Kiazi Malonga engages diversity of Congolese rhythms on Tembo Kia Ngoma

The music video features the mutuashi – a traditional dance of the Luba people that celebrates birth, especially of twins. Generally, Congolese dance, which can go rapidly from mellow to frenetic, consists of isolated movements of the torso, hips and shoulders. The dance style often requires dancers to gyrate low to the ground.

‘Lomami’ is one of 10 songs that was presented to listeners on 5 March by Kiazi, a second-generation Congolese-American traditional drummer who is currently based in Oakland. The release is deeply immersed in the funky rhythms, rich melodies and infectious vibrations from seven Congolese ethnic groups, including the Teke and Mongo.

It includes previously unrecorded compositions by Kiazi’s father, the late Casquelourd Malonga – an educator and ambassador of central African dance and the founder of the Fua Dia Congo Performance Dance Company – the first African dance and drumming company in the US. Molonga Snr began teaching his son drumming when he was 16 years old.

Although the tubular ngoma drum is the heart of this album, other indigenous instruments give it even more layers: apart from the modern drums, bass and electric guitars, Kiazi employs several traditional instruments such as the wider-constructed ngoma and conga drums as well as the ngongui (bell) and mpungui (antelope horn).

Genre-wise, Kiazi combines his traditional influences from Teke music with contemporary jazz on the track ‘Ntâli Jazz’, where a multi-layered horn section sets a Cuban/West African canvas courtesy of San Franciscan collective Jazz Mafia. Kiazi’s skills as a drummer especially stand out in ‘Tatamana’ where he plays the petenge drum, which requires the player to use his heel to change the pitch.

Tembo Kia Ngoma ends gracefully with ‘Mbongui’ – a live recording of his father’s ensemble where the listener gets to hear 40 overlapping voices, clapping and stomping for seven-and-a-half minutes. The recording was taken from a 1990s VHS tape.

With this rhythmic body of work, Kiazi carries forth his father’s legacy. In most African cultures, musicians were remembered through the oral tradition, where stories of their talent reached mythological proportions as they were told from one generation to the next. Kiazi breaks that cycle with an admirable and honourable project. He also challenges younger diasporic musicians to own and share their ever-disappearing roots with listeners in the West.

Listen to Tembo Kia Ngoma here.

Artist: Kiazi Malonga
Album: Tembo Kia Ngoma
Year: 2021
Label: Redtone Records