Explore Angola: Kizomba music helps renew Angola's cultural identity

A music genre that is only a few decades old has captured the hearts of many Angolans. Eduardo Paim, the genre's founder, shares his musical influences and what effect Kizomba has had on his country.…

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In English:

[stellaigihozo]

Beautiful ! Now I want to visit Angola. Love from East Africa, we dance Zouk💃

[soulshine.university]

I LOVE how this beautiful Lady described Kizomba. It’s connection and communication. So subtle and gentle that you can’t even see it from the outside. You have to experience it and dance it to feel it. Nothing that your eyes can see. If I have to describe it to someone who never danced it before I’m using just one word: meditation. That’s what it is to me. Total trust and ease. Grounding in respect and connection. I honestly can’t express the love I have for this dance... and it is NOT sexual. I can dance Kizomba with my brother, my dad, my little cousin. Some people may try to make it sexual but it is not at all

[smendes]

Angola is the most attractive country in the whole world.

[Aritul]

Thank you for producing this documentary.

[LNSaint]

Very similar to Haitian Kompa, thanks for sharing your culture.

[jeanmarccajuste]

Kompa is a popular form of jazz-based dance music that originated in Haiti during the mid-twentieth century. Kompa is derived from méringue de salon, a string-based style of Haitian dance music inspired by contra dance, a dance style from Europe. The popularity of kompa has inspired many Caribbean music forms, including the Antillean zouk and cadence-lypso, from the Dominican Republic.

The traditional kompa sound features the brass instruments associated with big band, like the saxophone, trumpet, and trombone, and the slower rhythms of méringue de salon, set to the pulsating beats of tanbou, a barrel drum from Haiti. Modern kompa, or compas nouvelle génération, replaces many traditional kompa instruments with electronic equipment, such as synthesizers and drum machines, and adds elements of hip-hop and reggae to appeal to club and dancehall audiences.

Kompa adopted its moniker from the Spanish word “compás, ” which means “rhythm” or “measure, ” as in a musical measure or bar. The genre is known under various names in the different countries where it has flourished. In the French-based language of Haitian Creole, it’s also called “konpa, ” while other languages and nationalities refer to the music as “compas direct” or “kompa direkt, ” among other spellings.
The history of kompa music began in Haiti during the mid-1950s, when saxophonist and maestro, or band leader Nemours Jean-Baptiste and his first band Conjunto International began adapting the traditional sounds of Haitian dance music into a new style. Here’s a brief overview of the genre’s history:

The beginning of the sound. Jean-Baptiste and his bandmates, including fellow saxophone player Webert Sicot and conga drummer Kreutzer Duroseau, began folding elements of Haitian music into their sound. They would play the new sound during performances at clubs in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. The insistent beat of the tanbou drum, a Haitian instrument heard in many forms of Latin and Caribbean music, featured heavily in the music. Their ensemble eventually added more brass and electric guitar—a rarity in Caribbean groups at the time—into the mix. The resulting music, which they called “kompa direkt” (“direct rhythm”), became popular as the band—which changed its name to Ensemble aux Calebasses in 1956, and later became Ensemble Nemours Jean-Baptiste—brought its sound to listeners across Haiti and neighboring islands.
The genre impacts other musical styles. As kompa spread throughout the Caribbean, its core sound influenced other groups, putting their own spin on its propulsive sound. In Haiti, jazz groups like Jean-Baptiste’s adopted a stripped-down lineup format called mini-jazz, which reduced the brass component while increasing guitars. Webert Sicot parted ways with Jean-Baptiste and established his variation on kompa, which he called cadence rampa, or kadans, that would, in turn, lead to the development of cadence-lypso in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. The genre, which blended kompa and calypso, was perfected by the Dominican/Guadeloupe band Exile One throughout the 1970s and beyond.
Kompa goes international. Jean-Baptiste, Sicot, and many of the bands that followed helped spread the kompa influence to other countries throughout the Caribbean and world. In Africa, the popularity of ‘70s kompa acts, like Haiti’s Tabou Combo and athlete turned bandleader Coupé Cloué (aka Jean Gesner Henry), led to homegrown variants of kompa like coladeira from Cape Verde and kizomba, a slower take that also found favor in Brazil. Kompa was also crucial in the development of soca, a hybrid music genre from Trinidad and Tobago, which drew from reggae, calypso, and funk and soul from America, and developed a devoted following in North and South America, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Kompa also created competing music forms; chief among these was zouk, a faster, carnival-influenced take on its steady rhythm by the French Antillean band Kassav, which earned a devoted following throughout the West Indies and beyond.
The evolution of contemporary kompa. Kompa remains popular among listeners worldwide and continues to expand its signature sound through new artists and music genres. The new breed of kompa musicians, or the kompa nouvelle génération—groups like Kreyol La and performers like T-Vice and Klass—are helping bring the music to a more diverse audience by folding elements of rock, hip-hop, soul, and electronic into the kompa mix.

[userPsvictory]

No way my sister it’s not a sexual dance 💃. Some people may want to adapt it to this without realising that the moves and music loose their flavour completely.
It is instead a very classy, elegant dance, very beautiful and highly appreciated in the world particularly when the children are dancing to the beats.

[zedoli]

Guys it seems like you are mixing up the origin of Kizomba as music and kizomba as a dance. kizomba as a music was influenced by Semba, Kilapanda and others rithms from Angola's music and also by zouk which is music from island of Antilles and Guadalupe. However, kizomba as a dance comes from semba which is the dance for our semba music. Semba as a music and dance is dated from (1940s) many years before our indepence in 1975. The semba music was created as a tool to fight the Portugueses (coloniseres). In fact is a bit dificult to distiguishe kizomba dance and semba dance. The dances are very similar but they are not the same, This is because both kizoma and semba rithm are also pretty similar. And most important before you start talking about something that you are not sure, ask yourself whether is possible a father or mother to descend from a son or daughteur. "Of course no". All black people from all those Islands in America they ancestors descend from Africa. So guys your music rithm and dance, all have been influenced by people from the mother Land (Africa). Starting from you can't argee that kizomba or semba dance was influenced or was taken from Kompa. Kompa is just about simple and easy moves, kizoma is much more than that. Rember guys before stating something that not sure about it do some research. (So your homework is: Research the origen and begining of semba as a music and dance and compare to kizoma music and dance. tips- watch some youtube videos to help you)