Music Monday: Music from the Republic of the Congo

Blogging, family, happiness, lessons learned, music 2 Minutes

As a follow-up to my post from yesterday which was a not-so-subtle attempt to try and get someone from the Republic of the Congo to visit my blog (no success at this point), I thought I would share a couple of songs from two different Congolese musicians, Bisso na Bisso and Sam Talanis.

I came across the two artists in a post from Wikipedia about the music scene in the Congo, which seems quite limited. Here’s what the article had to say:

The Republic of the Congo is an African nation with close musical ties to its neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s homegrown pop music, soukous, is popular across the border, and musicians from both countries have fluidly travelled throughout the region playing similarly styled music, including Nino Malapet and Jean Serge Essous. Brazzaville had a major music scene until unrest in the late 1990s, and produced popular bands like Bantous de la Capitale that played an integral role in the development of soukous and other styles of Congolese popular music. The Hip-Hop group “Bisso na Bisso” also hails from Congo-Brazzaville.

In a separate Wikipedia article, Bisso Na Bisso is described as a music collective of rappers and singers with origins from Congo Brazzaville formed in 1999. Bisso Na Bisso have spent much energy providing humanitarian aid to the Congo and other African countries, including while they are touring.

The following song appears to be their most popular, with over 10 million views. The video offers some insight into what life must be like in the Congo, and seems to be a joyful song:

There is not as much info on Sam Talanis; here is what I found on the Music in Africa website, translated from French:

Sam Talanis is an artist from Congo Brazzaville. He is a doctor by profession, and passionate about music at the same time. Sal combines two musical styles in his repertoire: rumba and reggae.

Here is a beautiful song I found on YouTube of Sam singing a cover of a classic African song by the artist Manu Dibango, from Cameroon. Here is the accompanying description of the song:

Change of atmosphere. Imagine yourself in the evening taking advantage of the sweetness of a sunset in Africa, happily smelling the scents that escape from the neighboring kitchen. Ah the talent of Manu Dibango, ah the sensitivity of Sam to translate all this into words and music

I have translated the lyrics and included them after the video. The video highlights the natural beauty of Africa

A voice rises in the distance
Calling for evening prayers
And night falls over the village

Women rock their children
And the men light their pipes
And night falls over the village

Yes, yes and by a moonlight
The tom tom resounds
Yes, bewitching our hearts and souls
By its melody, melody

Women rock their children
And the men light their pipes
And night falls over the village

A good flavored fish
with what
With the foufou
And what else
And uh…
And night falls over the village

Yes, on the village
On the village
On the village
On the village
On the village
On the village

*image from Dalyfqprimaveria

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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33 thoughts on “Music Monday: Music from the Republic of the Congo”

  9. After reading everything I was excited to click on the music, but I immediately stop in the first video. I rarely like rapping. But the second song is beautiful. I love the music and the video. I would have enjoyed it without understanding it, but extra fun knowing what they’re singing about. Thanks for the translation ❤

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  10. Great post!
    Tip: If you want to reach people from a certain region, use Google Trends and filter it by that region to see what people there are searching for. It’ll give you content ideas as well as keywords you can use to be discovered more easily. Cheers 🙂

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