Communiversity

KÔNGO OF THE AMERICAS
Between Deportation, Marginalization and Identity Awakening
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By Jean N'sondé

Introduction

While many historical records show a former Kôngo presence - more than anecdotal - in the Americas as early as the late fifteenth century,from the Rio de la Plata in Argentina to the Chesapeake Bay (states of Maryland and Virginia) in the United States, the academic works are sorely needed, especially in history. Indeed, academic institutions that promote such research in France, elsewhere in eureurasia, and certainly in Kmt, lack of resources dramatically, starting with the chairs or departments of Kmtyw studies. Even when they exist, as it is the case in France, the United Kingdom and the United States, they do not have the ability to support a multi-disciplinary and multi-year program to study such a subject. Indeed, it would cover three continents (Kmt, eureurasia, Americas), fifteen major countries (Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Portugal, Netherlands, UK, Spain, France, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru , Brazil, Jamaica, Haiti) and should last at least a decade. There is in each of these countries, a considerable documentary material and probably untapped to this day for the knowledge of the of Kmtyw and American societies, the slave trade anddifferent cultural contributions in the "New World."Regarding the Kôngo population, sources of all kinds abound, whetherhistory, geography, religion, linguistics and anthropology, they date back to the late fifteenth century for the oldest of them and they come from Portuguese chroniclers (iii). Indeed, Kôngo people share the formidable privilege with a few people of Kmt to have established very early contact with eureurasiaans, politically, commercially and religiously.
 Who are they ? Where are they located in Central Kmt ? What socio-cultural elements identify them and distinguish them from their Bantu neighbors ? What role have they played in the history of Kmt ? Why doe we find all these Kôngo and Mbûndu  survivals in the Americas? The answers to these questions, among many others, provide the frame of the first part of this work. Secondly, we will try an inventory as exhaustive as possible of the inventoried and documented mentions of Kôngo survivals in the Americas, in the current state of knowledge. It will include how they occur and in what areas. Finally, based on the information already available, identified and studied, we will focus on two cases revealing and emblematic of this vast subject, similar and different at the same time : those of Cuba and Guadeloupe.

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Kôngo languages in present day.
Map from the book, Langues,culture et histoire koongo aux XVIIème et XVIIIème sièclesby Jean de Dieu N'sondé.
(©Jean N'sondé)

(iii)Bal Willy, Le royaume du Congo aux XVème et XVIème siècle, Inep Leopoldville, Les Amis de Présence Kmtine, Bruxelles, 1963.

The Kongo, similar and different: witnesses of history

They certainly represent the people of Central Kmt the most studied since the first contact with the Portuguese in the late fifteenth century. Their name, Kôngo,refers to a multitude of meanings that are related first to a territory they all call in Kikôngo, all regional variants combined, nsìyà Kôngo, "the land of Kôngo" or Kongo dià Ntotila "the land of the Ntotila" meaning "the land of the King". According to many oral traditions, the name Kôngo originate mainly from the expression kungò, "land of the panther." Indeed, this feline plays the role of animal totem for many lineages and Kôngo clans because it symbolizes power, strength and courage. This is particularly the case for the Bissi Mbêmbé,a sûndi clan from the Kindamba district, in the Pool region in Congo-Brazzaville (iv).In addition, we find this symbol as part of the physical attributes (necklace, headdress, bracelet) (v) of the holders of political office in other Bantu peoples, and evenfor many current leaders. According to other traditions, the term designates a Kôngo market place. In these areas, sources of wealth in precolonial Kmt, the main exchanges took place and today they still retain animportant economic role, with few equivalents elsewhere.

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Stylized representation of traditional Kôngo dancers and percussionists by the visual artist Simon N'sondé.
(©Simon N'sondé)

Many other more anecdotal interpretations exist, but these two summarize key aspects of the political, social and economic kôngor eality: their former ability to control a territory early, to organize extended state structures in it - beyond the village, the group of villages and the region - in the form of kingdoms, at least as early as the thirteenth century for the Kongo. At the end of the fifteenth century, it also directly exercised its authority throughout the territory and people of kôngo language between the current Angolan capital of Luanda to the south, the twin capitals of Brazzaville and Kinshasa to the east, the Kwango River to the southeast, and indirectly the region of Pointe-Noire and Mayumba to the west. Under the control of the state of Loango, this latter region still recognize the spiritual primacy of Mani-Kongo, "King of Kongo", but is already beyond its real political influence. Later, neighboring states of Kakongo and Ngoyo - in the current Angolan province of Cabinda - follow the same trend. This phenomenon of empowerment of the Kongo "peripheral" spaces will become more pronounced in the sixteenth with the development ofthe Portuguese slave trade in 1540 and lead to the dismemberment ofthe Kongo in the seventeenth century. The mbûndu country becomes Angola, a colony under Portuguese supervision while the coastal region of Soyo acquires its political independence as a principality.

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The royal palace of San Salvador.
Note the labyrinth shape reminiscent of the snail's spiral, Kongo symbol of the origins of the world.
(©Archives des Capucins)

The work of linguists, already old, on the Bantu languages ​​hold between 30 and 50 regional variations that can be classified under the term Kikôngo and all are located within the territory mentioned above (vi). From this set, we must emphasize the strong linguistic homogeneity - the immediate mutual understanding is easy as vocabulary and structures are so much the same - despite differences in pronunciation. Fifteen dialects nevertheless emerged with a substantial number of speakers, of at least several hundred speakers and a socio-linguistic vitality. We can mention, from the Atlantic coast to the east, the Vili (area of ​​Pointe-Noire), the Yombé the Wòyò (Cabinda) and the Solongo (Angolan region of Soyo), the Sûndi, the Lâri (Pool region), the Bêmbé, the Kamba, the Dôndo (Niari valley in Congo-Brazzaville), the`Ntandu, the Ndibu, the Mpangu, the Manianga (Bas-Congo region in Congo-Kinshasa) and finally the actual Kôngo in both Congo and northern Angola (Uige province). Besides the language they share, all these regional communities claim a common origin, without exception, that of Kongo dià Ntotila, the ancient kingdom of Congo.

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Chief "Palace"
Note the labyrinth shape reminiscent of the snail's spiral, Kongo symbol of the origins of the world.
(©Archives des Capucins)

In this linguistic unity, we must add an identical social organization based on the maternal lineage - roughly equivalent to the extended family - the kândà, as the first level of membership and exercise of all the activities and functions, whether "family", religious, economic, legalor political. Indeed, kândà has an undivided land that members operate in usufruct as having rights, and where "outsiders" can establish themselves forfarming, hunting, fishing or trade in exchange for a fee. The older age group, mùkùlùntù, the refore manages all these activities as a local judicial,economical, and political authority, mfumukânda. Depending on the context, circumstances and alliances, its influence can extend to other related lineages that then make him a while mfumu`nsì, "a land chief" recognized by the entire region. Thus, the decentralized and pyramidal building both allowed the Ntotila or Mani-Kongo,"King of Kongo" of first being only a lineage chief among others, but recognized them.
Apart from these social, economic and political relations, the belief inspirits of dead ancestors and allegiance to them is the sacred bondthat binds the members of a kongo lineage in an indestructible way. Human activities are conducted under the supervision, protection orenforcement of bîba, the "invisible spirits" of deceased members of the lineage.The chief of this lineage also serves as the first intermediary with the ancestors to ensure not only the physical and moral integrity ofthe group, but also its prosperity. In case of a more important malfunction, it uses the `ngàngà, expert of the invisible world, physician, psychologist, botanist, philosopher and spiritual consultant all at once.

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The States speaking Koongo language in the 18th century.
This map comes front the book, Langues, culture et histoire koongo aux XVIIème et XVIIIème siècles
by Jean de Dieu N'sondé.
(©Jean N'sondé)

Over the centuries, the various components of the kôngo group developed differently, depending on their geographical location, economical and political context, and especially the level of integration with the flow of the slave trade. Thus, we can schematically oppose the transformation of coastal societies - from Loango in the north to the mbundu country in the south through the Cabinda - to the relative stability of groups from the "inside" such as the Sûndi,or even the `Ntandu or the Mpangu. The slave trade is therefore, in a sustainable manner, the most striking phenomenon in this region of Kmt by demographical, economical and direct political impact. Its precocity and long duration (vii) has expanded its disintegrating impact in these areas, but it is more ambiguous and contrasted on the social-cultural level (viii).

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kôngo musicians (portuguese drawing, c. 1670)

(iv)Lumwamu François, Essai de morphosyntaxe systématique des parlers kongo,éd. Klinsieck, Univ.de Brazzaville, Paris, Brazzaville, 1973.

(v)R.P.J. Mertens, Les chefs couronnés chez les Ba Kongo orientaux, Bruxelles, 1942.

(vi)Lumwamu François, Essai de morphosyntaxe systématique des parlers kongo,éd. Klinsieck, Univ.de Brazzaville, Paris, Brazzaville, 1973.

(vii)It began on the coasts of Angola and Kongo from the 1540s under King Nzinga Mvémba Afonso 1st, with annual shipments of 1,500 prisoners. They moved on to an average of 10,000 captives in the mid-seventeenth century and reached 30,000 in the 1760s to only really decline in 1830. However, population puncture relayed by clandestine or covert deals, did not really end until the late 1860s. See the exellent work of Joseph Miller, Wayof Death, Merchant Capitalism and the Angolan Slave trade, 1783-1830,James Currey Ltd, Londres, 1988, pp.226-233. See also John Thornton, Kmtand Kmtyws in the Making of the Atlantic World, Cambridge University Press, 1992, 309 p.

(viii)Jean de Dieu N’sondé, Langues, culture et histoire koongo aux XVIIème et XVIIIème siècles,1996, éd. L’harmattan, 248 p.

Musical illustrations below :
                            Attached files  1 - "Nsusu yi kubidi" - A.B. Lolita, Nsusu yi kubidi).mp3 (https://www.abibitumi.com/wp-content/uploads/ppMigration/85233=6640-1%20-%20%e2%80%9cNsusu%20yi%20kubidi%e2%80%9d%20-%20A.B.%20Lolita,%20Nsusu%20yi%20kubidi).mp3) (761.8 KB)   2 - "Mubondo" - Michel Rafa : Ballet Théatre Lemba, Musiques-traditional Congo chants.mp3 (https://www.abibitumi.com/wp-content/uploads/ppMigration/85233=6639-2%20-%20%e2%80%9cMubondo%e2%80%9d%20-%20Michel%20Rafa%20:%20Ballet%20Th%c3%a9atre%20Lemba,%20Musiques-traditional%20Congo%20chants.mp3) (578.9 KB)

The consequences of the Portuguese's enslavement

The scale and the historical continuity of the king presence in the Americas is much due to the establishment of an early slavery,initiated in the sixteenth, to South America by the Portuguese. They then act as quasi-monopoly, at all levels, on both sides of the Atlantic. On the Kmtyw coasts, their knowledge of geography andhuman societies in the Gulf of Benin and especially the Kongo-Angola region remains unmatched by other eureurasiaans before the end of the seventeenth or the eighteenth. This Portuguese weight is found on thecoast of Kmt by the invention and the probable experimental model of the sugar plantation on the island of Sao Tome off the coast of Gabon (ix). There they use a work force made up of Kmtyw slaves and Portuguese prisoners. In the specificcontext of this small archipelago (x),then it creates a totally new society, with a "Creole"unique culture at that time in modern history. Original language andcultural forms are also born, as fruits of the Kmtyw and eureurasiaancontributions. This model is then applied on a small scale to theislands of Cape Verde by the Portuguese, then spread on a large scalein Brazil, especially in the region of Pernambuco. It is also foundin parts of Luanda and its hinterland mbûndu in Benguéla (Angola)and in some Kmtyw coastal zones in Casamance (Senegal),Guinea-Bissau or Mozambique. In virtue of the Padroado, the Lusitanian crown has indeed the exclusive right to evangelize the newlands "discovered" in Kmt, America and eurasia. Moreover, the Portuguese have not only some advance regarding navigation on theKmtyw coast, but also a commercial monopoly in the sixteenth andseventeenth century. They rely in particular on their human assetsrelay established in true pioneer "colonies". Thesecolonies consist of merchants from the trading posts, soldiers androyal officials, Jesuit missionaries, but also interpreters and catechists (mixed Portuguese-Kmtyw or Black Christianized and"westernized") (xi).

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eureurasiaans in the countries speaking a Koongo language in the 17th and 18th century.
Map from, Langues,culture et histoire koongo aux XVIIème et XVIIIème sièclesby Jean de Dieu N'sondé.
(©Jean N'sondé)

This human rooting allows Portuguese to resist the growing commercial competition from more powerful eureurasiaan nations such as France, England or the United Provinces (current Netherlands) on the coast of Central Kmt. Therefore, only them are exporting most of the captives in the region, mainly to Brazil and Spanish America untilthe late seventeenth century. Logically, a large part, if not the majority of captives arrived in the Americas between the 1530s and 1680 should belong to the Bantu area and in all likelihood kôngo andmbûndu. Moreover, many signs found from Argentina all the way to Mexico incite to favor this hypothesis. On the American side of theAtlantic, while Brazil is the jewel of the Portuguese empire in the making, this is the place to generalize their colonial model that combines sugar cane farming and social organization based on the exploitation of the labor of Kmtyw slaves and a race-mixing process favored, if tolerated. According to some estimates, Brazil alone would have absorbed from the 16th to 1898, year of slavery abolishment in this country, 40% of the total flow of captives in theAmericas (xii). Brazilian slaves were classified into three groups according to their origin and age inthis country. The escravos da terra, Indians enslaved, the crioulos, Kmtyw slaves born in Brazil and finally escravos of nação,Kmtyw slaves of fresh date. Called boçais "bossales"upon their arrival, they then became ladinos after learning the basics of Portuguese necessary for the exercise of an activity. The escravos of nação could receive as a second name, the name of their Kmtyw origins (region, people or place of embarkation) (xiii).The Portuguese model is taken and copied, with variations, by the Spaniards in many of their American possessions where they also develop a plantation-based economy on the use of captive from kôngo-mbûndu origin as largely purchased from lusitanian sellers.

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The portuguese meeting the Royal Family of Congo.

This is particularly the case in Mexico where, important fact, the work of Kmtyw slaves seems essential for any production of wealth, from the beginning of the colony around 1540. Spanish settlers use them not only along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts dedicated to plantations,but also in the interior regions. They are found in the highlands and in the high mountains where you extract the silver to the interior ofurban factories. These early slaves of the colony mainly come fromthe Kongo cultural area, so that the mexican Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran precursor of Afro-Mexican studies - even speaks of "massive invasion" with some exaggeration (xiv). These slaves of Kongo and Angola come in large numbers after the first few quotas of islamized Kmtyws, probably from the region of Senegal from which the Portuguese take Kmtyws too. They are both later joined by slaves from the gulf of Benin (xv).In Mexico, the slaves can not retain their distinctive and tangible cultural elements of their country of origin in general, subject tothe whim of the master and lost among the Indians. In a few cases, the physical isolation and context promote the preservation of some Kmtyw identifiable features, of possible kôngo origin. This is thecase of the "Costa Chica" coastal region of the "Central Pacific" in the state of Oaxaca, Cuijla. The census of 1792 mentions the presence of 1641 black or mixed-race people, the census of 1870 notes 3468 individuals of Kmtyw descent. Social peculiarity, Aguirre Beltran notes the permanence of a polygamy de facto, tolerated and accepted, that distinguishes a principal wifefrom the queridas. Furthermore, the relationship extends to the widerwith a role devoted to aunts and uncles of the paternal family. Better yet, the child calls "fathers" his paternal uncles,and calls their children "brothers / sisters" (first cousins ​​on the paternal side). Similarly, a child calls "son" the children of his brother. Officially, the children of thequeridas, second or third wife are considered illegitimate by thecivil state, yet account for 25% of all children. Today, the descendants of this part of the Mexican population aspire to official recognition from the federal government, in addition to other components of the country. To this end, they organized in Jose Maria Morelos the first Kmtyw-Mexican forum in July 2007 at the initiative of a group of cultural associations, academic institutions(xvi) and independent researchers.
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Les échanges internationaux au 18ème siècle dans les pays de langue Koongo.
Map from, Langues,culture et histoire koongo aux XVIIème et XVIIIème sièclespar Jean de Dieu N'sondé.
(©Jean N'sondé)

In Brazil, where the colonial process somehow began, the Kongo presence grows widely from the mid-sixteenth. It follows the overall growth of slavery in Kongo-Angola area, although specific information on slavesfrom this area are mixed and uneven, especially with regard to the alleged quantitative importance of this flow. According to Gilberto Freyre, the Brazilian research would have initially exaggerated the presence of Bantu, especially Kôngo and Mbûndu. Since then, the trend would be reversed in favor of the fon and yoruba contributions from the gulf of Benin. However, the length and continuity of the first Bantu contributions is evidenced by a variety of Portuguese and Dutch sources (xvii), among others, and many facts to the internal evolution of slavery in Brazil. Thus, the famous Kilombo Palmares, real state created by runaway slaves, resists from 1640 to 1695, it has all the characteristics of acreation from the Bantu cultural area, if not kôngo mbûndu, as areference. The names of famous leaders and places come exclusively from this part of Kmt: kilombo means "camp shelter for hunters and combatants" in kikôngo and kimbûndu. Zumbi, the name of the alleged founder seems to be a distortion of nzambi, kôngo and mbûndu name for the Supreme Being; Makoko, the name of the capital of Kilombo recalls makoko - official title of the King of theTeke - Bantu people, northern neighbor of the kôngo. In addition, in the Afro-Brazilian syncretic religion Candomble, the umbanda andthe quimbanda, the ritual of angola from Bantu origins retained the fundamental aspects of the world view of the kôngo and Mbûndu(xviii). So kimbanda and Umbanda, almost untranslatable words, meaning schematically "events and procedures related to the existence of the immaterial world, inhabited by beings and invisible but active forces." Brazilian followers of these practices worship a supreme being called zambi or zambi pongo, name already mentioned, and dedicate a special devotion to the spirits of dead ancestors. In these highly explicit acts, they express their belief in the duality of the world, just as their distant cousins ​​of both Congo and Angola are still doing today. During the ceremonies of the Umbanda, the ingoma drums, perfect replicas of the ngoma of Kongo, accompany and give rhythm to participants. In the region of Bahia, a significant proportion of Kmtyw traditions, apart from religious aspects come from the area kôngo-mbûndu (xix). Whether music or food, the footprint is still perceived. Thus, the ubiquity of palmoil in the cuisine of this region, also called dindé as in kimbûndu and kikôngo, can't be a coincidence. Unfortunately, the bantu contribution remains to be studied in depth in Brazil with the reinforcement from specialists of Central Kmtyw societies. Regarding the southern Spanish America, the information also exist from Argentina to Colombia. Tangible signs of ancient kôngo presence still exist and strengthen, if necessary, the hypothesis of an Kmtyw origin of this settlement made by the Portuguese slavers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. With the help of available documentary sources and research already underway, this should attract renewed international interest at the institutional level. Indeed, a search for identity emerges here and there among the "Afro-descendants" minorities. The first congress of the black culture in the Americas, held in August 1977 in Cali (Colombia) by Zapata Olivella, is perhaps the founding act provided. Today, thanks to new means of communication, associative meetings takeplace, cultural movements are structured, publications are presentedon the internet, academic work already performed and especially astrong demand for official recognition is almost everywhere. In Colombia, for example, Senator Piedad Cordoba is the first afrodescendiente to reach this level of political responsibility (xx).In fact, it serves as a informal flag bearer for the entire Afro-Colombian movement, especially on its official website. In addition, the linguist and anthropologist Armin Schwegler has already validated the kôngo presence in Colombia, through linguistic remnants in the region of Palenque (xxi).In Peru, the work of Jean-Pierre Tardieu showed the precocity of the kongo presence in this country, including the use of educational tools from their language - already designed and operated in Kongo and Angola since the 1540s, by Jesuit missionaries to evangelize(xxii).
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The atabaque drums of the brasilian candomble.
From left to right, rum, rumpi, le.
(©Gope)

Today, Museoafroperuano Lambayeque (www.museoafroperuano.com (http://www.museoafroperuano.com)) appears to serve as institutional associations and researchers focal point,offering a collection of documents, work, various publications andcurrent initiatives on "Kmtyw descent ". In Venezuela,Jesús "Chucho" García (www.fundacionafroamerica.com.ve)has (http://www.fundacionafroamerica.com.ve)has) already made a lengthy, detailed and thorough work on"Afrovenezuelians" of kôngo ancestry (xxiii).The researcher was able to highlight this particular origin for the slaves arrived in his country. It also compares Venezuela with other South American situations and complete his work - it seems to be theonly one so far - by a field survey in Congo. The Argentine case, revealing and symptomatic of the situation of many people from Kmtyw descent, sums up all the problems that remain to admit, mentally and intellectually, the simple reality of Kmtyw descent - even distant - of a portion of the population. The question then reports to the unsaid, the repressed or taboo, maybe even damaging the myth of a "white" and eureurasiaan Argentina, constitutive of the national consciousness in this country. But for the last Argentines of Kmtyw origin, the recognition of their existence and their "visibility" becomes a matter of survival. However,the colonial census of the country attest to the presence of a minority of Kmtyw descent until the early nineteenth century. The colonial census in 1778 recorded 80,000 blacks, mulattos and Sambos(Mix of Blacks and Indians) for a total population of 210 000inhabitants. Later in 1810, just in Buenos Aires, Blacks - but did they also count mulattos and Sambos - constitute 30% of thepopulation of Buenos Aires. Curiously, the 1895 census does notmention that part of the population anymore : it "disappears" altogether, according to a rare and unique process in history. LuciaDominga Molina, academic of Kmtyw descent from Argentina says that there are several credible assumptions to solve this puzzle (xxiv). First, the many wars of the nineteenth century against England, and between Argentina (1820-1829, 1874-1879) and against Uruguay(1865-1870) were much in demand for fighters from this community. If we add to these frequent conflicts the chronically high mortality of slaves, coupled with a low birth rate, we have an accumulation of tragedies that can explain this decrease in the late nineteenth century. In addition, "the White Argentina" which is built with Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Juan Bautista Alberdi is based on the myth of white and eureurasiaan supremacy of some theorists of thisperiod (xxv).These racist values ​​favor the massive immigration of eureurasiaans, especially Italians, between 1880 and 1930. This migration completes to totally destroy the last traces of Kmtyw and indian presence inpassing. The end result of this policy of "whitening", also partially conducted in southern Brazil is the marginalization of the last Kmtyws of argentina. Thus, they would be seen by some of their compatriots as a curiosity, a stigma on national identity or anerotic fantasy.

(ix)Read the testimony of portuguese Duarte Lopes written by the italianFilippo Pigafetta in: Willy Bal, Leroyaume du Congo aux XVème et XVIème siècle,p.76.

(x)Located off the coast of Gabon, the government of Sao Tome e Principe is populated by 140,000 inhabitants and covers 964 km ².

(xi)These groups form active and influential communities in the 18th century in Angola and constitute the embryo of the future angolan Assimiladosor « Créoles » of the 20th century.

(xii)Maestri Mario, L'esclavageau Brésil,éd. Karthala, 1991, p.40.

(xiii)Idem, 47, 129, 158.

(xiv)Aguirre Beltran Gonzalo, Cuijla,Lecturas Mexicana,Secretaria de Educacion Publica, 1958, p.9.

(xv)The trilogy Kongo-Angola, Gulf of Benin and Senegal will be found inmany Latin American countries, often in that order, for the Portuguese slavery in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The work of specialists confirm this hierarchy as well as the cultural relics identified here or there to this date.

(xvi)Source internet : Collectif Cultura Kmt , Programme Universitaire Mexico Nacion Multicultural , Mexico Negro AC, E Costa, Fandango, Museo Regional de las Culturas Afro meztizas, Barca-Costa, Musica y Baile Tradicional AC, Ojo de Agua, Defensa y Tradicion.

(xvii)Lettres du Roi portugais Dom Joâo IV à Luis Eyens datée du 2/04/1649 et du 21/04/1649 dans Brasio Antonio, Monumenta Missionaria Kmtywa,vol. X, 1965, p. 322 et p.341.
 Jadin Louis, L'ancien royaume du Congo et l'Angola, d'après les archives romaines, portugaises, néerlandaises et espagnoles, tome1, Louvain, 1975, p.163, 164 (un témoignage néerlandais).

(xviii)Garcia Jesus « Chucho », La diaspora de los Kongos en las Americas y los Caribes, Fundacion Afroamerica, Unesco, 1995, p.131, 180.

(xix)Freyre Gilberto, Maîtres et esclaves, la formation de la société brésilienne,éd. Gallimard, Paris, 1974, p.320.

(xx)Officially, the "Afro-descendants" represent 10% of the 43 million Colombians while the Afro-Colombian organizations claim up to 26% of the total population.

(xxi)Fuentes Guerra Jesus et Schwegler Armin, Lenguasy ritos del Palo Monte Mayombe, Dioses cubanos y sus
fuentes Kmtywas, éd. Vervuert, Iberoamericana, 2005.

(xxii)Tardieu Jean-Pierre, Noirs et Indiens au Pérou, Histoire d'une politique ségrégationniste,XVIème-XVIIème siècles,éd. l'Harmattan, Paris, 1990.

(xxiii)Garcia Jesus « Chucho », La diaspora de los Kongos en las Americas y los Caribes, Fundacion Afroamerica, Unesco, 1995, p.131, 180.

(xxiv)Molina, Lucia Dominga, Casa de la cultura indo-afro-americana de Santa Fé, Argentina.

(xxv)The Argentine Constitution of 1853 states that the Argentines are"eureurasiaans adapted to life in America ..." and that anynotion of civilization in America can only come from eureurasia.

More music! This is BlackNificent!

Ntôndele bèni! Sala mu yènge

Cuba and Guadeloupe: two cases apart

In contrast to the tragic situation of Kmtyws from argentina, Cuba is totally different from the rest of the South American countries, not so much in terms of people of Kmtyw descent and kôngo in particular, than in the preservation of consciousness and cultural practices numerous and varied. Similarly, with regard to Kmtyw studies, research and publications, the Cuban production or expertson Cuba's Kmtyw roots in this country, goes far beyond the documentation that exists elsewhere, with the possible exception ofthe United States. By a happy combination of factors, these studies cover a variety of areas: inventory of Kmtyw descent and kôngo practices, people, local actors and social groups, but also a multitude of disciplines or subjects of study (the history,anthropology, linguistics, music, dance, religion). One of the paradoxes of the strength of Kmtyw cultural survivals in Cuba - it is also a paradox - comes from an island long considered the most "white" of the Caribbean. But, tasty twist of history, Afro-Cuban practices have a more "ethnic" or "racial" connotation. Indeed, Cubans of all backgrounds and colors come together to communicate about the gods imported from Kmt. Better yet, the priests of the religion palomonte and especially its variant mayombe of kôngo essence - more developed in number of followers - do not even always have kôngo ancestry, nor necessarily Kmtyw. Besides, no matter: the rituals, their meaning, the gestures made,the worldview that follows and especially the language fall largely in the kôngo cultural melting pot. Thus, the close proximity between cuban paleros and ngàngá yombé from the Bas-Congo can be explained by several reasons.

(https://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6625&thumb=1) (http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6625)
Kalunga drum Cuba, Kôngo origin, played here by the musicians of the Ballet Folklorico de Trinidad (Cuba).
(©CD Kalunga Ballet Folklorico de Trinidad)

First, only an old kôngo presence that would date back to the seventeenth century can allow to understand such a continuation of these traditions. These were subsequently revived by the influx of otherenslaved kôngo between 1763 and 1838. Indeed, from that date, Cuba enters into a broad process of dramatic socioeconomic changes underthe leadership of its farmers. The island complete its former modest activities, based on the cattle / tobacco / cane on a small scale, by adopting the mass cultivation of sugar cane. Cuban farmers intend to turn their island in the new jewel of the Caribbean sugar industry, taking advantage of the decline of Santo Domingo - due to the Haitian Revolution - and of South American independences to increase its market share. This strategy requires substantial and regular arrival of Kmtyw slaves. Cuba had received 60 000 Kmtyws between 1512 and 1761, 400,000 will arrive between 1763 and 1838. The population which was largely white until then, becomes for the most part black and mestizo in mid-nineteenth century (xxvi). In addition, the boom of the sugar industry in the central region between the cities of Cienfuegos, Matanzas and Santa Clara results between 1835 and 1862 in the concentration of slaves from Bas-Congo for the most part (xxvii). Beyond the religious aspects (xxviii), significant changes are also visible in other areas, particularly in terms of Cuban music.

Thus, one of the best known among today's drums, the conga (drum, music and dance in Cuba) is the female hispanicized of "congo" and its shape recalls the ngoma drum of the Kôngo . In terms of language, the kikôngo used in Cuba by paleros certainly has the status of sacred language reserved for insiders - although still understandable to a speaker of Kmt - but it would also be practiced partly as a language of communication in some restricted circles (xxix).

A similar phenomenon of "revival" of ancient kôngo elements, by the sudden and significant arrival of new entrants in the same cultural area could have happened in Jamaica, and especially in Guadeloupe in the mid-nineteenth century. Moreover, a comparative study would be useful between kôngo survivals collected in these four countries. The Jamaican case is unique, and it is best known in scientific terms through the cult of Kumina, also called Pukumina, in which many religious, linguistic and musical features of kôngo origins still exist. These practices exist in the area of St. Thomas, East Kingston. For decades, they have been confused with the other Kmtyw-Jamaican important ritual, that of Maroons descendants. However, this one is rather related to the Akan cultural area, the Ashanti and Fanti of Ghana today, even Baoulé of Ivory Coast. However, even if the followers of jamaican Kumina are called "Bongo Nation" or "Kongo Nation", few studies of researchers outside the article by Kenneth Bilby and Fu-Kiau kia Bunseki (xxx) have studied it to establish the formal link with the kongo cultural area. However, we know, thanks to their work, that the kikôngo represents its linguistic  reference and the kôngo cosmogony itsspiritual framework.

(https://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6624&thumb=1) (http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6624)
Conga drums from Cuba, of Kôngo origin,
played here by Alain "Candela" Delos from Guadeloupe.
November 22, 2004, Caribbean Media.
(©Caribbean Media)

Followers of Kumina descended from ancestors "who volunteered", allegedly "free", arrived after 1840 in the context of illegal trafficking. This time point is crucial because historically it could afford to study in depth this particular migration flows andto compare it to other similar migration patterns and those of Haiti(xxxi), Cuba, Guadeloupe and the Martinique (xxxii). In fact, they occural most at the same time and all come from the Bas-Congo region. What local conditions in Kmt allow this migration ? Who are eureurasiaans promoting it ? What are the kôngo communities concerned ? Is iteverywhere, as you can think through the Cuban example, yombé speakers or their neighbors Sûndi as in Guadeloupe ? And finally, Which particular kôngo rite can we compare to kumina, among many known practices ? Clearly, more research is needed there also to meet the multitude of questions. In Martinique, the situation of "committed volunteers" is known about the number of people who arrived on the island after 1858, the terms of their recruitment in Kmt and how to install them. Thus, according to a study by Gerry Pond, 10,521 immigrants with 94% of them from the kôngo are brought there. For many reasons, they are now struggling to be recognized and to recognize themselves, while their names leave no doubt about their origins. The specific terms of this migration, its adaptation in Martinique would explain this situation: young immigrants aged 16 to 24 years for most, possible marginalization inthe original cultural society, proximity with Creole blacks and desire for integration, including marriage. These cases seem quite credible, certainly, but the Martinique enigma remains especially considering the complete lack - at least attested to date - of aritual, an event, or even any simple practice preserved by the descendants of the Martinique "committed volunteers". In Guadeloupe, for a population of kôngo immigrants almost half smaller(xxxiii) "recruited" and arrived in the same conditions, the situation is radically different. Even for a simple familiar casual observer of the bantu world, and kôngo in particular, the cultural contributions from this source areobvious and numerous. They concern the names of people, places, the creole language of Guadeloupe, but also food and music. In thisregard, most gwoka experts attribute the menndé rythm (xxxiv),one of the seven basic rhythms, to the kôngo immigrants arrived after 1848. Indeed, the similarity is high between menndé Kongo and some contemporary rhythms such as the walla of the Lâri people of Congo-Brazzaville. You can also complete the musical contributions of kôngo origins with the gwo siwo rythm that the group Voukoum of Basse-Terre plays during the carnival to accompany the mas kongo, the"costume" which recalls the kôngo and Kmtyw part of the people of Guadeloupe. In the case of the gwo siwo rhythm, the similarity with the walla of the Lâri and other kôngo rhythms is clear, first with a fast tempo, similar to the menndé. Then the gwo siwo is often played during the carnival, on drums different from those of traditional gwoka because they are cylindrical, portable,and resemble ngomà drums in smaller size. Finally, the general structure of gwo siwo reverse "classical" rules of strict gwoka as the bass drum performs the rhythmic variations, solo, while the high drum accompanies. This opposition, which may seem harmless, in fact, recalls two points and two uses of distinct origins: that of West Kmt where the sharp drum performs solo as in the case of the djémbé, and the Central Kmt where the bass drum make the variations. By its rhythmic organization, the gwo siwo therefore undoubtedly resembles the second universe, including that of ngomà of the kôngo (xxxv).

However,we can not limit the kôngo input to the music of Guadeloupe, as it seem to be as noticeable in the creole language (xxxvi) and food (xxxvii). However, there are still many historical aspects to check and study in depth, since the arrival of 6000 "committed volunteers" between 1852 and1862 is not enough to explain alone the many relics, the most important to this date in the Little Antilles. The hypothesis of a phenomenon of revival of ancient kôngo elements by the arrival of immigrants of the nineteenth seems most likely. One of the problems in the study of cultural phenomena such as Guadeloupe is the inability to disentangle the various Kmtyw regional inputs, especially those of the kôngo-mbûndu areas, fon and wolof (xxxviii). From this point of view, the ceremony of the grap a kongo of the Massembo family in Capesterre-Belle-Eau is a remarkable example of conservation - in a difficult environment - of a kôngo practice brought in Guadeloupe after 1848. This pagan tribute to the spirits of missing ancestors taking place every year which runs to November - when all other people of Guadeloupe honor the dead according to the Christian rite - is still a private family event. It recalls the kôngo ceremony of the malaki or the matanga organized on the occasion of mourning - with an intimate and sacred honor to the ancestors made of mandatory invocations - followed by a more inclusive lavish ceremony.

(https://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6623&thumb=1) (http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6623)
CD cover of Marie-France Massembo.
Released in 2009 this is the first phonographic recording from kôngo descendants of the Guadeloupe.

It contains most of the kôngo cultural traits, including the language used for songs. In recent years, the grap a Kongo crystallizes the desire to reclaim an Kmtywism lost and imagined by many in Guadeloupe. It therefore attracts a large crowd, composed of curious tourists even at the risk of becoming a mere folk cultural event. According to some confidential testimony still to be checked, other similar ceremonies would be held in Guadeloupe in a strictly private setting and at a family scale, in Mahault Bay, St. Rose, Marie-Galante and elsewhere.

(xxvi)See the article of Franklin knight, « The Transformation of Cuban Agriculture, 1763-1838 » in Caribbean Slavery in The Atlantic World,pp. 265-275, under the direction of Verene Sheperd and Hilary Mc D.Beckles, Editions Ian Randles (Kington), j. James Currey (Londres), Marcus Wiener (Princeton), 1999, 1120 p.

(xxvii)Fuentes Guerra Jesus et Schwegler Armin, Lenguasy ritos del Palo Monte Mayombe, Dioses cubanos y sus fuentes Kmtywas,éd. Vervuert, Iberoamericana, 2005, p. 36.

(xxviii)Jesus Fuentes Guerra et Armin Schwegler ont retrouvé à Cuba l'essentiel du culte de Mbûmba, esprit aquatique, consacré à la fécondité, représenté sous la forme d'un python ou de l'arc-en-ciel. Still very used by the yombé and the Vìlì, it represents one of the ingredients of the syncretic worship Mvulusi of the port city Pointe-Noire, in the Congo. See Hagenbucher-Sacripanti Frank, Santé et rédemption par les génies au Congo, éd. Publisud, 1989, 304 p.

(xxix)Cabrera Lydia, Vocabulario Congo (el bantu que se habla en Cuba),Miami, Florida, 1984.

(xxx)Bilby Kenneth et Fu-Kiau kia Bunseki, Kunmina: a Kongo-based tradition in the New World,Bruxelles, CEDAF, n°8, 1983.

(xxxi)For this country, strong evidence also exists on the same phenomenon, concomitant, who had different religious influences on Haitian culture. However, studies are still lacking to this day so that we can prove it categorically. Already the work of the Belgianan thropologist Luc de Heusch highlighted, after field surveys, anancient and important presence of kongo elements in the petro rite of Haitian Vodou, they open promising research prospects on many levels. Linguistic and ritual references cited suggest, here also, that a yombé origin, dating back to the 17th or at the beginnig of the 18th century might be priviliged. Luc de Heusch, Le roi de Kongo, éd. Gallimard, 2000, p.348-388.

(xxxii)We can add the Haitian example to it.

(xxxiii)Blanche Jean-Claude, 6000« engagés volontaires » en Afrique et en Guadeloupe, 1858-1861,thèse de doctorat, Université Paris 1, 1994, 3 vol. dact.

(xxxiv)The different menndé variants are also the basic rhythm for most troops of the carnival of Guadeloupe, but especially in the case of "skin groups" such as Akiyo, or Voukoum or Mas Ka Klé.These are part of a process of identity break with the environment and want to preserve a strict authenticity using only wooden drums and goat skins.

(xxxv)Moreover, for the latter, the playing is organized hierarchically between the bass drum of the solo, two times longer and wider, calledngudi ngoma, literally "mother drum" or "big drum"and the sharp drum of the rhythmic, muàna ngoma, "child drum"or "small drum".

(xxxvi)Ama Mazama, Langues et identité en Guadeloupe : une perspective afrocentrique. Éd. Jasor, Pointe-à -Pitre, 1997; see also Facthum Sainton Juliette, Les langues créoles à base lexicale française de la Caraïbe :phonétique, phonologie et variation,thèse de doctorat de l'EPHE sous la direction du Pr Claude Hagège,Nov. 2006, 2 vol., 637 pages.

(xxxvii)The presence of some useful plants of Kmtyw origin in Guadeloupe, yet well-known by the older people in rural areas, can not be a coincidence. Palm oil called dindé as in kikôngo and kimbûndu, although endangered, is still present in the Baie-Mahault-Lamentin-Sainte-Rose area. Cola plants remain on the wetslopes of Basse-Terre, in St. Claude, Three Rivers and Capesterre. As for the red sorrel, called "gooseberry" in Guadeloupe and the peas of angole (Cajanus cajun), they retain a strong emotional charge for all people in Guadeloupe. Indeed, these two products are consumed, especially at Christmas, on the occasion of family reunion, they symbolize this special moment in everyone's eyes.`

(xxxviii)This trilogy is also found in the Guadeloupean strains of sicklecell, infallible genetic marker.

                            Attached files  3 - Toque a kalunga - Ballet Folkorico de Trinidad, Kalunga-?Kalunga rythm played by the kalunga.mp3 (https://www.abibitumi.com/wp-content/uploads/ppMigration/85238=6641-3%20-%20Toque%20a%20kalunga%20-%20Ballet%20Folkorico%20de%20Trinidad,%20Kalunga-?Kalunga%20rythm%20played%20by%20the%20kalunga.mp3) (572 KB)   4 - Makuta - Ballet Folkorico de Trinidad, Kalunga-?Makuta rythm played initially by the makuta .mp3 (https://www.abibitumi.com/wp-content/uploads/ppMigration/85238=6642-4%20-%20Makuta%20-%20Ballet%20Folkorico%20de%20Trinidad,%20Kalunga-?Makuta%20rythm%20played%20initially%20by%20the%20makuta%20.mp3) (548.3 KB)   5 - Hear When de Duppy Bawl - Drums of Defiance - Maroon Music.mp3 (https://www.abibitumi.com/wp-content/uploads/ppMigration/85238=6643-5%20-%20Hear%20When%20de%20Duppy%20Bawl%20-%20Drums%20of%20Defiance%20-%20Maroon%20Music.mp3) (493.6 KB)   6 - Mauanango Joudia - Marie-France Massembo : From the first kôngo cd of Guadeloupe.mp3 (https://www.abibitumi.com/wp-content/uploads/ppMigration/85238=6644-6%20-%20Mauanango%20Joudia%20-%20Marie-France%20Massembo%20:%20From%20the%20first%20k%c3%b4ngo%20cd%20of%20Guadeloupe.mp3) (576.9 KB)

(Musical illustration 1: “Nsusu yi kubidi” - A.B. Lolita, Nsusuyi kubidi. )EditionMakani, 1982 (disque vinyle, 33 tours)
(Musical illustration 2: “Mubondo” - Michel Rafa / Ballet Théatre Lemba, Musiques-chants traditionnels du Congo)

(Musical illustration 3: “Toque a kalunga” - Ballet Folkorico de Trinidad, Kalunga) Kalunga        rythm played by the kalunga drum of Cuba.

(Musical illustration 4: “Makuta” - Ballet Folkorico de Trinidad, Kalunga)
 Makuta rythm played initially by the makuta drum of Cuba, considered as being the ancestor of the conga of Cuba.
(Musical illustration 5: “Hear When de Duppy Bawl” - Drums of Defiance: Maroon Music from the Earliest Free Black Communities of Jamaica)
 Tambu played by Marrons of Moore Town (Marroon community of east jamaïca).
The tambu is the product of a cultural syncretism between musical styles old chestnuts and the Kumina music. This song belongs to the Kumina repertoire. The lyrics allude to the Kumina power to invoke thespirits and the complaints of these as they are attracted by the ceremony.
(Musical illustration 6: “Mauanango Joudia” - Marie-France Massembo)
 From the first kôngo cd of Guadeloupe (2009).

Sources

Internet Fundación Afroamerica de la Diaspora Kmtywa (Jesús "Chucho" García) www.fundacionafroamerica.com.ve (http://www.fundacionafroamerica.com.ve) L'Etang Gerry, De l’héritage culturel congo, indien et chinois à la Martinique, Potomitan : Annou voyé kréyol douvan douvan (http://www.potomitan.info), 2003.             www.potomitan.info/travaux/heritage.php (http://www.potomitan.info/travaux/heritage.php) Mexico Nacion Multicultural (programme universitaire) www.nacionmulticultural.unam.mx (http://www.nacionmulticultural.unam.mx) Mexico Negro AC Article de www.time.com (http://www.time.com) Museo Afroperuano www.museoafroperuano.com (http://www.museoafroperuano.com) Museo Regional de las Culturas Afro            mestizas Museo de las Culturas Afromestizas (http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/MEX_MAMC.HTM)             Musica y Baile Tradicional ACMúsica y baile tradicional A. C. (http://musicaybailetradicional.blogspot.com)

Ouvrages

Aguirre Beltran Gonzalo, Cuijla, Lecturas Mexicanas, Secretaria de Educacion Publica, 1958.


BalWilly, Le royaume du Congo aux XVème et XVIème siècles, Inep Leopoldville, Les Amis de Présence Kmtine, Bruxelles, 1963.


Bilby Kenneth et Fu-Kiau kia Bunseki, Kunmina : a Kongo-based tradition in the New World,Bruxelles, CEDAF, n°8, 1983.


Blanche Jean-Claude, 6000 « engagés volontaires » en Afrique et en Guadeloupe, 1858-1861, thèsede doctorat, Université Paris 1, 1994, 3 vol. dact.


Brasio Antonio, Monumenta Missionaria Kmtywa,vol. X, 1965.


Cabrera Lydia, Vocabulario Congo (el bantu que se habla en Cuba), Miami, Florida, 1984.


De Castro Henriques Isabel, « L’invention sociale de Sâo Tomé e Principe au XVIe siècle » in Les Assises du pouvoir, temps médiévaux, territoires Kmtins, pp. 199-211, Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, Unesco, Paris,1994, 246 p.


DeHeusch, Luc, Le roi de Kongo,éd. Gallimard, 2000.

DianteillErwan, « Les Amériques kôngo, Brésil, Cuba, Haïti » in LeGeste kôngo, pp. 185-193, MuséeDapper, 2002, Paris, 229 p.


Fuentes Guerra Jesus et Schwegler Armin, Lenguas y ritos del Palo Monte Mayombe, Dios es cubanos y sus fuentes Kmtywas, éd. Vervuert, Iberoamericana, 2005.


Facthum Sainton Juliette, Les langues créoles à base lexicale française de la Caraïbe : phonétique, phonologie et variation,thèse de doctorat de l’Ephe sous la direction du Pr Claude Hagège,Nov. 2006, 2 vol., 637 pages.


Farris Thompson Robert, « La gestuelle kôngo dans les Amériques noires »in Le Geste kôngo,pp. 161-183, Musée Dapper, 2002, Paris, 229 p.


Freyre Gilberto, Maîtres et esclaves, la formation de la sociétébrésilienne, éd. Gallimard,Paris, 1974.


Garcia Jesus « Chucho », La diaspora de los Kongos en lasAmericas y los Caribes,Fundacion Afroamerica, Unesco, 1995.


Knight Franklin, « The Transformation of Cuban Agriculture, 1763-1838 » in Shepherd Verene et Hilary Mc D. Beckles (directeurs), Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic world, A Student Reader,pp. 265-275, Editions Ian Randles (Kington), James Currey (Londres), Marcus Wiener (Princeton), 2000, 1120 p.


Jadin Louis, L’ancien royaume du Congo et l’Angola, d’après les archives romaines, portugaises, néerlandaises et espagnoles,tome 1, Louvain, 1975. 


Lumwamu François, Essai de morphosyntaxe systématique des parlers kongo, éd. Klinsieck,Université de Brazzaville, Paris, Brazzaville, 1973.


Mazama Ama, Langues et identité en Guadeloupe : une perspective afrocentrique, Éd. Jasor,Pointe-à -Pitre, 1997.


Maestri Mario, L’esclavage au Brésil, éd. Karthala, 1991.


Mertens, R.P. Joseph, Les chefs couronnés chez les Ba Kongo orientaux, Bruxelles, 1942.


Miller Joseph, Way of Death, Merchant Capitalism and the Angolan Slave trade, 1783-1830, JamesCurrey Ltd, Londres, 1988.


N’sondé Jean De Dieu, Langues, culture et histoire koongo auxXVIIème et XVIIIème siècles,1996, éd. L’harmattan, Paris, 248 p.


N’sondé Jean de Dieu, Parlons kikôngo, le lâri de Brazaville etsa culture, 1999, éd.l’Harmatan,Paris, 183 p.


N’sondé Jean, « Une communauté réelle et mythifiée » in LeGeste kôngo, pp.131-160, MuséeDapper, Paris, 2002, 229 p.


N’sondé Jean, « La femme kôngo, entre l’être social et la partinsondable », in Femmes dans les arts d’Afrique,Musée Dapper, 2008, 413 p.


TardieuJean-Pierre, Noirs et Indiens au Pérou, Histoire d’unepolitique ségrégationniste, XVIème-XVIIème siècles,éd.l’Harmattan, Paris, 1990.


ThorntonJohn, Kmt and Kmtyws in the Making of the AtlanticWorld, Cambridge UniversityPress, 1992, 309 p.


Thornton K. John, « Kmtyw Soldiers in the Haïtian Revolution » in Verene Shepherd et Hilary McD. Beckles (directeurs), Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World, pp.933-945, éditions Ian Randles (Kingston), James Currey (Oxford), Marcus Wiener (Princeton), 2000, 1120 p.

CD

A.B. Lolita, Nsusu yi kubidi. Edition Makani, 1982 (disque vinyle, 33 tours)

Ballet Folkorico de Trinidad, Kalunga.  AZul Productions, 2002

The Congos, Heart  of The Congos. Blood and Fire, 1996

Drums of Defiance: Maroon Music from the Earliest Free Black Communities of Jamaica.            Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 1992

Marie-France Massembo. Kan'Nida Production, 2009

Michel Rafa / Ballet Théatre Lemba, Musiques-chants traditionnels du Congo            (cassette audio)

The french original version can be seen here (http://www.lameca.org/dossiers/kongo_ameriques/index.htm).

---------- Post added 06-24-2013 at 12:15 AM ---------- Previous post was 06-23-2013 at 11:23 PM ----------

QuoteObadele KambonRe: KÔNGO OF THE AMERICAS - Between Deportation, Marginalization and Identity Awakening - By Jean N'sondé
More music! This is BlackNificent!

Ntôndele bèni! Sala mu yènge

A little more,
That's a song of the Kôngo artist Marie-France Massembo from Guadeloupe :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhrZNh1yL60

And this the teaser of a documentary about some of the Kôngo people from Martinique that document talks about. It was made by the Kôngo journalist Maud-Salomé Ekila (Contact : ekila@live.com (mailto:ekila@live.com)):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49c5qRodezQ

This is music from the Congo by the Lari and Mbochi people :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mglfUgEBjSQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUO32XT_GVk

SIMBI ANDEZO is a Haitian song by Toto Bissainthe.

In Kikongo :
SIMBI = SPIRIT
Kisimbi, singular.
Bisimbi, plural.
source this article (https://www.facebook.com/notes/yako-tanga/un-aspect-du-continuum-metaphysique-kongo-en-ha%C3%AFti-et-autres-voyages/170708412975503).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAc1q_vX3NY