Listening to Musa Juma's tracks one quickly realizes that he knew some Lingala (Lingala is a Language, not a genre of music). It is however difficult to tell exactly how much Lingala Musa Juma could speak. Can we be able to tell how much Lingala Language Musa Juma knew by analyzing the lyrics of his songs? We hope we can make a pretty solid estimation. Musa Juma was a Luo from Kenya and there is no evidence that he ever lived, worked in or even visited either of the two Congo republics where Lingala is predominantly spoken. But we also know that a visit or stay in a country is not the only way to interact with a language. From a face-value analysis of Musa Juma's lyrics it is evident that he could at least mumble a few Lingala words.
For a person who worked with and lived amongst mainly Congolese immigrants in Kenya for most of his adult life, it should come at no surprise that he would try singing in the language. The Lingala language is held to a rather higher esteem in the Kenyan music scene more than say Swahili, and is definitely more reputable than local Kenyan dialects like say Dholuo and Kikamba. It is no surprise, therefore, that a Kenyan artiste would strive to throw a few words of lingala in their lyrics just to spice things up a bit, so to speak - even though some do not themselves understand the language. Let me make it clear that I never met Musa Juma in person and whatever I know about him is what is already in public domain.
For a person who worked with and lived amongst many Congolese immigrants in Kenya for most of his adult life, it should come at no surprise that he would try singing in the language.
A strong case can be made that Musa Juma could not only understand much of Lingala but could speak it as well. In his Orchestra Limpopo International Band he had not less than four Congolese band members at any one time including Frank Libe, Salapata Salawowo, Jose Muzungu, Elshiko Mitudji Mpemba, Vasca da Gama and Professor Azile all of whom are fluent in spoken Lingala. In the song "Auma" Musa Juma sings, "Nitafanya nini mpo oyeba nalingi yo mingi, oh?" (What can I do so that you may know that I love so much?). In another track titled "Siaya Kababa" he uses the phrase "baby na motema" (baby of my heart), "mziki santimaa" (slow, peaceful music). In a less famous piece titled Hellena, he sings "Bolingo esilaka te, kasi mbongo esilaka" (Money eventually runs out/ends but love never ends). In the same song he uses the phrase "yaka yaka mama" (Come, come mama). And of course there are the common words he throws around here and there in almost all tracks like cherie (darling), bolingo na ngai (my love), papa (father), mwana mboka (home boy) and motema (heart).
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| The Late Musa Juma: How much lingala did he speak? |
Musa Juma would occasionally mix Lingala with Swahili rather than with his native Dholuo (Luo language's way of referring to itself). This is not only exemplified in the song titled "Auma" already referenced above but also such songs as "Gidali" where he sings "Mokili ya mbongo, nchi ya pesa, nchi ya marafiki Niseme nini Kijana?" (It's a world of money, country of money and friends, what can I say as a young man?). He goes on and sings, "Likambo ya mbongo yamechokesha tujirekebishe turudi kama zamani" (The problem of money is tiring, let's reform ourselves and return to be the way we used to be). Notice, in both instances, he starts the verses in Lingala and completes them in Swahili. The reason for this mix-up is not apparent but the most logical explanation is that Swahili complements Lingala better, both being Bantu languages (For more on Swahili-Lingala similarities click here.).
All these instances are indicative of a person who knew a bit of Lingala, at the very least, enough to compose a sensible sentence. Or maybe, he knew more than that, it is difficult to prove or disprove it. If he knew more than functional Lingala then we can safely assume that he steered clear from singing or composing entire songs, stanzas or verses in the language for reasons only known to himself. It is important to note that artistes who learnt their craft under Musa Juma's tutelage and later charted their own paths like John Junior, Madanji Perimeter and Igwe Bandasson use the Lingala language a lot more predominantly than Musa Juma did. Even though it can be proven that Musa Juma knew some Lingala, he chose to sing in his mother tongue, perhaps opting to remain authentic to his Luo identity. And there's nothing wrong with that, is there? May his soul continue resting in peace.
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