Kiazi Malonga shares music from Congo

“You may not know it, but Congolese culture surrounds us,” says Kiazi Malonga. “Almost half of the enslaved people in the United States, Brazil, the Caribbean, Cuba, and America came from Congo. The rhythms they brought with them are in all popular music.”

Malonga is the son of Malonga Casquelourd, founder of Fua Dia Congo, the Oakland-based dance and drumming group that introduced Congolese music and culture to the Bay Area in 1977. When Casquelourd died in a car accident 21 years ago, Malonga took over.

“I started imitating drummers when I was young, and I rehearsed and refined my technique as I grew up,” Malonga says. “I come from a musical family, so music has always been a part of my life. My mother danced in Fua Dia Congo when she was pregnant with me.”

At the age of 16, Malonga was lead drummer for Fua Dia Congo, where he played ngomathe Congolese drum that is the precursor to today’s conga. He also traveled to Congo each year with his family, where he built friendships with traditional and contemporary musicians and singers. He researched the musical and social history of the region and built a network of friends, mentors and artists. These relationships helped him to develop the music Zu Dia Ngoma (Voice of the drum) And Tembo Kia Ngoma (Vibration of the drum).

“I plan to release a series of albums featuring the rhythms and melodies, both traditional and contemporary, of Congo,” says Malonga. “I want to introduce people to the sounds of Congo. By combining traditional and contemporary styles, I create a sound that is more palatable to the untrained ear, which helps to develop a hunger for this music.”

Multi-instrumentalist Justin Phipps assisted with production Zu Dia Ngoma And Tembo Kia Ngoma“He’s one of the directors at Redtone Records, a label that wants to revive and amplify roots music, so we’re a good fit,” says Malonga. “It’s a pleasure to be in the studio with him.”

Produced three years ago, Tembo Kia Ngoma is largely instrumental, with Malonga multitracking various Congolese drums, as well as mpunguian antelope horn, and kisansia thumb piano. Phipps added guitar, bass and various percussion effects. The tracks include “Lomami”, played as a soukous—a popular Congolese guitar-driven pop style—and “Ntali Jazz,” a second-line-meets-Afrobeat jam featuring the horn section of San Francisco’s Jazz Mafia. It ends with “Mbongui,” a rare recording from Malonga’s VHS collection, a live performance of Fua Dia Congo, featuring a large choir with the voice of Malonga Casquelourd.

Zu Dia Ngoma leans toward tradition. Composed during the pandemic shutdown, it combines vocal tracks recorded in Congo with guitar, bass, keyboard, and drum tracks. Malonga and Phipps produced it at Redtone Studio.

“I went to Brazzaville early on,” says Malonga. “I have connections with singers and musicians that I’ve developed over the years. I looked for older artists who were familiar with the traditional sounds that I wanted to explore, and authentic traditional vocalists with a broad appeal who could execute my vision in the most accurate way. We recorded some tracks there and I took them home to finish them at Redtone.”

As the pandemic raged, Malonga sent songs back and forth to Congo, refining the arrangements and adding his multi-tracked parts, played on a variety of drums, including the ngoma, the petengue, a lesser-known drum, and the di tumba, a drum from the Luba tribe.

“On the song ‘Keba’ the rhythm is essombi“usually used in preparation for war,” says Malonga. “I used it to express the hypocrisy of everyday life, sabotaging your neighbor to get ahead. I used ceremonial rhythms fused with modern dance vibes, and let the composition flow from that.”

Other notable tracks include “Pelisa Kongo,” which opens with a hook played on a balafona gourd-resonating xylophone and guitar. The call-and-response vocals between a lead singer and choir describe the challenges of bringing clean electrical energy to countries in sub-Saharan Africa. “Tsi Mbwani Ĝa Mbongui” begins with male voices, drumming and percussion. It describes the coming mbonguia social gathering to celebrate community, involving singing, dancing, cooking and feasting.

Malonga’s drumming and a Congolese choir advising musicians to fall back on traditional sounds before they disappear are the driving force behind “Tala Kwé Wa Tuka”, a reference to traditional music.

Both albums were released online, with no plans to make CDs or LPs. “With digital platforms, you can reach people all over the world with the click of a button,” Malonga says. “It’s cheaper to get there, but it’s harder to make a living from it. The streaming payouts are minimal and unfair. This is a problem, even for a lot of Grammy-winning artists. The tech industry just says, ‘Whatever.'”

Malonga performs music from both albums with a small band on Wednesday, September 4 at 5 p.m. at BART’s Balboa Park Station; and with Fua Dia Congo on Sunday, September 8 at 1 p.m. at the World Arts West Dance Festival, Presidio Tunnel Tops/East Meadow, 210 Lincoln Blvd., San Francisco. Follow Malonga and hear music from the albums at linktr.ee/KiaziMalonga.