Congolese music legend, singer and bandleader Kanda Bongo Man makes a rare stop in New York City on Friday, September 19 (2008), at Symphony Space.  We gave him a call at his home in Manchester England, and caught up with him about his new life, his new band, and his long awaited upcoming album.  Here’s Banning Eyre’s conversation with Kanda.

Interview and photos by Banning Eyre.

B.E.:  Shall we speak French, or do you want to try your English?

K.B.M.:  I can try my bad English anyway.

B.E.:  It’s great to talk with you again.  I’m guessing you will remember Afropop because we recorded you in Central Park in New York some years back.

K.B.M.:  Yes, yes.  That was a wonderful time.

B.E.:  Well, it’s been a few years since we last met.  What have you been up to lately?

K.B.M.:  Well, you know, I used to live in France.  Now I’ve moved to England, Manchester, England.  I brought my kids.  Now they are in schooling here. 

B.E.:  How many kids do you have?

K.B.M.:  Oh, there are three.  Three girls. 

B.E.:  Well, this explains why you now speak such fine English.

K.B.M.:  Well, I’m trying.  Just trying. 

B.E.:  So, Manchester, home of the famous soccer team.  What is your musical life like these days?  Do you have a band there?

K.B.M.:  Yeah, I’ve got a band here.  I have some young musicians from back home.  They came here almost four years back.  I’m performing with them. Even this coming Saturday, we have a show. 

B.E.:  What are the instruments in your current band?

K.B.M.:  Well, since we met in Central Park, I have added keyboards to have another sound, just to add something new.  So, three guitars—solo, bass, and rhythm.  Now, I add keyboards.  Then acoustic drums.  When you listen, you will see.  I have changed the group, because the last group I brought to America, most of them stayed in France, and some of them went back home.  The dancers, the girls, they are married now.  They have kids.

B.E.:  I remember your dancers, famous for commanding participation by audience members.  I occasionally get an email from Jolee, one of your dancers back then.

K.B.M.:  Yes, Jolee is around.  She is doing well.

B.E.:  Are there any new recordings?  The most recent one I have is Balobi (Sheer), the album you recorded in South Africa in 2001.

K.B.M.:  I had another one in 2004.  Then, I have just finished my new recording now.  The CD is almost ready.  Now, we are just making the plan to see when I am going to release that.  It will be maybe one month or two months from now.

B.E.:  Well, if you have an advance copy, please bring it to New York.  Maybe we can give it advance play on Afropop.

K.B.M.:  I’m going to keep a copy for you. 

B.E.:  So, Kanda, this is an interesting time for Congo music.  We just lost Papa Wendo Kolosoy, obviously a great figure in the music.  Tell me what Wendo meant to you.

K.B.M.:  Papa Wendo is the first, first Congolese musician.  That man learned the guitar by himself.  Noone taught him how to play the guitar.  He has never been to any school to learn music.  He learned by himself.  And the first Congolese song to be recorded was his song called “Marie Louisa.”  When he sang that song, I was not yet born.

B.E.:  Me neither.  I think it was 1949.

K.B.M.:  Yes.  I was so surprised to see Papa Wendo continue to perform, until today, until he died.  Five years back, he came to England here to tour, and I was with him on tour.  We performed together, and I was so proud to be next to him.  That man is like a Congolese monument of music.  Today he is gone, and I am very, very sad that man is gone.

B.E.:  You would certainly have to say that was a life well lived.

K.B.M.:  Yes.  Yes.

B.E.:  We are also reading a lot about the health of Tabu Ley, who seems to have suffered a stroke and is in a hospital in Brussels.  What do you know about that?

K.B.M.:  Actually, he’s doing okay.  We had some news from back home that said Tabu Ley had a stroke.  Myself, I never talked with him.  Later on, we found out that he is okay.  He’s in hospital, but maybe he will be out very soon.

B.E.:  Kanda, things are changing in Congo music.  I still think of you as a young upstart, but you are becoming one of the elders these days.

K.B.M.:  [LAUGHS]  Thank you very much.  Well, my chance was that I left home a bit early, ’77 or ’78.  My dream was to make Congolese music to be known, and lucky enough, I came to perform in England, between ’83 and ’84 at WOMAD festival, with Peter Gabriel.  And from there, I met Joe Boyd, this American guy, who got a record company called Rykodisc interested.  Then Joe Boyd called when a music agency in Boston wanted to take care of my tour in America. 

B.E.:  That was your first tour.

K.B.M.:  When they put me they took a very big risk.  I was going to perform in Central Park in New York.  I couldn’t believe that a lot of people would come to listen to African music.  It was not well known at that time.  America is a very big continent, and to bring a very small artist who is not known at all in America and put him in Central Park in New York, it’s a risk!

B.E.:  Well, maybe so, but it sure worked out well.  Every time I listen to that CD—and I do still listen to it—it takes me back to that great day.

K.B.M.:  Oh my God.  I still see that stage in my memory.

B.E.:  You had such an amazing band, with Nene Tchakou on guitar.  It was tops.  That was a time when Congo music was just being discovered in America.  We didn’t know how far it would go.  These days, I think it is actually a more difficult time in a way.  We don’t see as many Congolese acts here anymore.  What do you think?  How do you think Congo music is doing on the international scene now?

K.B.M.:  Well, these past five years, I myself have not performed outside of Europe the way I used to do.  Now the majority of my colleagues back home, they travel, sometimes to America, sometimes to the continent the way I used to do.  Now, I think that because now I am releasing a new CD, I think I’m going to try again.  Two years ago, I was in Australia with Jimmy Cliff and Miriam Makeba in Adelaide, at the 2006 WOMAD festival.  We were performing for 70,000 people in the park.  So with this new CD, I think it’s going to be another chance to make Congolese music known again.  I’m going to fight for that, the way I used to do those few years back.

B.E.:  Good for you.  Now talking about the music itself, you mentioned that you are now using keyboards.  I know it used to be a mark of your sound that you did not do that.  When everybody was going crazy for keyboards, you stuck with guitars.  But other than that, what is new in your sound these days?

K.B.M.:  I think the music has to change.  I have to change my music too, but not completely.  I would like to bring always something new in my music, just to make it different between the time I started and where I’m going and where I am actually.  That’s why I try to bring something new.  Like when I recorded that CD in South Africa, I tried to bring some girls from Soweto to sing with me.  I had to do like what Paul Simon did on the Graceland CD—to bring another color of melody into your own music.  If you play always the same thing, people get fed up.  People get tired.  When you are bringing something new, it makes people listen more and more.  So on this new CD, you will discover a lot of things.  I don’t want to make any comments at the moment, but you will be surprised when you listen to it. 

B.E.:  Good.  Good.  Well, we really look forward to hearing that.  I have a special love for Congo music after playing with Congolese musicians in Boston, including Fellyko Tshikala, who played bass for Victoria Eliason.  I think that this music has a strong, modern tradition.  Today’s musicians know how the sound changed from Grand Kalle and Docteur Nico to Franco, then to Zaiko Langa Langa, and then how you and others changed the sound in Paris, right up to Ndombolo and everything since.  There is tradition there.  People remember, and then they try to add something new, but they don’t throw away what came before.  Would you agree with that?

K.B.M.:  Oh, yes.  Yes.  You see, I can give you one example.  Remember when Jimmy Cliff went to Congo, and he recorded one song with Franco.  You can see that Franco and his group was playing very typical, local sound.  And Jimmy Cliff just came and put the English melody, and it came something where, every day when I play that song, I say, “I think myself, one day, I should take this kind of risk.  To sing just one song in English and play typical, local beat, and see how it’s going to be.”  That’s why on this new CD, I’m going to surprise you.

B.E.:  I can’t wait to hear.  I also love that moment when Jimmy Cliff sang with OK Jazz.  I wish I had been there!

K.B.M.:  [LAUGHS]  Then, one day, I’m going to invite you to play guitar with me.

B.E.:  Well, that would be a great honor.

K.B.M.:  Because I like to have something different in my music, where people will say, “Oh!  There is something new there.”  Because we need always to bring something new.  If you always have the same thing, people get tired. 

B.E.:  It is true.  So you are coming to New York next month (Symphony Space, September 19, 2008).  Will you be doing other US shows this time out?

K.B.M.:  Well, I’m coming to New York next month just to promote the CD, but not to tour.  I’m going to use some local musicians there.

B.E.:  Ah ha.  No doubt with our resident New York Soukous Stars, Lokassa Ya Mbongo, Ngouma Lokito, Chico Mawatu and the guys.  Right?

K.B.M.:  Yes.  That will be just for that show.  But we are preparing now a bigger tour for next summer. For that tour, I am going to bring my own group from England.  I will release that CD first, then we can prepare the tour for next summer with my own group.  It’s always nice to play with people who you play with all the time.  They know your music best.

B.E.:  Sure.  The last time I saw you was at S.O.B’s in 2006, with the Soukous Stars lineup, and it sounded pretty great.  Those guys are fantastic musicians.  And you know, we consider ourselves very lucky to have them in New York because they make it possible for lots of Congolese singers to come and perform here.  Still, I know what you mean.  There’s nothing like your own band. 

K.B.M.:  That’s right.  I am happy to talk with you in English because last time when I came to America, I needed an interpreter to talk with people.  But now I can talk directly with no problem. 

Visit www.worldmusicinstitute.org for more on Kanda Bongo Man’s September 19 concert at Symphony Space in New York. 

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