By Andrew Irumba
Renowned city events promoter Balaam Barugahara, of Balaam Events, has flown into the country legendary Congolese musician Kanda Bongo Man, who is very popular among Ugandans.
Kanda Bongo Man landed at Entebbe International Airport on Thursday aboard Kenya Airways, with his entire band and sound technicians.
After checking in, they were driven to Sheraton Kampala Hotel, where they will perform at a concert dubbed ‘Kanda Bongo Man With Full Band’, which will be held at the same hotel on December 31, 2019.
The End of Year concert will also be graced by performances from top Ugandan artistes such as Jose Chameleons, Bebe Cool, John Blaq, Eddy Kenzo, among others. Entrance is 20K, while VIP is 100K!
After the End of Year concert at Sheraton Kampala Hotel, Kanda will again rock partiers at Entebbe Resort Beach, where entrance will be only Shs10k!
Kanda Bongo Man was born in Inongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1955.
He became the singer for Orchestra Belle Mambo in 1973, developing a sound influenced by Tabu Ley.
His solo career only started to take off after moving to Paris in 1979, where his music started to incorporate elements of then-vibrant zouk music popularized by Kassav (originating in the French West Indies). His first solo albums, Iyole in 1981 and Djessy in 1982, were hits.
He is known for the structural changes he implemented to soukous music. The previous approach was to sing several verses and have one guitar solo at the end of the song.Â
Kanda Bongo Man revolutionized soukous by encouraging guitar solos after every verse and even sometimes at the beginning of the song. His form of soukous gave birth to the kwassa kwassa dance rhythm where the hips move back and forth while the hands move to follow the hips.
Like many African rumba and soukous musicians before him, Kanda Bongo Man also had an entourage of musicians. Many of Kanda’s musicians later moved on to start their own solo careers. Most notable of these was Diblo Dibala.
Known as “Machine Gun”, Diblo Dibala was a vital part of Kanda Bongo Man’s lineup on several albums, playing guitar on both Kwasa Kwasa and Amour Fou.
