Henri Bowane

Henri Bowane (1926–1992) was an influential figure in the development of Congolese rumba in the Congo. He was the first professional boss and early mentor to the legendary guitarist François Luambo Makiadi, known as Franco.

Bowane rose to prominence in the late 1940s Leopoldville African music scene, in which Cuban style music combined with Lingala and pan-Congolese styles. A guitarist, singer and bandleader, Bowane was paired with singer-guitarist Wendo Kolosoy by the Ngoma records. Ngoma was founded by Nicolas Jéronimidis and his brother, Greek businessmen based in Leopoldville, in 1947. It was among the first handful Congolese recording companies producing music for the African market. Bowane had come to "Leo" in the mid 1940s, seen bands like that of Wendo, and returned to his home town to found his own big band, Victoria Coquilhatville. In 1947 he returned Leopoldville and quickly rose in the music scene. While Both he and Wendo were singers and guitarists, Jéronimidis saw their strengths, putting Wendo on lead vocals and giving Bowane free range on his long cascading guitar lines. These long bridges, developed out of earlier Congolese folk styles, were called Sebene, reputedly because of the Seventh chords favoured by Congolese musicians. The shout "Sebene!" often perceded these long guitar solos, first popularised by Bowane.

Although Wendo had already established himself among the first generation of Congolese musicians, Bowane's first hit with Wendo was also the more established musician's first huge hit. The song, the first truly international hit of Congolese Rhumba, was "Marie-Louise", co-written in 1948 by Wendo Kolosoy and Henri Bowane. Through the publicity of "Radio Congolia", along with the controversy which followed the song (a back-and-forth between Wendo and Henri over Wendo's pursuit of a girl, thwarted by Henri's wealth, with salacious undertones), the song became a success throughout West Africa. With its success came trouble: the song had "satanic" powers attributed to it by Catholic religious leaders. Stories from the time even claimed that the song, if played at midnight, could raise the dead. The furor drove Wendo out of Kinshasa, and resulted in a brief imprisonment by the Belgian authorities in Stanleyville and his excommunication from the Catholic Church. The combination of African lyrics and vocals with Afro-Cuban son rhythms and instrumentation spawned one of the most successful African musical genres: soukous. Wendo's time on the ferries also contributed to his success as one of the first "national" artists of the DRC: he learned the music of the ethnic groups up and down the river, and later sang not only in his native tongue of Kikongo, but also in fluent Lingala and Swahili.

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