In the sebene instrumental section of a Congolese rumba song, the atalaku serves as the band's frontman, responsible for actively engaging the audience, building excitement, and augmenting the performance with spirited vocalizations and rhythmic chants. Atalaku often uses fast-paced speech, onomatopoeic sounds, and playful wordplay to captivate listeners and sustain their energy throughout the performance.
The atalaku rarely appears in music videos, and despite his widely recognized "song", he is not classified as a singer. Although he performs alongside prominent figures in the music industry, he is often overshadowed by his fellow band members. Criticism for his ostentatious stage presence and the perceived distortion of the nostalgic sentimentality of traditional Congolese rumba is common; nonetheless, he has emerged as an integral component of every Congolese dance sequence.
Characteristics
Etymology and vocal prowess According to social anthropology professor Bob W. White of the University of Montreal, the term atalaku derives from the Kikongo expression for "look here, look at me" and first appeared in common parlance in Kinshasa in the early 1980s. The atalaku is also known by the French term animateur.
During the sebene instrumental section of a song, the atalaku excels in vocal improvisation through a combination of shouts, melodies, and vocal pyrotechnics to excite the audience and prompt them to dance. Following the last lines of the chorus, the lead singer steps back, allowing the lead guitarist to initiate the sebene with an accelerated riff. The atalaku then takes center stage, wielding a microphone and often maracas (a type of rattle), to deliver a series of cris (shouts) and chants-cris (sung-shouts). They incorporate the names of singers, guitarists, and even audience members who have offered financial support, weaving these references into their shouts. This interactive element boosts the performers' morale and also personalizes the experience for the audience. These vocal elements are meticulously timed to synchronize with the fast-paced guitar and drum rhythms, which drive the musicians and the audience into a dancing frenzy.
Instrumental and dance skills Beyond their vocal talents, the atalaku is also an instrumentalist and dancer. They play the spray can shaker, which amplifies the percussive rhythm of the snare drum. Their dynamic performance style often sees them joining the choreographed dance formations on stage, sometimes leading the front dance line or performing alongside female dancers. This diverse role requires incredible stamina, as the atalaku must maintain high energy levels throughout prolonged sebene, which can extend for several hours.
While the atalaku is often perceived as calling the dance steps and shouts, their actual control over these elements is limited. The succession of dance steps is influenced by various factors, making the atalaku's role during the sebene appear more prominent than it is. However, during extended dance solos, particularly those showcasing female dancers, the atalaku has greater freedom to choose their shouts. In these moments, they use suggestive language to frame the dancers' performances, mediating between social categories and reinforcing the dancers' roles as objects of male desire.
Language, authority, and tradition The atalaku's shouts are often delivered in coded language, drawing from obscure expressions in local dialects such as Kikongo or Kiumbu, as well as urban slang. This arcane language introduces an element of intrigue to their performance, with the audience occasionally dancing to phrases they do not entirely comprehend. However, the atalaku's metaphoric and often lewd language is generally transparent to the audience, who are "in on the joke."
The atalaku's relationship with authority is complex, as they rely on sponsors for their livelihood. While they do not overtly oppose or resist authority, they use flattery and performance to gain the favor of the powerful, often luring money from wealthy patrons. Despite their role in modern dance music, the atalaku remains closely tied to traditional musical styles, drawing inspiration from funeral ceremonies (matanga) and other events. This practice, known as "dipping" (puiser), involves adapting traditional phrases, proverbs, or rhythms for use in contemporary performances.
History
Origins and early influences According to Bob W. White, although vocal shouts have traditionally been a facet of Congolese popular music, it was only with the advent of the atalaku that they were utilized more systematically. Before the atalaku, musicians often shouted out the names of their bandmates or announced new dances. This practice was generally more impromptu and less structured than the atalaku role that would later emerge.
The atalaku's origins are significantly embedded in African ceremonial performance customs, where chants and vocalizations were employed to enhance ceremonial experiences. However, the atalaku as a specific role in popular music only crystallized with the advent of the Congolese rumba's evolution in the 20th century.
The emergence and formation
The emergence of the atalaku in popular dance music was influenced by the political performance culture of the early Mobutu Sese Seko regime. White noted that the Zairian state's propaganda apparatus used traditional music, dance, and theater to mobilize support for the one-party state and its ideology of authenticité. The animateurs who organized theatrical and dance troupes for rallies of the Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution (MPR) may have provided a model for the animateur of popular music. White also situated the emergence of the atalaku within the changing economics of the popular music industry. Beginning in the 1970s, widespread circulation of illegally produced audio cassettes reduced record sales, while increasingly elaborate choreographed performances offered musicians a way to attract audiences to live concerts and recover lost revenue through ticket sales.
Before 1970, most Congolese popular songs followed a structure comparable to contemporary Western popular music, alternating verses and choruses with instrumental solo sections. According to White, the solo section, known as the sebene, was already being extended in Congolese music of the 1950s and 1960s to encourage dancing and allow instrumentalists, particularly guitarists, to demonstrate their skill. In the early 1970s, youth bands increasingly moved the sebene to the end of the song and lengthened it in response to audiences' enthusiasm for dance. Franco Luambo helped popularize the practice, using a thumb-and-forefinger picking technique that created the impression of two guitar lines. The change created a clearer division between the lyrical and dance-oriented sections of a song, while giving singers and dancers greater space for choreographed performance. By the mid-1970s, this two-part structure had become widespread: a slower lyrical section built around verses and choruses followed by a faster sebene featuring dance sequences and the atalaku's distinctive cris de joie, or "shouts of joy".
The international rise of soukous in the mid-1980s was driven partly by political and economic conditions that prompted many musicians to leave Kinshasa, but also by the growing prominence of the atalaku and the greater emphasis on dance and shouts in live performance. The atalaku consequently became central to the international commercialization of Congolese popular music, while the role itself remained historically connected to the development of urban traditional music, particularly in Kintambo.
According to White, Kintambo was the "cradle" of urban traditional music and the "birthplace" of the atalaku. Under the leadership of Kumaye, a Kintambo-based businessman and community figure, Bana Odéon became one of the first commune folklore groups to establish an administrative office and staff. Drawing on the area's predominantly Baumbu musical tradition, Kumaye and his assistants recruited unemployed local youths and trained them in traditional music and dance. In 1978, Bana Odéon's music section began performing in local bars, attracting "modern" music audiences with folklore-inspired dances and shouts. In 1980, the group was named Best New Group of the Year (Révélation de l'année) and received the award for Best Dance of the Year for "Zekete". White noted that Bana Odéon's growing visibility may have contributed to a member of Zaïko Langa Langa approaching its percussionist-singer Bébé Atalaku in August 1982. Bébé later recalled:"The day that Sonnerie came to my house," remembers Bébé, "he said to me: 'Bébé, you have to come play with Zaïko. Dress nice and bring that marakas of yours'. I remember that day. They came to get Nono too, we started just playing marakas. We had our own microphones and I was so proud to play with such a big group. It was the biggest day of my life".
(Bébé Atalaku, 3 February 1996) Bébé and his Bana Odéon colleague Nono Monzuluku, along with Djerba Mandjeku, soon became permanent members of Zaïko Langa Langa, where their folklore-inspired shouts and dances became trademarks of the band and helped establish the atalaku as a distinct role in Congolese popular music. Their first widely popularized shout, introduced in 1982, was the chant from which the public eventually derived the name atalaku: "Atalaku! Tala! Atalaku mama! Zekete! Zebola ka zebola, na zebola dance!" roughly translated as "Look at me! Look! Look at me, mama! Zekete! Zebola, zebola, and the zebola dance!"Zaïko Langa Langa's innovation initially received a mixed reaction. White noted that some musicians and fans, particularly those attached to the established tradition of modern rumba, regarded the incorporation of folklore as inappropriate for modern popular music, viewing it instead as music suited to ceremonial and ritual settings. Others, particularly younger listeners, welcomed the atalaku as a challenge to the dominance of established musical conventions. Bébé later recalled that critics initially dismissed the performers as merely shouting, but that their approach eventually earned respect: "The shouts we came up with were the rage in Kinshasa".
The popularity of Zaïko Langa Langa's shouts and dances, reflected in increased record sales and concert attendance, prompted other bands to adopt the practice. The atalaku subsequently became an integral part of Kinshasa's popular music, with some bands employing several atalaku at once. Shouts and accompanying dances continually changed as musicians introduced new material, while popular innovations could spread rapidly between groups. Although bands generally incorporated borrowed shouts into their own repertoires, performers were expected to contribute original material of their own. The proliferation of atalaku was also influenced by the economic conditions of the 1990s. As the economic crisis reduced concert attendance and placed pressure on musicians to retain audiences, many bands incorporated established shouts and dances into their live repertoires. White noted that atalaku evolved from Zaïko Langa Langa's early innovation into a standard component of Congolese popular music.
Current trends Bob W. White notes that since the early 1980s, shouts have evolved from being merely shouted [audio] to being both shouted and sung, to being completely sung [audio], finally culminating in the practice of some lead singers (Koffi Olomide, Général Defao, J. P. Busé) to croon shouts with "care" (atalaku ya soin) or "charm" (atalaku ya charme). Since the late 1990s, Kinshasa has witnessed at least two innovations in this area: a wave of junior atalakus (one of whom was eleven years old) and a series of shouts that appeared in languages other than Lingala and Kikongo, especially Tshiluba.
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