Ageing DR Congo artists keep music of the miners alive
- 09 Mar 2021
In Lubumbashi, southeast Congo lies the cone-shaped slag heap, a symbol of the booming days of copper.
In that era, a vibrant and distinctive culture of music and dancing sprouted among miners who worked for DR Congo's state giant, Gecamines.
Decades later, just a few of performers are still around to play the songs and do the dances.
Marcel Tshibanda used to be a guitarist with a Jecoke group -- a troupe of employees who were paid by Gecamines' social club to sing and dance for mining communities in their spare time.
Their music had a distinctive, calypso-y beat and the dancers dressed in smart long-tailed suits, wowing the crowds with snappy trademark moves.
According to Tshibanda, the sounds were inspired by musicians in neighbouring Zambia, previously a British colony.
Tshibanda said the rhythm of English was like tapping out a snazzy two-beat signature on his hand-made guitar.
For decades, right until the 1980s, Gecamines was "a state within a state," recalled Pierre Katamba, a former member of the troupe.
"We used to call it 'mum and dad.' You would get free medical treatment and the children got free education."
Dancer Jean-Marie Manga and guitarist-singer Marcel Tshibanda perform in front of the Gécamines industrial plant in Lubumbashi. AFP
In 2003, the World Bank funded a redundancy programme to cut 10,655 workers from Gecamines' payroll of 36,000, although a chunk of the money has gone missing in a country notorious for corruption.
"Everyone abandoned Jecoke music to get into rumba," said Tshibanda.
"To put it in a nutshell, things are tough," said fellow 74-year-old Laurent Ilunga Kazadi, still resplendent in his suit.
Agence-France Presse
