Mwenda Jean Bosco

Jean Bosco Mwenda, also known as Mwenda wa Bayeke (1930–1990), was a pioneer of Congolese fingerstyle acoustic guitar music. He was also popular in other African countries, particularly in East Africa, and in the late 1950s and early 1960s was briefly based in Nairobi, where he had a regular radio show and became a profound influence on a generation of Kenyan guitarists.

Bosco was born in 1930 at Bunkeya (now part of Lualaba Province) in then Belgian Congo, but lived most of his life in Lubumbashi, where in addition to playing music he had a job in a bank and with the local mining company, managed other bands, and owned a hotel on the Zambian border. He died in September 1990 in a car accident in Zambia.

Mwenda used the name Mwenda wa Bayeke, claiming descent from the Sanga noble clan of Bayeke. His music draws on various sources including the traditional music of his Luba/Sanga people. He was one of the few Congolese to obtain a Western education during the colonial era due to his father's position in the Catholic Church. He worked at first as a clerk for the Likasi administration but soon achieved huge success as a guitarist, issuing his first recordings in 1952.

Along with his friend and sometime partner Losta Abelo, and his cousin Edouard Masengo, Bosco defined the Congolese acoustic guitar style. His song "Masanga" was particularly influential, because of its complex and varied guitar part. His influences included traditional music of Zambia and the Eastern Congo, Cuban groups such as the Trio Matamoros, and cowboy movies.

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