurent-Desire Kabila, becoming the Alliance des Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Congo-Zaire (AFDL).

In 1997, Mobutu fled the country and Kabila marched into Kinshasa, naming himself president and reverting the name of the country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Later, Laurent Kabila asked foreign military forces to return to their countries because he was concerned that the Rwandan officers running his army were plotting a coup in order to give the presidency to a Tutsi who would report directly to the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame. Rwandan troops retreated to Goma and launched a new Tutsi led rebel military movement called the Rassemblement Congolais pur la Democratie (RCD) to fight against their former ally, President Kabila, while Uganda instigated the creation of new rebel movement called the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), led by the Congolese warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba. The two rebel movements, along with Rwandan and Ugandan troops, started the Second Congo War by attacking the DRC army in 1998. Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia became involved militarily on the side of the government to defend a fellow SADC member.

Kabila was assassinated in 2001 and was succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila, who called for multilateral peace talks to end the war. UN peacekeepers, MONUC, now known as MONUSCO, arrived in April 2001. Talks led to the signing of a peace accord in which Kabila would share power with former rebels. By June 2003 all foreign armies except those of Rwanda had pulled out of Congo. DR Congo had a transitional government until the election was over. A constitution was approved by voters, and on 30 July 2006 DRC held its first multi-party elections. An election result dispute between Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba turned into an all-out battle between their supporters in the streets of Kinshasa. MONUC took control of the city. A new election was held in October 2006, which Kabila won with 70% of the vote and on December 2006 the transitional government came to an end as Joseph Kabila was sworn in as President.

However, the Kivu conflict continued in the east. One of the former rebels integrated to the army, Laurent Nkunda, a member of a RCD branch, RCD-Goma, defected from the army along with troops loyal to him. They formed the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which began an armed rebellion against the government and was believed to be again backed by Rwanda as a way to tackle the Hutu group, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). In March 2009, after a deal between the DRC and Rwanda, Rwandan troops entered the DRC and arrested Nkunda and were allowed to pursue FDLR militants. The CNDP signed a peace treaty with the government, in which it agreed to become a political party and its soldiers integrated into the national army in exchange for the release of its imprisoned members. In 2012, the leader of the CNDP, Bosco Ntaganda, and troops loyal to him mutinied and formed the rebel military March 23 Movement, claiming a violation of the treaty by the government. In the resulting M23 rebellion, M23 captured the provincial capital, Goma, in November 2012 and withdrew in December following negotiations. Neighboring countries, particularly Rwanda, have been accused of using rebels groups as proxies to gain control of the resource rich country and of arming rebels, a claim made by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch.

On and off fighting in the Ituri conflict occurred between the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) and the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) who claimed to represent the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups, respectively. In the northeast, Joseph Kony’s LRA moved from their original bases in Uganda (where they have fought a 20-year rebellion) and South Sudan to DR Congo in 2005 and set up camps in the Garamba National Park. In northern Katanga, the Mai-Mai created by Laurent Kabila slipped out of the control of Kinshasa.

In 2009, people in the Congo may still be dying at a rate of an estimated 45,000 per month, and estimates of the number who have died from the long conflict range from 900,000 to 5,400,000. The death toll is due to widespread disease and famine; reports indicate that almost half of the individuals who have died are children under the age of 5. There have been frequent reports of weapon bearers killing civilians, destroying property, widespread sexual violence, causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes or otherwise breaching humanitarian and human rights law. A new study says more than 400,000 women are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo every year.

On February 24, 2013 a United Nations-backed accord aimed at stabilizing the Democratic Republic of the Congo called the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo was signed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa by eleven African countries – Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania (UN News Centre 2013).

A lot has happened in Congo but with its powerful music, it is difficult for me to believe that there were several civil wars; that the founding Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was killed; that Mobutu Sese Seko was a corrupt dictator and was disposed and fled into exile; that Congo changed its name a lot since it was colonized; that the president of The Democratic Republic of Congo Laurent Kabila was assassinated and was succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila. It is a fact that during such hard times in Congo, Kenyan fans (me included) were dying to attend, see and dance to Congolese musicians such as JB Mpiana, Kanda Bongoman, Koffi Olomide, Werason, Awilo Longoma, Yondo Sister, Pepe Kalle among others in Nairobi. This shielded the world from harsh realities in the Congo!

But there were also positive information in those books apart from just music: that one of the brightest brains in Africa during the struggle for independence – Patrice Lumumba was born there; that Congo is endowed with natural resources such as cotton, gold, copper, rubber, coltan, and many other valuable minerals. Congo host one of the largest rainforests in the world with various rare species of fauna and flora! It is during this time that I began to question myself why they have to fight with all the rich music and abundant resources. These resources could be the reason why Congo has to go to war with itself; it is the reason why the country has to be destroyed and the world is silent unfortunately!

Mobutu at certain point forced musicians into exile who dared criticize his government through music. One of such musician, it is rumoured, was Franco who was forced to released one of his album Candidat Mobutu (translated as Our Candidate Mobutu) when he was in exile in Belgium. In appreciation of the song, President Mobutu ‘forgave’ him and allowed him to return home from exile. This emphasize the role music has played in Congo not only as a unifying factor but also to fight for social justice and determine a political path.

I can only conclude that the sound of the bullets in Congo were swallowed by the tune of the beautiful rhythm of Rhumba while the wailing voices of women and children overwhelmed by the sweet voices of men and women singing around the world building cultural bridges and making Rhumba fans go wild into a dancing frenzy!