Compared to many of its neighbors in Southern Africa, as well as other Portuguese colonies (especially Cape Verde), Angolas popular music has had little international success.In the 1800s Angolan musicians in the cities experimented with popular styles worldwide, including waltzes and ballads. With the first half of the Twentieth Century came big bands, who sang in both Portuguese and Kimbundu[2]The first group to become known outside of Angola was Duo Ouro Negro, created in 1956. After a successful sting in Portugal, the duo toured Switzerland, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Spain. After them came Orquestra os Jovens do Prenda who were most popular from the late 1960s to the early 1970s and have continued to perform and record sporadically. The big band included two trumpets, a saxophone, four guitars and a half-dozen percussion instruments. They played kizomba (a native style based around the marimba xylophone), using the four guitars to approximate the sound of the marimba, and quilapanga.The acoustic guitarist Carlos Vieira Dias is, however, the father of Angolan popular music. He introduced the ensembles ofdikanza (scraper, ngomas (conga drums) and violas, which became popular in the 1950s in urban areas, where audiences liked the politicized messages and early nationalist thought. Dias was imprisoned by the Portuguese for many years.In the years just before the civil war, the Luanda rock music scene sizzled. One member of a top band said that being in a band then was like being in a top football team; when his band walked into a club, all his supporters would cheer (and rival bands groupies would hiss).[3]Beginning in the 1970s, Bonga became the most well-known Angolan pop musician outside the country. He began performing in the early 1960s when Angolan folk music was finding some popularity. As a member of Kissueia, he addressed social problems while also becoming a soccer star. He was moved to Lisbon by the colonial government, and he there played soccer until 1972, when he left to protest Portugals colonial war in Angola. He settled in Rotterdam, where he became closely associated with the Cape Verdean community. Bongas Mona Ki Ngi Xica (1972) earned him an arrest warrant, and he began travelling between Germany, France and Belgium until Angola gained independence in 1975.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 19:31:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015