Wendo Kolosoy

Long before soukous filled dancefloors in Europe and Africa, even before there was Congolose rumba, there was Antoine ‘Wendo' Kolosoy. He was one of the first artists to record in the Congo, and at 75 he's still making albums, as Marie Louise revisits some of his early hits, accompanied by a young band.

"He's a great composer with an excellent voice," said Gary Stewart, author of Rumba On The River, an exhaustive history of Congolese music. "He came along as [the capital] Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) was starting to urbanize. People bought his records, and it gave the new recording industry a big boost to have a homegrown musician like Wendo being heard."

Born out in the country, Kolosoy had begun playing guitar as a child after his dead mother appeared in a dream and told him to do so. While still in his teens he traveled to Leopoldville and formed the band, Victoria Kin, who appeared on the radio. His voice, with a rich crooner's tone, but able to playfully yodel and yelp, won him a number of fans.

"It was a remarkable time. We were learning all the time, every day it seemed. How to do this and that, how to get a bigger sound."

His break came in 1948, when he signed with the brand-new Ngoma label, and the hits began appearing.

"It was a remarkable time," Kolosoy remembered. "We were learning all the time, every day it seemed. How to do this and that, how to get a bigger sound. And I think our success was inspiring other people, too."

Kolosoy's biggest success, by far, was "Marie Louise," a song which could reputedly raise the dead and heal the sick. Recorded with guitarist Henri Bowane, it was a pivotal record in the country's musical history; not only was it the single biggest hit to date, it also introduced the concept of the sebene, the instrumental bridge, as Bowane listened to his solo.

"The sebene began for dancing," explained Kolosoy. "When we played, people wanted to dance more, and this gave them the chance to do, and it gave the musicians a real chance to play. So everyone was happy!"

Soon the sebene became a natural part of Congolese music, and probably Kolosoy's greatest legacy.

Very quickly, the scene in Leopoldville was changing. Seeing Kolosoy's success, more studios and labels started up, unearthing new, eager talent.

"Once the studios took off, lots of bands formed, and the rumba that evolved overtook his music," said Stewart. Kolosoy's music, which was almost folky, "became passe. He modernized his sound eventually and recorded more, but he was from another era."

He did keep playing regularly, following trends, and he "added musicians one by one, until I had six people who were committed to doing what I wanted."

He played the new rumba people wanted to hear, as on "Soki Oyoki Victoria," but it was too late. Fresher stars had overtaken him. As the years passed, Kolosoy played around Kinshasa, and surfaced for occasional tours, including one with the great rumba singer Tabu Ley Rochereau in the late 1970s.

As the slickness of soukous took over from rumba in popularity, he became even more forgotten.

"There was a time I had to slow down, when the government weren't to kind to artists, but apart from that I kept playing the whole time," Kolosoy said. "This is my life."

When he eventually had a chance to return to the studio, in 1999, it seemed natural to play his music in the relaxed style of early rumba, the genre he'd helped father. With his trademark yodel still intact, as on "Pepe Kalle," he remains the only living link to the early days of Congolese music. But, like his older Cuban colleagues in Buena Vista Social Club, he refuses to be a museum piece. "I'm playing the music I love," he laughed. "Now it's time for people all over to catch up with me!"

This article first appeared on sonicnet.com

Wendo Kolosoy

"It was a remarkable time. We were learning all the time, every day it seemed. How to do this and that, how to get a bigger sound."

Related Articles in the 'African Artists' Category...