Of Yamina Benguigui. 1h03. Available.
In the two Congo of the 1950s, then colonized by France and Belgium, it has already been two decades that rumba paces the lives of the inhabitants. His festive melodies and her words sung in French as in Lingala quickly won in record companies. But, at the dawn of independence, in Brazzaville and Léopoldville (ex-Kinshasa), Rumba is soon to be protest.
“In a society where Africans are not entitled to political speech, it becomes a scene where they can express themselvesexplains the Congolese historian Didier Gondola. At that time, partying was a political act. When, in the evening, the army calls for the curfew and the young people come out dancing, they already place themselves against the system. »» It was during this pivotal and tumultuous period that a first female voice pierced in a rumba shaped by men: that of Lucie Eyenga who interprets Bolingo is the joy And Ah! Baningaquestioning the place of women in a patriarchal and colonial society. “Lucie Eyenga is a real pioneer”says Yamina Benguigui, whose documentary endeavors to rehabilitate this Rumba star and all the women artists who followed her.
Standard heritage
“What shocked mecontinues the director, It is that I only found two photos, and seventeen seconds of images, to speak of an icon that crossed colonial history, independence and the years 1970-1980. »» A great forgotten, long stayed in the shadow of the male figures of Rumba, like Grand Kallé, Tabu Ley or Papa Wemba.
The memory of Lucie Eyenga is to be found elsewhere: in her music, engraved on vinyl discs and preserved today by all these Congolese people who carry her inheritance in standard. “She simply opened the way to us, showing us that it is possible to be a singer woman, to have her own career and to emancipate through music”greets Barbara Kanam. Contemporary star of Rumba, the latter wants to continue the fight initiated by the pioneer Lucie Eyenga: “This music allows us to say all that we have always thought down, to denounce harassment, violence. »» Her voice that is both sweet and powerful for twenty years have been trying to break taboos while singing love. Today, Barbara Kanam wants to transmit her knowledge, her passion. With her label, she produced and supports young Congolese at the start of their career.
In music, say all over everything we have always thought in low
And the next generation is there. The new generation combines the rumba of new, more urban rhythms, such as pop, rap and slam, with always as strong messages. In his texts, Mariusca Moukengue, who witnessed with horror the violence that has been shaking for almost the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo for almost a decade, thus speaks of the rape used as a weapon of war and denounces the atrocities committed by armed groups against civilian populations. “When I choose Slamer on rumbaexplains the singer-militant, I mean the ills that undermine Congolese women. I want to fight against a system that threatens the female condition on all sides and consider us things. »»
The documentary recounts the cross destinies of four generations of artists. In the background, the story of two countries deeply marked by Rumba, a musical current that has become much more than a simple genre but a weapon of emancipation.
