A wild tale of global muzik
On a very rainy Friday night in Nairobi, we journeyed through the notorious Nairobi rush hour traffic to the suburb of Karen because I heard that a “12-man East African Rhumba Band” would be performing — Orkestra Masika Afrika. To be honest, I didn’t know what Rhumba music was. But, I’m always down for cultural exploring.
In a dimly lit, retro bar, we swayed back and forth with a bunch of middle-aged Kenyans, and eventually took on the dance floor. The music is soulful, joyful, playful.
Kevin mentioned that, at times, the music sounded a bit Caribbean — like something we might have heard in Cuba. And, then we got curious. Where did Rhumba come from? That sent us down an internet rabbit hole (Thanks, Wikipedia). It’s the type of story that you can’t make up.
Rhumba Lingala actually does come from Cuba!
Back in the 1930’s, Radio Congo Belge in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) played Cuban Son on their radio. It became incredibly popular and local artists started mimicking it. Can you imagine hearing music from the other side of world back in the 1930s in Central Africa? “Rhumba Lingala” became an established genre in Central Africa, influencing East & West Africa. There are lots of famous Rhumba Lingana musicians in Kenya and neighboring countries.
And now, let’s get even more meta…
Where did Cuban son music originate from? It’s from Eastern Cuba, a blending of Spanish & African music. And, get this: most of the African descendants on eastern Cuba were Bantu origin*. Bantu is the ethnic/linguistic group of Central Africa — the Congo!
Imagine that musical roots from central Africa traveled to Cuba in the horrors of the slave trade in, say, the 1700s, mixed up with Spanish music, then was exported back to Congo by radio in the 1930s, and spread across the whole region into Nairobi’s Oasis Bar in 2018, where we were popping our shoulders to the playful beats.
It’s music journey over centuries, reflecting some of humanity’s greatest atrocities and some of our most beautiful cultural fusion.
[Disclaimer: I am not a musical historian. This story just reflects my curiosity and (hopefully) facts I found on the inter webs. I’d be happy to be educated by someone who knows better…]
*Note: apparently, Afro-Cubans in western Cuba are most decedents of West Africa (Yoruba, Ewe, etc.)
