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The lokole is a traditional Music of Congo p.2
/ref> for example, it is known to be played to announce someone's death to the neighboring villages. It is a deep-sounding slit drum, traditionally made out of a hollow tree trunk. It is beaten with sticks, and can produce a small range of bass notes.
The lokole is a traditional slit drum
A slit drum or slit gong is a hollow percussion instrument. In spite of the name, it is not a true drum but an idiophone, usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood into a box with one or more slits in the top. Most slit drums have one slit ...
played by the Mongo people in different areas of the Congo region
The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It con ...
, e.g., in the Kasai area. It is used both as a musical instrument and as a log drum
A slit drum or slit gong is a hollow percussion instrument. In spite of the name, it is not a true drum but an idiophone, usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood into a box with one or more slits in the top. Most slit drums have one slit ...
to send messages in the bush;/ref> for example, it is known to be played to announce someone's death to the neighboring villages. It is a deep-sounding slit drum, traditionally made out of a hollow tree trunk. It is beaten with sticks, and can produce a small range of bass notes.
Lokole in pop music
While the lokole has been occasionally employed in modern Congolese music at least since the 1940s, it became prominent inZaire
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
an pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
during the Authenticité campaign (1960s-1970s) that sought to preserve and rediscover the Congolese tradition as opposed to imported, Western habits. It was most notably Zairean singer Papa Wemba who endorsed lokole as an integral part of the sound of his bands, two of which ( Isifi Lokole and Yoka Lokole Yoka Lokole was a soukous band from Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) founded by Papa Wemba and others in 1975 and disbanded in 1978. Despite its short life, Yoka Lokole was a prominent band in Zaire in the mid-1970s, as its lineup compri ...
) were actually named after this drum. In the late 1970s, Wemba's band Viva La Musica brought the lokole to the attention of an international audience.
Footnotes