TSHALA MUANA: THE SONGBIRD OF DRC

By Jarome Ogola.
 
Tshala Muana is easily one of the most recognized and celebrated African female musicians. In the mid-1980s, she was a household name across the region with her songs, receiving regular airplay in many radio programs. Her hit song 'karibu yangu' gained wild popularity in entertainment joints.
 
The showmanship that was introduced to Congolese music by James Brown, in the 1974 boxing bout concert, between the legendary Mohammed Ali and George Foreman, popularly known as 'Rumble in the Jungle ‘and perfected by local bands like Orchestre Sosoliso and Orchestre Stukas, found a continuation into the 1980s through Tshala's powerful stage performances. Her dancing prowess, described by others as near explicit, was a magnet that made fans cover long distances to attend her shows.
 
On this, she easily had the edge over her competitors as the genre of music she did, 'mutuashi' basically a traditional dance of the Baluba of the Kasai Province in DRC, is more danceable because of the heavy drum beats. She stuck to this folk dance and made it very popular, gaining an international reputation, doing the music with modern equipment and recording it in modern studios, as opposed to other musicians, who opted for rumba, a Cuban style imported into Congo, flavored with local spices and later domesticated. 
 
The fact that she mostly sang in her native Tshiluba dialect gave her music a unique signature that is very identifiable to the Baluba culture and tradition, which is considered an important heritage of the country.  
 
Tshala Muana was born Elizabeth Muidikay, to Madeus Muidikayi, an army man, and Alphonsine Tumba, on 13th March 1958, in Elisabethville, presently Lubumbashi. She began her music career as a dancer for several top musicians, among them Mpongo Love and Abeti Masikini in Kinshasa in the mid-1970s. 
 
It wasn't until 1981, when she traveled to Paris, that her potential as a gifted songwriter and vocalist broke the ground for the music world. It was in Paris that she released her first album, titled Kami, featuring session guitarist Rigo Star and others. She also had several musical sojourns in West Africa, that saw her incorporate some local musicians. 
 
She released more than a dozen albums, in her musical life, with some of the songs turning out to be some of Congo's most popular songs. Some of her most popular songs are dezo dezo, nasi nabali, vuluka dilolo, tshibola, malu,bena moyo, kokola, among many more.
 
The Queen of Mutwashi, as she was popularly known also straddled life beyond music as she also dabbed in politics. After the May 1997 ouster of Mobutu Sese Seko, the Junta, Laurent Kabila appointed her into the transitional government, and more recently, two years ago, her song 'Ingratitude' was construed by the authorities a jibe at the government and this landed her in trouble. She was arrested but later released. Having been a close political ally to the Kabila's the song was deemed an innuendo communication to the new president, Felix Tshisekedi, for reneging in his post-election agreement with Joseph Kabila, the country's former president.

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