Angolan Gospel group Filhos Do Ngana - "Kitoko Makasi" (information, video, comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of the Angolan Gospel group Filhos Do Ngana singing "Kitoko Makasi".

Information about this group is included in this post along with a few comments from that video's discussion thread.

The Addendum to this post provides some information about three of the many languages that are spoken in Angola.

The content of this post is presented for religious, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Filhos Do Ngana for their religious and musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to Joel José Oficial, the publisher of this post on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT FILHOS DO NGANA
From https://www.facebook.com/FilhosdoNgana/
"Biografia
FILHOS DO NGANA·WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018

Filhos do Ngana; Um som, uma voz, uma missão.
É um grupo jovens de denominações diferentes que decidiram unirem se com um propósito único, louvor e adoração ao eterno Deus.

É constituído por 5 elementos entre ele: Emanuel Cangundo, Abel Zola, Gregório Quipipa, Silvio Lameira e Samuel Macuato.

O grupo foi criado à 3 anos e durante essa trajectória de exaltação ao soberano Deus por intermédio do louvor tiram varias e actividades aonde apresentavam as suas canções, tiveram também concertos; "Ele vive" Camama tropical e "Ao som da graça" Cine São Paulo, neste momento o grupo conta com uma obra discográfica intitulada "Filho do Ngana" ao vivo esse CD foi gravada totalmente ao vivo actualmente tenciona realizar espectáculo de grande vulto no Cine Atlântico no presente ano propriamente no mês de Setembro, sendo assim contamos com apoio da igreja de Cristo espalhado num a fora."
-snip-
Google translate from Portuguese to English*
"NGANA CHILDREN · WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018
Children of Ngana; A sound, a voice, a mission.
It is a young group of different denominations that have decided to unite with a unique purpose, praise and adoration to the eternal God.

It is made up of 5 elements: Emanuel Cangundo, Abel Zola, Gregorio Quipipa, Silvio Lameira and Samuel Macuato.

The group was created at 3 years and during this path of exaltation to the sovereign God by means of the praise they take several and activities where they presented their songs, they also had concerts; "He lives" Tropical Camama and "To the sound of grace" Cine São Paulo, at this moment the group has a recording work titled "Son of Ngana" live this CD was recorded totally live currently intends to perform show of great magnitude in the Cinema Atlantic in the current year in September, so we have the support of the church of Christ spread outwards."
-snip-
I've also seen the English interpretation for "Filhos" as "sons", for example on this page:
https://en.bab.la/dictionary/portuguese-english/filhos
"filhos {m pl}EN
sons children kids"
-snip-
Notice in the biography the group's name is given as "Children of God" and also "Sons of God". I'm curious which name is the one that the group prefers.

Also, it's interesting to learn that the group's name combines Portuguese with Kikongo and also sung a song in Lingala.

Read the Addendum below for some information about these three languages in Angola.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Filhos do Ngana - Kitoko Makasi



Joel José Oficial, Apr 6, 2018

Um Som
Uma Voz
Uma Missão
-snip-
Google translate from Portuguese to English:
One sound
One voice
One mission
-snip-
Note that Google translate gave "um" as "a" for the first and third lines.
-snip-
Here's a comment exchange that I had with Joel in that video's discussion thread:

Azizi Powell, 2019
"Thanks for publishing this interesting and well produced video. Kudos to this group for their great sound!

I'm an African American who happened upon this video while searching YouTube for contemporary African music. I then showcased this video and another one of this song in this post of my cultural blog http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/07/two-videos-of-song-kitoko-makasi-by.html

Google translates gives the meaning of "Filhos do Ngana" as "Children of Ngana" or "Sons of Ngana". Please excuse my ignorance, but does "Ngana" mean God? And if so is "Ngana" a Lingala word?

And what does "Kitoko Makasi" mean?

Also, is the type of dancing that occurs in this Gospel video after the tempo becomes faster something that is generally acceptable to Angolans and other Africans for religious songs?

I appreciate any responses in the interest in.sharing information about African culture to the African Diaspora.

One Love!"

**
REPLY
Joel José Oficial, May 2, 2020
"Thanks for your feedback, yes Ngana mean God in Kikongo language, Kikongo dialect spoked in many africa countries.
Kitoko makasi mean so beautiful in lingala language."

**
REPLY
Joel José Oficial, May 2, 2020
"So sorry for the delay in response."

**
REPLY
Azizi Powell, May 2, 2020
"@Joel José Oficial, thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it. I didn't even know that Filhos do Ngana was an Angolan Gospel group until I looked up other YouTube videos of that group. I plan to showcase that group in my cultural blog & will add a link to that post here.

Best wishes. Stay healthy & safe in these difficult times."
-snip-
Although I didn't get a response to my question about the dancing in this video, from watching it more closely, I noticed that the uptempo music, dancing, and rapping occurred after the church service when the people were cooking on a grill and holding glasses of some beverage.

Comparing this to my experiences as an African American, Black Baptist churches in the United States sometimes have dinners after a church service ends, although in the USA we don't dance like this in church or in religious affiliated events.

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ADDENDUM- INFORMATION ABOUT THE PORTUGUESE, KIKONGO, AND LINGALA LANGUAGES IN ANGOLA
Excerpt #1:
From https://www.justlanded.com/english/Angola/Angola-Guide/Language/Languages-in-Angola
"Languages in Angola
A multilingual and multicultural country

Angola, as in most countries in Africa, has several national languages. Six Bantu languages are national languages and Portuguese remains the only official language.

Portuguese, the only official language, is known by 80% of the population as the primary or secondary language. The six Bantu languages most widely spoken: Umbundu, Kimbundu, Kikongo, Chokwe, Kwanyama also called Oshikwanyama, and Ngangela. Other than that, in Angola there are 42 local languages, one of them, Kwadi, has no known speakers and others are Khoisan, not Bantu, languages.

Portuguese
There are around 7.5 million first-language speakers of Portuguese although only around 25% of the total population are native Portuguese speakers.

Most Angolans speak Portuguese as a second language. During Portuguese rule, Angolans were required to be Roman Catholic and speak Portuguese, which lead to many families speaking only in Portuguese in order to offer a better education to their children. It became an instrument for independence and national identity and now that it is widely spoken, the government counts on it because it is also an international language.

Angolan Portuguese is similar to Brazilian Portuguese due to historical reasons but the pronunciation is more European with some influence from the phonology of local languages. It also has some remnants of Old Portuguese that can be found especially in some popular grammar uses.

[...]

Kikongo
Kongo language or, Kikongo, has around 7 million speakers in the world, both in Angola and surrounding countries, as well as some creolized forms of the language in several Caribbean countries. It is a lingua franca in much of west central Africa and its word formation is simpler than other Bantu languages.

It is also known as Kituba, although this is more a creole version of the language influenced by both African and Romance languages.

It was the first Bantu language that was written in Latin characters and the first one that had a dictionary."...

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Excerpt #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingala
"Lingala (Ngala) is a Bantu language spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a large part of the Republic of the Congo. It is spoken to a lesser degree in Angola and the Central African Republic. There are over 70 million lingalophones."...

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