Ricardo Lemvo

Last updated
Ricardo Lemvo
RicardoLemvo2018.jpg
Ricardo Lemvo, performing in Manhattan Beach, California, July 2018
Background information
Born (1957-09-04) September 4, 1957 (age 67)
Kimpese, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Origin Los Angeles, United States
Genres Salsa, soukous, kizomba
Years active1990–present
LabelsMopiato Music
Website http://www.makinaloca.com/

Ricardo Lemvo (born September 3, 1957) is a Congolese singer of Angolan descent who lives in Los Angeles, California. His music is a blend of African soukous, kizomba, samba and Cuban salsa.

Contents

Early years and family

Lemvo was born in Kimpese, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and as a boy he lived in Kinshasa. [1] [2] [3] His family is Angolan, from M'banza-Kongo in the northern part of Angola. His grandfather, João Mantantu Dundulu N'lemvo, was a Baptist pastor who worked with British missionaries in the 1880s, and was the first Angolan to translate the English-language Bible into Kikongo. Although Lemvo grew up in the D.R.C. and later in the United States, he said in an interview that Angolan is foremost among his three nationalities: (translated) "I am the product of these three countries, but I feel Angolan on top of everything, because it is in this country that my roots are located, inside Kongo dya Ntontila." [note 1] ) [3]

As a 13- or 14-year-old, in Kinshasa during breaks from his Catholic boarding school in Gombe-Matadi, Lemvo joined a youth band called Mira Mira, singing American R&B songs by James Brown and Otis Redding. [4] Kinshasa is where Lemvo first encountered and enjoyed Cuban music; taking advantage of a cousin's large record collection, he would listen to Orquesta Aragón, Arsenio Rodríguez, Sonora Matancera and Abelardo Barroso. [4] He also credited his musical interest to the fact that his parents' house in Kinshasa was next to a bar, which would loudly play Congolese and Cuban rumba, as well as New York salsa, at all hours. [1]

He moved to California, in the United States, at age 15 to continue his education, and has lived there since. He graduated from Lawndale High School [5] and later from California State University, Los Angeles with a bachelor's degree in Political Science. [6]

Lemvo has a daughter, Isabela, whose name is the title of one of his songs and the title of the band's 2007 album. [7]

Career

In 1990, though he does not read music or play any instrument, Lemvo formed the band Makina Loca. That name is, according to The Mercury News , "an appropriately multilingual pun that means 'crazy machine' in Spanish and roughly 'dancing in a trance' in Kikongo." With Makina Loca, Lemvo has become, again according to The Mercury News, "one of the most creative and successful salsa bandleaders" in Southern California. [7] [8]

Lemvo sings in English, French, Kikongo, Kimbundu, Lingala, Lucumi, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, and Turkish. [9] [10] [11] He blends Latin and African musical styles, "sprinkling in rumba, merengue or Afro-Portuguese elements." [9] His earlier recordings, including the 1998 hit "Mambo Yo Yo," were largely based on mixing Congolese rumba and soukous with Cuban son and salsa, but more recently Lemvo explored his Angolan heritage, singing in Portuguese and indigenous Angolan languages, and playing Angolan rhythms such as semba and kizomba. [12] The latter form of music was influenced by the French-Caribbean zouk. [13] Guest artists on his recordings have included well-known Congolese, Cape Verdean, and Cuban musicians Sam Mangwana, Papa Noël, Nyboma, Wuta Mayi, Syran Mbenza, Bopol Mansiamina, "Huit Kilos" Nseka, Maria de Barros, and Alfredo de la Fé. [14] [9] [15]

Lemvo and Makina Loca appeared in the 1998 movie Dance With Me starring Vanessa Williams and Chayanne. in 1998, the American World Music Awards, a spin-off of the Houston International Festival, [16] honored Lemvo as Emerging Artist of the Year. [9] At the 2015 Angola Music Awards Lemvo won Music D'Ouro for the song "Curtição (A resposta)". [17]

In addition to regularly playing Los Angeles clubs, [18] Lemvo has toured widely, and has performed at prestigious festivals throughout Europe, the Americas and Australia. [9] As a few examples, he has played at the John F. Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage in Washington, D.C., in June 1998, [19] the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in 2000, [20] the HeimatKlänge Festival in Berlin in July–August 2001, [21] the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat, Israel in August 2001, [22] New York's SOB's in July 2007, [23] the National Folk Festival in Butte, Montana in July 2008, [24] the Planet Arlington World Music festival in Arlington, Virginia, in August 2008, [25] Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing in New York in April 2014 [26] Chicago SummerDance and two other festivals in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois in July 2014, [10] the LACMA's "Latin Sounds" series of summer concerts in September 2018, [27] and the North Carolina Folk Festival in September 2019. [28] [29]

Assessments and significance

Critic Robert Christgau described Lemvo's appeal, saying, "In five different non-English languages he invites cousin after cousin into the extended family--from boogaloo to rumba, bolero to son--and defines the groove they share with his own contained dynamics." [30] Jon Pareles, in a New York Times capsule review of the 2007 album Isabella, wrote that "While Mr. Lemvo sings in a honeyed Congolese croon, the styles on “Isabela” bounce back and forth across the Atlantic in separate songs: Cuban charanga, Angolan kizomba, boogaloo, Congolese soukous. Mr. Lemvo wrote most of the songs — though not the bolero in Turkish — and his fusions are supple, never forced." [31]

A Boston Globe profile notes how Lemvo's music brings to life the idea, championed by scholars including Robert Farris Thompson and Paul Gilroy, of the Black Atlantic, "the centuries-old exchange of rhythm and culture that began with the Middle Passage, when slaves brought their sounds to Cuba and Haiti." [1] In an essay in which he calls attention to Lemvo, anthropologist Bob W. White describes Congolese rumba in terms of "the mind-bending genealogical tale of successive musical waves back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean," how Africans taken to Cuba in the slave trade and their descendants developed rumba, and how Cuban records were played in Congo leading to development of Africanized versions of that music, namely the Congolese rumba and then soukous. [32] Describing how Lemvo marks another generation of that trans-Atlantic cross-fertilzation, combining those related Cuban and Congolese forms of music, as well as other African-influenced musics of the old and new worlds, into Lemvo's own mix, the scholar and musician Ned Sublette, "an authority on Cuban music and its African roots and branches," said "Ricardo is the only one, right now, looking at the totality of what this is. The entire time I’ve known him, he’s been looking at the big picture." [1]

Discography

Credited artist for all of the following: Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca

Notes

  1. ↑ Portuguese original: "Sou o produto destes três paises, mas sinto-me angolano em cima de tudo, porque é neste pais que se situa as minhas raizes, no interior de Kongo dya Ntontila."

Related Research Articles

The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba. Since the early 20th century the term has been used in different countries to refer to distinct styles of music and dance, most of which are only tangentially related to the original Cuban rumba, if at all. The vague etymological origin of the term rumba, as well as its interchangeable use with guaracha in settings such as bufo theatre, is largely responsible for such worldwide polysemy of the term. In addition, "rumba" was the primary marketing term for Cuban music in North America, as well as West and Central Africa, during much of the 20th century, before the rise of mambo, pachanga and salsa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

Congolese music is one of the most influential music forms of the African continent. Since the 1930s, Congolese musicians have had a huge impact on the African musical scene and elsewhere. Many contemporary genres of music, such as Kenyan Benga and Colombian Champeta, have been heavily influenced by Congolese music. In 2021, Congolese rumba joined other living traditions such as Jamaican reggae music and Cuban rumba on UNESCO's "intangible cultural heritage of humanity" list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kongo Central</span> Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kongo Central, formerly Bas-Congo, is one of the 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Matadi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soukous</span> African music genre

Soukous is a genre of dance music originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. It derived from Congolese rumba in the 1960s, with faster dance rhythms and bright, intricate guitar improvisation, and gained popularity in the 1980s in France. Although often used by journalists as a synonym for Congolese rumba, both the music and dance associated with soukous differ from more traditional rumba, especially in its higher tempo, song structures and longer dance sequences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kongo language</span> Bantu language of west-central Africa

Kongo or Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Angola. It is a tonal language. The vast majority of present-day speakers live in Africa. There are roughly seven million native speakers of Kongo in the above-named countries. An estimated five million more speakers use it as a second language.

Putumayo World Music is a New Orleans-based record label that specializes in compilations of world music, jazz and blues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African popular music</span>

African popular music, can be defined as any African music, regardless of genre, that uses Western pop musical instruments, such as the guitar, piano, trumpet, etc. Afropop is a genre of music that combines elements from both African traditional music with Western pop music, characterized by the use of African rhythms and melodies, as well as western instrumentation and production techniques. Like African traditional music, Afropop is vast and varied. Most contemporary genres of western popular music build on cross-pollination with traditional African American and African popular music. Many genres in popular music of rock, metal, pop, blues, jazz, salsa, zouk, and rumba derive, of varying degrees, musical traditions from Africa cultured to the Americas, by enslaved Africans. These rhythms and sounds have subsequently been adapted by newer genres like hip-hop, and R&B. Likewise, African popular music have adopted Western music industry recording studio techniques. The term does not refer to a specific style or sound but is used as a general term for African popular music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

The culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely varied, reflecting the great diversity and different customs which exist in the country. Congolese culture combines the influence of tradition to the region, but also combines influences from abroad which arrived during the era of colonization and continue to have a strong influence, without destroying the individuality of many tribal customs.

Kwassa kwassa is a dance created by Jeanora, a mechanic in Kinshasa from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that started in the 1980s, where the hips move back and forth while the hands move to follow the hips. It was very popular in Africa.

Marie-Claire Mboyo Moseka, known professionally as M'bilia Bel, is a Congolese singer and songwriter. Dubbed the "Queen of African Rumba" and "Queen Cleopatra", she is regarded as one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Congolese and African popular music. Her music is a blend of traditional Congolese rumba, soukous, rap, and zouk, with lyrics that often delve into themes of love, politics, hedonism, militancy, jealousy, sentimentality, and education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabu Ley Rochereau</span> Musical artist

Pascal-Emmanuel Sinamoyi Tabu, better known as Tabu Ley Rochereau, was a leading African rumba singer-songwriter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was the leader of Orchestre Afrisa International, as well as one of Africa's most influential vocalists and prolific songwriters. Along with guitarist Dr Nico Kasanda, Tabu Ley pioneered soukous and internationalised his music by fusing elements of Congolese folk music with Cuban, Caribbean and Latin American rumba. He has been described as "the Congolese personality who, along with Mobutu, marked Africa's 20th century history." He was dubbed "the African Elvis" by the Los Angeles Times. After the fall of the Mobutu regime, Tabu Ley also pursued a political career. His musical career ran parallel to the other great Congolese rhumba bandleader and rival Franco Luambo Makiadi who ran the band TPOK Jazz throughout the 1960s, 1970s and '80s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congolese rumba</span> Genre of African music and dance

Congolese rumba, also known as African rumba, is a dance music genre originating from the Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo. With its rhythms, melodies, and lyrics, Congolese rumba has gained global recognition and remains an integral part of African music heritage. In December 2021, it was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.

Lawndale High School is one of three high schools in Lawndale, California, United States. The school was closed in 1981, and reopened in 1998. It is one of three schools in the Centinela Valley Union High School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendo Kolosoy</span> Congolese musician (1925–2008)

Antoine Wendo Kolosoy, known as Papa Wendo, was a Congolese musician. He is considered the "doyen" of Congolese rumba, a musical style blending traditional Kongolese rhythm and son cubano.

Jesús Alejandro Pérez is a Cuban-Canadian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader based in Montreal and Los Angeles. He is a member of Ricardo Lemvo's Makina Loca, a salsa band that combines Cuban and Angolan music styles.

Antilliaanse Feesten is a Caribbean music festival that takes place in every second weekend of August in Hoogstraten, Belgium. It had 38,000 attendees in 2016. The festival was first held in 1983, and has been repeated every year except 2000.

Bopol Mansiamina, also known as Bopol or Don Paolo, was a prolific and renowned Congolese musician. He recorded and performed extensively over four decades as a solo artist, as a member of leading African bands, and in support of many African musicians. Bopol was best known for his work in the 1980s and early 1990s as one of the four members of the Paris-based supergroup Les Quatre Etoiles and as a solo artist.

Syran Mbenza is a guitarist, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who has lived in Paris since about 1981. He has recorded and performed prolifically over five decades, including as a solo artist; as one of the four members of the popular soukous "supergroup" Les Quatre Étoiles; as a founding member of the acoustic, Congolese rumba revival band Kékélé; in other bands; and in support of numerous artists. He has been described as one of the greatest guitar players of Africa.

<i>Galo Negro</i> 1998 studio album by Sam Mangwana

Galo Negro is an album by the Angolan Congolese musician Sam Mangwana, released in 1998. Mangwana deemed his sound "Congolese Rumba." Mangwana supported the album with a North American tour, accompanied by labelmate Ricardo Lemvo.

<i>Mambo Yo Yo</i> 1998 studio album by Ricardo Lemvo

Mambo Yo Yo is an album by the Congolese musician Ricardo Lemvo, released in 1998. He is credited with his band, Makina Loca. Lemvo supported the album with a North American tour that included shows as part of his label's AfroLatino Nights tour.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Siddhartha Mitter, "Congolese singer Ricardo Lemvo bridges styles, cultures" Boston Globe (September 12, 2015).
  2. ↑ Judy Cantor, "The Congo by way of Cuba" Miami New Times (June 11, 1998).
  3. 1 2 "Ricardo Lemvo, um angolano em Los Angeles". Wizi-Kongo.com (in European Portuguese). 28 September 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  4. 1 2 Romero, Angel (18 May 2018). "Artist Profiles: Ricardo Lemvo". World Music Central. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  5. ↑ "Lorenza Munoz, "Ricardo Lemvo: Infused with the Cuban beat" Los Angeles Times (July 13, 2009).
  6. ↑ Lemvo's biography from the Makina Loca website
  7. 1 2 "Ricardo Lemvo Mixes Cultures in Song" NPR (March 25, 2008).
  8. ↑ Andrew Gilbert, "Ricardo Lemvo brings his rich Afro-Latin sound to South Bay" The Mercury News (July 7, 2014).
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 MEYER, MARIANNE (13 March 2008). "Live!". Washington Post. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Recently Released: Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca - La Rumba SoYo (June 24 2014 - Cumbancha)". Art & Culture Maven. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  11. ↑ Ellerd, Cody (18 April 2000). "Congo Plus Cuba Equals Future of Salsa | I". www.ipsnews.net. Inter Press Service. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  12. ↑ "Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca - WOMEX". Womex. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  13. ↑ "Happenings: Metro Art Presents: Ricardo Lemvo y Makina Loca". Union Station Los Angeles. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  14. ↑ "Ricardo Lemvo, Tata Masamba". Amazon.com. 1996. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  15. ↑ "Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca, Isabela" (PDF). Mopiato Music. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  16. ↑ Eyre, Banning (20 April 1999). "We are the world". Salon. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  17. ↑ "Yola Semedo arrecada quatro prémios no Angola Music Awards". Noticias ao Minuto. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  18. ↑ VANDERKNYFF, RICK (12 December 1996). "No Longer Oceans Apart". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  19. ↑ Barriere, Barry (5 June 1998). "THE SOUNDS OF SUMMER". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  20. ↑ "Roskilde Festival 2000". Festivalhistorik.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  21. ↑ "A Short History of HeimatKlänge" (PDF). Piranha Records and Publishing. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  22. ↑ "[Red] Sea Jazz Festival". nptm.ru. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  23. ↑ Pareles, Jon (29 June 2007). "Season of Sounds That Span the Globe (Published 2007)". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  24. ↑ Moss, Mark D. (28 March 2008). "National Folk Festival Moving to Montana". Sing Out!.
  25. ↑ MEYER, MARIANNE (28 August 2008). "Live!". Washington Post. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  26. ↑ Kozinn, Allan (23 April 2014). "Midsummer Night Swing Offerings Range From Afro-Cuban to Classic Rock". The New York Times ArtsBeat.
  27. ↑ "Music: Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca" LACMA (September 1, 2018).
  28. ↑ "Artist Announcement". North Carolina Folk Festival. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  29. ↑ "N.C. Folk Festival releases schedule on website, mobile app". Greensboro News and Record. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  30. ↑ Robert Christgau, Consumer Guide reviews, Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca (2007).
  31. ↑ Pareles, Jon (29 June 2007). "A Big, Wide World of Music (Published 2007)". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  32. ↑ White, Bob W. (1 January 2002). "Congolese Rumba and Other Cosmopolitanisms". Cahiers d'études africaines. 42 (168): 663–686. doi: 10.4000/etudesafricaines.161 . S2CID   143212254.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.