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 The song debuted one evening in
Brussels in February 1960, during negotiations
for Congo's liberation from Belgium,
electrifying delegates. Within four months,
Congo was free.
Sixty-one years later, rumba remains at the core
of African music, and a movement has emerged to
cement its reputation and secure its protection.
Authorities in Kinshasa and Brazzaville, the
capital of neighbouring Congo Republic, have
submitted a bid to add Congolese rumba to the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural (UNESCO) list of intangible cultural
heritage. UNESCO will announce its decision in
November.
The list helps demonstrate the diversity of
heritage and raises awareness about its
importance. If Congolese rumba were to be added,
it would join the hawker food of Singapore,
sauna culture of Finland and traditional
irrigation systems in the United Arab Emirates,
among countless other customs on the list.
"If you look at modern rumba, we have elevated
and developed it, but kept references to the
icons like Le Grande Kallé," said Manda,
referring to the stage name of Joseph Kabasele,
who wrote "Independence Cha Cha" to persuade
politicians to shelve their differences to
secure self-rule.
Born in the melting pot of 19th-century Cuba,
rumba combined the drumming of enslaved Africans
with the melodies of Spanish colonisers.
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 Re-exported to Africa in the
early 20th century on vinyl, it found a ready
audience in the two Congos, who recognised the
rhythms as their own. "They took
our ancestors to the Americas in the 15th or
16th century. Congolese rumba was created and
embedded with the same dynamics as the story
that forged this country," said Andre Yoka,
director of the National Institute for the Arts
in Kinshasa, who is leading Congo's candidacy
for UNESCO status.
Rumba derives from "Nkumba", meaning belly
button in the local language, a dance that
originates "in the ancient kingdom of Kongo",
according to Congo's submission to UNESCO.
"When our ancestors who were taken abroad wanted
to remember their history, their origin, their
memory, they danced the navel dance," said
Catherine Kathungu Furaha, Congo's minister of
art and culture.
"We want rumba to be recognised as ours. It is
our identity."
(Additional reporting by Jessica Agasaro;
Editing by Alison Williams)
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