Kanda Bongo Man is an institution. He is that guy you talk about in the same breath as Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita. Hailing from the DRC as a soukous legend, Kanda Bongo Man ruled the continent in the ’90s and the early 2000s. Seeing that he is in the country to rock you with the rumba dance moves this weekend, we thought it worthwhile to catch up with the man to find out what to expect.
“I am happy to perform at a big venue like Emperors Palace because I know big artists have performed there before. So for me to be asked to be part of that is really amazing,” he said.
While he has played just about everywhere in the world, he still feels like there is more that he can do to deserve the title, “legend”.
“I am also trying to be a big artist and it’s a big opportunity for me to perform there.”
Although you might only get to see him this weekend, Kanda Bongo Man has been in the country for a few weeks, working on other projects.
“I have been here for a few weeks because I have been performing at a few places before Emperors Palace. I had to perform in Cape Town and after this weekend I return to London,” he said.
Given that he’s been in the music business for about four decades, it is a wonder how the man has made a living from soukous, which is a genre that is dying.
“I strive to work hard every day and when you like your job so much you work very hard to protect it. You have to make sure that you stay there for long. I love music so much and it is a good thing that I started early in school. I take longer so that the music I make stays with people for ever,” he said.
Kanda Bongo Man is so talented that at some point he found himself appointed Minister of Culture in his native country.
“No, I resigned from that post. I had to resign because I wanted to be back in the music industry. What happened was that the then president of DRC, Laurent Kabila, called me to say he wanted me to be the Minister of Culture. I was living in London at the time and came back home. I was happy to be in that post but I missed the music so I sadly had to resign and go back to doing what I love the most,” he said.
Now that he is based in London, the man appreciates that the fans there get his music and he always plays to sold out venues.
“The European markets love my music. In the ’80s we got a deal with some companies to be distributed worldwide and that spread our music. So I was even able to tour in the US and even there they knew the music,” he said.
Coming back home, he also worked with local talent to broaden his fanbase.
“Three years ago I did a song with The Soul Brothers which was produced by Gallo Records. It was actually the record label’s idea so I composed a song and David Masondo and Moses Ngwenya joined me and we produced and good song,” he said.
His latest album, Nonstop Feeling, has not done well in Africa partly because the promotion campaign did not trickle down to us: “I recorded Nonstop Feeling in America. I still think that some of the songs need to be remixed because people love them so much. The promotion of the album was big there, but not so much here. I have done one of the remixes with Uhuru here so that we introduce it to this market,” he said.
When he is not listening to his own music, Kanda Bongo Man keeps his musical ear on the African pulse: “I listen to Lucky Dube still as he was my best friend for 20 years and we were both at Gallo. I also like Oliver Mtukudzi who is also a good friend of mine,” he said.
• Kanda Bongo Man plays Emperors Palace on Friday at 8pm. Tickets: from R150 at Computicket or the Emperors Palace box office.