Later, he hammers bits of white plastic chair
into it as inlay to help guide players around the fret board,
and fixes threads of motorbike brake cable as strings.
"First it was a chair that you were happy to sit on. After it
died, I gave it a second life, and it will be resurrected," he
said, surrounded by jumble of broken and half-built guitars, and
a fading picture of Congo's late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
For over 40 years the self-taught luthier has used a variety
recycled materials and local hardwoods to create guitars that
sing with the raw intensity of one of Africa's musical meccas.
Socklo's passion began in his village in Kikwit, southwestern
Congo, in 1975, when he dismantled and copied a guitar a friend
had given him.
"I didn't measure anything... and when I played it, it began to
collapse," he said. "I was really disappointed by the result,
but I kept trying."
Three years later, he moved to Kinshasa, where he sold his first
guitar to his cousin. "I couldn't imagine that people in a city
like Kinshasa could like a guitar like this. It gave me
courage."
He used negative feedback to improve his craft and finesse his
designs. Soon there were fewer complaints, and local and
international musicians were flocking to his tin shed.
Congolese music star Jupiter Bokondji loved Socklo's sound, and
asked him to go electric. The result, Jupiter said, is far more
authentic than top guitar brands, which cost upwards of 20 times
more.
"I have played it all over the world; everyone is amazed. To see
that guitar doing what it does, the way it plays, it's like a
tornado," Jupiter said.
Yarol Poupaud, a French guitarist who toured with rock-and-roll
singer Johnny Hallyday for years, has bought four of Socklo's
creations.
"It has little imperfections; it's not perfect, but that really
makes the magic," Poupaud said, strumming on a blue starburst
guitar emblazoned with Congo's flag.
(Reporting by Hereward Holland and Justin Makangara; writing by
Hereward Holland; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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