Early Career
Bowane rose to prominence in the late 1940s Leopoldville African music scene, in which Cuban style music combined with Lingala and pan-Congolese styles. A guitarist, singer and bandleader, Bowane was paired with singer-guitarist Wendo Kolosoy by the Ngoma records. Ngoma was founded by Nicolas Jéronimidis and his brother, Greek businessmen based in Leopoldville, in 1947. It was among the first handful Congolese recording companies producing music for the African market. Bowane had come to "Leo" in the mid 40s, seen bands like that of Wendo, and returned to his home town to found his own big band, Victoria Coquilhatville. In 1947 he returned Leopoldville and quickly rose in the music scene. While Both he and Wendo were singers and guitarists, Jéronimidis saw their strengths, putting Wendo on lead vocals and giving Bowane free range on his long cascading guitar lines. These long bridges, developed out of earlier Congolese folk styles, were called Sebene, reputedly because of the Seventh chords favoured by Congolese musicians. The shout "Sebene!" often perceded these long guitar solos, first popularised by Bowane.
Read more about this topic: Henri Bowane
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“It was common practice for me to take my children with me whenever I went shopping, out for a walk in a white neighborhood, or just felt like going about in a white world. The reason was simple enough: if a black man is alone or with other black men, he is a threat to whites. But if he is with children, then he is harmless, adorable.”
—Gerald Early (20th century)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)