"Table Ronde" was a successful song written by Joseph Kabasele in the popular

Congolese rumba Congolese rumba, also known as African rumba, is a dance music genre originating from the Republic of the Congo (formerly French Congo) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). With its rhythms, melodies, and lyrics, Congolese ru ...

style and performed by his band L'African Jazz. It was written for the Round Table Conference on Congolese independence held in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

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in 1960 which gave the song its name.

History

In December 1959 it was announced that a

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conference would be held in Brussels, Belgium in 1960 to discuss the future of the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

. Joseph Kabasele's L'African Jazz and OK Jazz were both invited to perform at the event. Only two musicians from OK Jazz were able to attend, so they briefly performed with L'African Jazz. Kabasele took part in the conference, and collaborated with his musicians to produce some songs to commemorate the event. The most notable of these were "Table Ronde" and " Indépendance Cha Cha". While "Indépendance Cha Cha" was celebratory, "Table Ronde" was more assertive for the cause of Congolese independence. It featured a guitar solo by Nico Kasanda. The song marked a new shift in Congolese popular music away from a care-free attitude towards

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politics. During the conference the group recorded their two compositions (along with a piece by OK Jazz vocalist Victor Longomba, "Vive Patrice Lumumba") in a

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–affiliated studio. The record label was not interested in the recordings, so Kabasele showed the

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s to various other companies before reaching an agreement with Fonior.

Impact and legacy

Musician Gilles Sala later said that Table Ronde and the other songs released with it "sent a musical shock wave. It was pretty extraordinary, this spontaneous, natural music." ''Table Ronde'' is performed in one of the scenes of the 2000 film '' Lumumba'', directed by

Raoul Peck Raoul Peck (born 9 September 1953 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is a Haitian filmmaker of both documentary and feature films. He is known for using historical, political, and personal characters to tackle and recount societal issues and historical e ...

Citations

References

* *{{cite book, last = Stewart, first = Gary, title = Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos, publisher = Verso, edition = illustrated, date = 2003, pages = 86, url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gKEHO1z413EC, isbn = 9781859843680 Le Grand Kallé songs 1960 songs Soukous songs 1960 in the Belgian Congo 1960 in the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)