Zokela Bands (Central African Republic dance music)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases seven examples of Central African Republic music from two bands with the name "Zokela".

Information about Zokela bands is also included in this post.

Any information about these songs would be appreciated.

The content of this post is provided for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic reasons.

All copyright remains with their owners.

Thanks to the composers of these songs and thanks to all those musicians, singers, and dancers who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to the producers of these videos and the publishers of these examples on YouTube. In addition, thanks to Ruth M. Stone for the information about Zokela's music which I quoted from her book on African music.

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INFORMATION ABOUT ZOKELA
From https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0815334737 The Garland Handbook of African Music, Volume 1, edited by Ruth M. Stone (p. 293)
"The story of the genesis of the zokela sound is based on my conversations with the original band, and on discussions with Lobayans who form the core of the listening and dancing community for zoleka.
The origin of zokela
Several people I spoke with begin the story of zokela by recounting an incident from 1981. Musiki, an established rumba-style player from Bangui was touring the country. For a few days Musiki stayed in the town of Mbaiki where they discovered aspiring boy-musicians who called themselves zokela (Mbati) 'noise' - a noise like water gurgling down a stream or like women ululating at a funeral dance, or, less literally like the sound of the life force.

...[This passage includes recollections by Kaida Monganga, the leader of the original Zokela band, of the band's first performance.]

Everyone who heard the young members of Zokela that night in Mbaiki was stunned that they had captured on modern instruments the insistent and vital sound of ceremonies and funeral dances. Accented by a trap set, the bass guitar and glass bottle (tapped with a stick) caught the texture of village drums. The bass emphasized high-low contrasts (like the open and muted strokes of a low-pitched drum), while the bottle added the syncopated triplets of a matching high-pitched drum. Two lead guitars built on that rhythmic base, playing interlocking, repeated riffs- brighter sounding than in soukous-jumping octaves and rolling in cycles like a tumultous brook.

Though this was not the first time a band had tried to integrate musical elements from the Lobaye into an urban sound, it was the first time a band had succeeded in getting the melodies, harmonies, vocal qualities, and especially the montengene dance rhythms and energy into the music."...
-snip-
More information about Zokela is found in that book.

Additional information about Zokela bands is provided as the summary statement to the summary to the sound file that is given as Example #1 below.

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FEATURED VIDEOS
With the exception of Example #1, these examples are presented in chronological order based on their posting date on YouTube with the oldest dated examples given first.

Example #1: Zokela (Central African Republic) - Nostalgie Zokela (Centrafrique Musique)



Elpollo Negro, Published on Nov 3, 2014

One of the Central African Republic’s most interesting musical styles was born back in 1981, when two different groups of young musicians in the southern city of Mbaiki, the provincial capital of the Lobaye region, were brought together by a civil servant named Wanto Athanase. The new group was called ‘Zokela’, and they called their style of music the ‘Montè-Nguènè’, which translates as joy or pleasure. Their music drew on the traditional repertoires of the Ngbaka, Mbati, and Monzombo ethnic groups; the guitar parts in particular were inspired by the ‘N’Gombi’ or 10-string harp popular in the Lobaye region. Wanto Athanase set the musicians up with instruments and in 1983 brought them to Bangui to record at the ABC studios. These first recording sessions, with hits like ‘Waligno na Lambaki’, launched the group’s national reputation. Over the next twenty years Zokela toured throughout the Central African Republic and turned the ‘Montè-Nguènè’ into a nationally appreciated genre, with lyrics in Sango-often dealing with social problems-that spoke to all Central Africans.

The group’s popularity created tensions and in 1999 the Zokela split into four rival groups; Zokela del Wantal, Zokela Mon Ticket, Zokela Iti Maiti, and Zokela Montè-Nguènè. Today, only two of the Zokelas remain, Zokela del Wantal which has become Zokela de Centrafrique under the direction of Kaida Monganga, and Zokela Iti Maiti under the direction of Dibaba Alagom

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Example #2: Centrafrique musique Zokela - Ndoyé



Loïc lansoy, Uploaded on Nov 14, 2010

Zokela hity Maity produit par Aboubakar Hadji et mis en ligne par Lanslo-master ingénieur d'image et de Son.
Le clip est mise en ligne pour promouvoir la musique centrafricaine.

Google Translate from French to English:
Zokela hity Maity produced by Haji Abubakar and posted by Lanslo-master engineer picture and Sound.
The video is posted to promote the Central [African] music.
-snip-
I added the word "African" which wasn't a part of Google Translate's translation. It's also probable that the sentence meant "The video is posted to promote Central African Republic music".

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Example #3: Centrafrique musique Zokela - ilangué



Loïc lansoy Uploaded on Nov 14, 2010

Zokela hity Maity produit par Aboubakar Hadji et mis en ligne par Lanslo-master ingénieur d'image et de Son.

Le clip est mise en ligne pour promouvoir la musique centrafricaine.

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Example #4: Centrafrique musique Zokela - Nangwaï



Loïc lansoy, Uploaded on Nov 14, 2010

Zokela hity Maity produit par Aboubakar Hadji et mis en ligne par Lanslo-master ingénieur d'image et de Son.

Le clip est mise en ligne pour promouvoir la musique centrafricaine.

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Example #5: Zokela Kaïda Monganga - Tende nde - Original



Seductman, Uploaded on Apr 20, 2011

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Example #6: Zokela Kaïda Monganga - Gbadouma ndoye - Original



Seductman, Uploaded on Apr 20, 2011

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Example #7: Zokela Kaïda - Rappel - Original



seductman, Uploaded on Apr 20, 2011

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