More than one group, The Bantus of the capital represent a veritable institution within the musical heritage of the african in general and congolese in particular. Edward Nganga said Ganga Odes, was the last living of the orchestra part of the golden age of rumba – which he co-founded in 1959. He bowed out at the age of 87 years old in Brazzaville, a-t-on learned by the agency of congolese press Adiac.

The orchestra the most famous of the Congo-Brazzaville

Founded in 1959, a year before the great wave of african independence, the group will be able to make it through the time, renewing each time. Last summer, the Bantu considered as the oldest orchestra african celebrated their sixty years of existence. On the occasion an entertaining documentary directed by Paul Soni Benga had been devoted to it. “I regret to announce the death of our old Nganga Odes, the last patriarch of congolese rumba of the two banks. The artist, our old, is gone. Farewell, my old, peace to your soul, regret, lord, ” cries a user. “He’s gone #Edo Nganga, a legend of african music, congolese, and one of the creators of the legendary orchestra, The Bantu from the capital… Up to his last moments of life, the artist has always been on stage… a true soldier of music,” said another. “From the top of its 87 years of age, the last dynausore of the Bantu of the capital, the dean Nganga Odes just bow out. With his death, the curtains fall on one of the pages of the most prestigious of congolese music, ” says the colonel Jean Aive Allakoua in the congolese press.

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An extraordinary artist

Born on October 27, 1933 in Leopoldville current Kinshasa, Odes Nganga was a carpenter by trade. Passionate about music, he chooses the early 1950s to concentrate entirely. First in a band called Negro Jazz Brazzaville, and then to the other side of the river, to Leopoldville, in the mythical All-Powerful OK Jazz, with Franco, the other pillar of the rumba with Tabu Ley Rochereau. It is during the 1950s that the attractiveness of cultural Kinshasa is imposed on all african capitals while the congolese rumba dictates of his law. With first circle, it continues the adventure by creating the first-ever orchestra in Brazzaville, congo, during a concert organised in the bar-dancing “In Faignond” of Poto-Poto, one of the liveliest neighbourhoods in the congolese capital. Very soon, the orchestra will be the pride and the standard-bearer for many years of congolese music throughout Africa as a guest at many celebrations such as the first world Festival of negro Arts in Dakar in 1966, or the first cultural festival panafricain d’alger (1969). They are also illustrated outside the borders of the continent during a tour to Cuba in 1978.

” Osala ngaï nini “, ” Rosalie Diop “, ” Committee of the Bantu “, “Masuwa” : so many tubes that have marked several generations of music lovers on the continent. Melodies and texts faithful to the romance of the rumba, but it should be noted that The Bantu of the capital have tried to root their compositions in the realities of the congo. At the heart of their concerns : youth in the drc. Throughout their career, and their many albums, they were able to engage the youth on issues as important as social values, the progress, the permanent creation, etc, in Addition to congolese music, The Bantu have quickly mastered the music of the world in all its contours, salsa, cha-cha-cha, charangas and rumba.

in The aftermath of the death of the patriarch, it is the whole of Africa, which pays tribute to him.

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