You may have encountered while browsing the social media platforms “Kasongo”. Her melody, which mixes imprisonment and joy, has turned into a musical background for millions of funny and dance clips, and has become a global crisis that is frequented by new generations without necessarily realizing the deep story that lies behind. This song, which appears at first glance an invitation to joy, is in fact a crying cry and a desperate call to a person who is a passion, embodies the story of love and mysterious loss that has withstood decades.
Behind the rhythm of the dance song, a story of longing and pain hides, so how did the tears of a Congolese woman turned into an eternal musical icon?
The song begins with a captivating musical introduction, with the dreamy Congolese ruma tunes blends with life full of eastern Africa. The sound of the guitar in “Solo” is creeping, paving the way for the sound of the singer who is launched in the language of the Congolese Linga, in singing overflowing with emotion.
An forgotten love story
The song is originally returning to the “Super Mazembe” band, one of the most famous bands formed by Congo musicians but settled and achieved its overwhelming success in Kenya during the seventies. Despite the fame of the song, her original story remained surrounded by mystery, and swinging between two main narratives, embodies the simple human pain.
The most common novel says that the song was born from the womb of a real tragedy in the late 1970s. “Kasongo” was a musician, and suddenly disappeared from his home without any explanation, leaving his wife in confusion and pain. When his colleagues visited him in the band to check on him, they found his shining wife who begged them to help her find him. Instead of traditional research, the band members decided to turn its grief and longing into an artistic work, and they wrapped the song to be like a radio call, in the hope that its tunes will reach Kasongo wherever he is, and hear the voice of his bereaved wife that weave him to return. The song’s lyrics say in this novel:
My husband Kasongo, go back to our marriage
Longing kills me, my dear
I am at home, and my eyes do not leave the road
Stress on the street constantly
If you will return one day …
As “Kasongo” carried the feelings of nostalgia and suffering in the language of Linga, the song “Hawkana Matata” carried a completely different character in the Swahili language spread in East Africa, especially in Kenya and Tanzania. The two words mean “no problems” or “do not worry”, which is a familiar phrase in the daily life of Swahili speakers for decades, used to express the spontaneous and fun spirit in the face of the difficulties of life. However, its fame exploded globally after using a major melody and a slogan for the philosophy of life in the famous Disney movie “The Lion King” in 1994, as the song became a global anthem of psychological comfort and optimism.
The song sparked discussions about cultural acquisition and the rights of the oral heritage of the peoples of the region. However, the survival of the song and its phrase at the top of the global collective memory reflects the ability of African music – such as “Kasongo” – to shift from local to Kony, whenever it is formulated with a sincere melody and a deep spirit.
Golden Roba era
The song “Kasongo” belongs to a golden age of music in Central Africa. In the 1960s and 1970s, Kinshasa and Brazaville were the capital of musical creativity on the continent, where Congolese rumba and Sukos music flourished, which mixed Cuban rhythms and local rhythmic heritage.
The language of Lincalla, one of the four national languages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was the official language of this art. Thanks to the spread of this music, the Lincalla has become a cross -border commercial and artistic language, which artists from Kinshasa sang to Nairobi, carrying with it the stories of love and daily life of the peoples of the region.
In traditional African songs, a woman is often speaking or sender, but “Kasongo” was characterized by her embodiment of a sad and strong feminist discourse at the same time. The female voice in the song does not appear directly, but it is evoked through the words that singers transmit on her behalf, in the form of a woman facing the absence in a voice saturated with hope and pleading. This handling highlights the role of women as an emotional center in the family and society, and gives her an audible voice in the musical scene, even if she is not the one who actually sings.
The Democratic Congo and the Republic of the Congo shared the Congo River basin, which is named after the two countries. The two countries are usually distinguished by the names of their capitals. The two countries are French -speaking countries, as they were colonizers of French -speaking countries before their independence in 1960. The Republic of the Congo was a Belgian colony and the Democratic Congo was a French colony.
How did the melody stood?
The success of the song was not limited to the region if it had no unique artistic secret. The “Super Mazembe” group has succeeded in creating a melody that combines dancer rhythms and emotional depth, which made its influence go beyond the language barrier.
Today, thanks to social media platforms, “Kasongo Yi” found a new life. The new generation has rediscovered it, and around it from a heritage song that tells the pain of loss into a global anthem of funny situations and happy moments. The journey of this song from a sad radio call to the 1970s to a dance international “Trend” in the 21st century is a testimony that authentic music, when it stems from sincere human feelings, capable of crossing time and continents, to create new stories every time you hear.