Viviendo la makina loca - Ricardo Lemvo, cantante, entrevista - TT: Living La Makina Loca - TA: Ricardo Lemvom singer, interivew - Entrevista

Latin Beat Magazine, June, 2000 by Rudolph Mangual, Luis Tamargo

A Conversation with Ricardo Lemvo

Born in Kinshasa, the capital of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire), Ricardo Lemvo gained much critical acclaim in 1996 when his self-produced first album "Tata Masamba" attracted widespread interest in Europe and the Americas. Regarded as one of LA's top live acts, Lemvo's Makina Loca(*) continued to display its infectious fusion of Cuban and Congolese idioms in the subsequent recordings released by the New York-based Putumayo label - "Mambo Yo Yo" (1998) and "Sao Salvador" (1999). In addition, Lemvo's recent national and international tours have consolidated his popularity on both sides of the Atlantic.

The following interview took place at Havanamania, the South Bay's number one Cuban restaurant, where the multilingual singer/bandleader exhibited his carnivorous credentials by devouring an extra-large serving of rabo encendido...

Latin Beat: When did you decide to become a musician?

Ricardo Lemvo: When I was a kid, I lived with my mom in Kinshasa. Our home was next to a bar where they played Cuban music and Congolese rumba and soukous, 24 hours a day. So I was exposed to all of these sounds and rhythms. I even imagined myself singing in front of a band. I was only 8 or 9 years old, but I wanted already to become a musician and a singer. My first experience revolved around a neighborhood band. We did more practicing than anything else. I was singing James Brown's "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" in phonetic English! (Laughter)

LB: When did you come to the U.S.?

RL: I came to LA in 1972, at the age of 15. My father was living here already. I came here to study law and become an attorney, but I became a musician instead because my passion for music was too strong. Besides, it was more fun! For a while, I was singing background vocals with some local bands before I formed my own group, Makina Loca, in 1990.

LB: How would you define the sound of Makina Loca?

RL: It's a combination of Cuban and Congolese music. It's not your conventional salsa sound because in our brand of music you can hear the Congolese-style guitar, which adds an unusual spice to what we do. In addition, we perform Congolese music with Spanish vocals. Coincidentally, the vocals are not only delivered in Spanish. I also sing in Portuguese, French, Lingala and Kikongo. Our arrangements are designed to include everyone, to accommodate all dancers, even those non-Hispanic newcomers to the Latin dance scene who may not feel comfortable at other salsa shows due to the prototypical salsero's intimidating display of fancy foot steps. (MORE LAUGHTER)

LB: It appears that Niño Jesús, a former resident of LA, has played a vital role in the history of Makina Loca, particularly in terms of the band's arrangements.

RL: ¡Si, El Niño! Niño Jesús is now residing in Canada, but he continues to send us his arrangements. He is still an integral part of Makina Loca, and he performs with the band whenever we travel to Canada. Physically he may not be in Los Angeles anymore, but spiritually, he is still with us.

LB: Do you know any other contemporary group that resembles the sound of Makina Loca?

RL: None that I know of. The only thing I could say is that the pioneers of Congolese music in the '40s, '50s and '60s were listening to Cuban music also. In a sense, they were doing something close to what I'm doing now, although we have taken it to a different level by creating our own compositions in Spanish, Portuguese, Lingala, etc., whereas those guys were doing covers of Cuban songs in phonetic Spanish. Nevertheless, they came up with their own style by transferring the Cuban piano and horn lines to the Congolese electric guitar.

LB: What has been the most joyful moment of your musical career?

RL: We have played certain gigs sin which we shared the stage with Celia Cruz, Willie Colón, Chucho Valdés and Albita, but my greatest joy, the greatest dream of my life was realized when I was invited to appear as guest vocalist with Orquesta Aragón on July 3, 1999, at New York's Lincoln Center, where Aragon was celebrating its 60th anniversary. To this date, I cannot believe that it really happened! You could say that I had been rehearsing for this gig throughout my entire life. In fact, I know about 80% of their repertoire.

LB: We enjoyed listening to your most recent CD "Sao Salvador," particularly to the title track. What's the story behind it?

RL: When the Portuguese arrived in Africa in the 15th century, the Kingdom of the Kongo already existed, and the Portuguese called its capital Sao Salvador. This is a place of significance in the history of Angola and Congo. A funny thing happened, you see. Some priests who came to bring the word of God to the African people took up concubines and even engaged in the slave trade. Many natives were enslaved and taken from Sao Salvador to Brazil, North America, Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean. This is what this title track is about. It also pays tribute to said ancestral Kingdom's Joan of Arc, Beatriz Kimpa Vita, a young woman with mystical powers. She was possessed by the spirit of Saint Anthony, and people from many different towns would come to listen to her speeches. Her popular appeal upset the Catholic Church and the Kongo monarch, Dom Pedro, who took up a Portuguese name like everyone else in Angola, as exemplified by my own ancestors. So the church and the Kongo King decided to eliminate this 23-year old woman by burning her at the stake in the city square, back in the 1600s, when the Kingdom of the Kongo included the northern region of Angola, a large portion of the former French Congo and the southern part of the former Belgian Congo, where I was born. This song has a personal significance because it's part of my history. Despite such historic antecedents, the European powers decided to divide Africa by creating artificial borders at the 1883 Conference of Berlin. Something similar happened in the southwestern states of what is now the United States after the end of the Mexican-American War.