THE GUITAR PHILOSOPHY OF CONGOLESE RUMBA
Every ensemble has a specific genre of music they specialize in. It is the type of music the band does that determines the guitar arrangements. Congolese rumba features a minimum of three guitars: the bass, the rhythm, and the solo.
The music also features percussions and drums as part of the major ingredients, and saxophones, trumpets, clarinets, trombones, keyboards, additional guitars, and others follow in as spices.
The guitars are very easy to differentiate. The bass guitar is played from a special, four-stringed (five, six, or even more in some cases, as is the case with my good friend Sammy Kasule's) instrument. The product is what comes from your woofer, the bass in the song. It is the lowest in pitch of the three guitars.
The second guitar is the second lowest in pitch. It is the rhythm guitar, mostly referred to as accompaniment, in rumba circles. This instrument is the oldest in any song, at times incorporated at the composition stage while melody is being created.
It is also the most important of the instruments and runs nonstop, from the beginning of the song to the end of the song. The player may twice or thrice change patterns, but the instrument is the main chassis with which others fit in to create the song.
Notice that Cameroonian music makossa, which is closer in instrumental arrangements, features a rhythm and a bass without any solo guitar.
The last is the solo guitar. The solo guitar is the highest in pitch. In most Congolese rumba, it is the lead instrument, at times taking the melody of the song and at times alternating with the lead vocalist.
In such cases, the lead guitar goes silent each time the lead vocalist(s) sing. Since the player of this guitar chases the melody of the song, he is the most vigorous on the fretboard of the three guitarists.
Again, from experience, although some rhythmists and bassists also sing, it happens that most guitarists who also double up as vocalists happen to be solo guitarists.
The other guitar in any rumba could be the mi-solo and the second solo guitar. Congolese rumba is broadly divided into at least five guitar schools; as a veteran guitarist, Dizzy Mandjeku took the time to explain the concept to this writer.
The African Jazz School of Rumba was based on Dr. Nico's guitar and Grand Kalle's singing style. This style featured a mi-solo, an extra guitar meant to bridge the solo and the rhythm. In some cases, the payer did almost identical patterns with the soloists but on lower frets.
This style is thought to have originated in the days of Nico and Tino Baroza. Later, it was popularized by Faugus Izeidi. Several bands played this school or rumba, among them African Fiesta, both Sukisa and National, Vox Africa, Maquisards, etc.
Then we also have the second solo. This was a style Franco adopted in the early 1970s. He introduced a second solo, but not in the context of a mi solo. This second solo took a completely different path. Its intention was to retain the original role of the solo guitar as Franco roamed wild, to avoid a vacuum.
At OKJ, Franco mostly played the guitar himself, and he taught Thierry Mantuika, who also performed this role. When you see Franco and Gerry on guitars, Franco is playing the second solo and Gery does the first solo.
There was never any mi-solo in OKJ music. It is erroneous for anyone to talk about mi-solo in OK Jazz music. A good example is the song "Mario," recorded in Brazaville.
Papa Noel plays the traditional solo guitar, while Franco does special runs with his second solo. The other song that easily exemplifies this is "mbongo." Michelino does the solo, and the late Thierry does that piercing guitar you hear.
Before the introduction of this second solo, the OK Kazz school of rumba was defined by Franco's solo and Vicky's vocals. Among the bands that did this style was Negro Success of Bavon Marie Marie and Bholen Leon.
Mi-compose is another terminology one is likely to encounter in guitar discussions. This is a style of rhythm guitar, created by Dechaud Mwamba (Dr Nico's elder brother). In this style, a guitar is given two strings E (number 1), one in its original place and the second in place of string D (the fourth string).
This changes the sound that comes from the traditional chords. This invention was revolutionary in the rhythm guitar and was perfected by Lokassa Ya Mbongo and others. The other point to note is that the term soloist (soliste) in rumba discussions means the solo guitarist and the term soukous has been adopted to mean Congolese rumba and not necessarily a subgenre of rumba as most know it or as it originally meant.
To wrap up, most good guitarists are able to play all these instruments, but not with professional finesse as they mostly specialize in one. Some bassists are also good rhythmists, and vice versa.
Most soloists can do rhythm, but not all rhythmists can do solo guitar, as in the process of learning, one progresses from rhythm to solo.
I hope, like a skirt, I've been able to be long enough to cover nudity and, at the same time, brief enough to capture some beauty and excite hungry tigers.(By Jerome Ogola)
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