Victor, you were born in Luanda, Angola. What was it like growing up there?
I am the 2nd of eleven siblings, and I grew up in a traditional, tight-knit family. Growing up in Angola during the civil war was difficult, major part of the country was occupied and controlled by South African militants, and even young kids had to do mandatory military service. Luanda, the capital was relatively sheltered from the violence and I was lucky that I haven’t been at the front lines of the war.
I come from a family of musicians. My grandmother was a singer and a dancer of semba and kazukuta, a popular dance and music in Angola. My parents were very connected culturally, the weekly parties at my grandparents’ home were the most important part of my life, with people getting together regularly to play music, sing, dance and prepare for the Carnival. My dad was a DJ, my grandpa was the commander of the most famous carnival group for kazukuta dancing, the Kabocomeu. He created the music, the choreography and led the group till the end of his life. My grandma was playing drums in another carnival group, Uniao Kiala, she was known at Cataria Dos Tambores. The two groups were rivals, constantly competing against each other by writing songs that were insulting the other group. Despite of the rivalry, they got along well and they ended up getting married.
So I grew up in a very musical environment, I was exposed to a lot of semba and kizomba, but I also witnessed a lot of conflicts between musicians because they were part of conflicting political groups.
Tell us about the beginnings of kizomba music.
There is a lot of confusion about the origins of kizomba, some say that it comes from zouk. The reality is that kizomba already existed before zouk was introduced to Angola. Kizomba and semba developed at the same time. My grandpa was in a band that was playing kizomba as early as in the 1950s. The singer of this band, Eias Dia Kimueza, is still alive, and he was called “O rei da musica angolana” – the king of Angolan music. In the 30s-40s the name of Angola’s traditional genre massemba was changed to semba by the new generation, and it was still sung in kimbundu, Angola’s native language.
Because of the colonial oppression, semba artists could not get exposure of their work on radio, television or stage, so some artists decided to sing in Portuguese as the only way to expose their work, and they started calling it kizomba.
At the beginning, kizomba got a lot of resistance from the old generation. It was looked down upon by them, they were saying that if you sing in Portuguese, you will assimilate. While semba music was focused on the political and social issues, the subject matter of kizomba songs was predominantly love. Over time artists started to sing semba in Portuguese as well, or a mix of Portuguese and Kimbundu.
Original article was written by and syndicated from: Kizomba Voices of Toronto
You are a DJ with extensive knowledge of the music of Angola, and you are also a great dancer. When did you learn to dance?
In the Sao Paolo area of Luanda there is a famous street called Rua De Benguela, which opened its first dance club in the 80s. The street was famous from its cultural diversity, people living there were from various PALOP countries like Cabo Verde, Sao Tome. There were a lot of refugees, a lot of beautiful girls, and a lot of dancing on the street. The street was closed every weekend and young dancers were competing against each other to show off who has the best dance skills. This dance challenge was organized by the parents and the winners would win ice-cream, movie tickets etc. It was a great way to learn to dance, improve continuously and prepare for the carnival in February.
Dancing is part of the Angolan lifestyle, it is a tradition. People would stop on the street on their way home from work and dance, so we learned from watching our parents, family, friends dance day after day.
What is the difference then between kizomba and semba?
The difference musically is mainly in the instrumentation, and the dance is different as well. There are instruments that are must have-s in semba like reco reco or dikanza, and others like the puita, chocalho, hungo. Kizomba on the other hand has a distinctive rhythm guitar sound which is different from the one used in semba, but it was greatly influenced by semba and African Rhumba.
How did the war affect the music of Angola?
Angola became independent in 1975. The 27 years of civil war divided the country into conflicting groups, which reflected in a division of the music as well.
The communist government which lasted until 1991, restricted artists in what they were allowed to sing about. For this reason, a lot of great semba artists – who were not allowed to sing about the revolution or in their native language – were either killed or they immigrated. Many of them died in the great massacre on May 27, 1977, fighting for independence.
As local artists tried to sing about the revolution, the government tried to silence them by bringing in musicians from other countries, i.e. Cabo Verde, and this is how zouk got infiltrated into the Angolan music.
There is a lot of confusion and different perspectives about kizomba music and dancing, what it is and what it is not. Not even all Angolans know the truth. About 10 years ago the government started to recover the real stories of what happened since the 70s, politically and artistically as well. A lot of murders were uncovered. A strong Cuban influence was present during the communist times, my math teacher was Cuban and we were forced to learn in Spanish. Our music was also heavily influenced by Cuban music during this time.
In 1981-82 a heavy zouk influence streamed in and it was called kizomba because of the similarities of the sound, but musicians knew it was not kizomba. It was Eduardo Paim, often called the King of Kizomba who revolutionized kizomba music by introducing electronic instruments. In 1988 he went to Portugal and promoted this new sound with great success, remixing old songs with the new “zouk style”. This style then gave birth to ghetto zouk and tarraxinha.
When did you leave Angola and when did you become a DJ?
I started DJ’ing in Luanda, after watching my dad, my uncle and my cousins. I left Angola in 1998 and I lived in Zimbabwe for 2 years. When I arrived to Toronto in 2000 I looked up the Angolan community, and eventually I was asked by a friend to DJ at his wedding, so this is how I got started in Toronto and after this I got invited regularly to DJ at various events. The first time I DJ’ed at a kizomba event outside the Angolan community was at an event called Afrozouk Kizomba Night at Vida Lounge organized by Antonio Scisci in 2005. I was quite impressed by people’s interest in this dance. I DJ’ed there for about three years. In 2007 I stopped because I began studying at George Brown College. When I finished college, I went back to Angola for two years.
How did you find Angola when you returned?
When I returned in 2012 there was peace in the country, along with a lot of changes, new developments and construction, people were more open and free, as now they could travel abroad.
In terms of music, specifically kizomba, the use of electronic instruments became very popular, and it was fused with zouk, kompa and Caribbean styles. Unfortunately the cultural influence on the music has weakened and as a result it lost some of the quality from 20 years ago.
If I could give a perspective of how I personally see the changes to kizomba music over time, I’d say in the 40s-50s kizomba was close to rhumba, in the 60s-70s to merengue, in the 80s-90s close to zouk and kompa and now in the 2000s it is close to r&b.
When I came back to Toronto I reconnected to the Angolan community, I started collaborating with Yauca and we have been working together on promoting the Angolan culture, music, dance and cuisine in Toronto since then.
Original article was written by and syndicated from: Kizomba Voices of Toronto
How do you see the Toronto kizomba dance community?
If we look at how people work together, the Toronto community in my opinion is not as healthy as for example Montreal or Lisbon. There is too much protagonism and too little communication. While everyone says we have to work together, nobody does anything about it. There is no efficient interaction between promoters, organizers, DJs, instructors and dancers, and there is too much judgement. When I went to Lisbon to a kizomba event I saw a healthy community where people go out to connect with each other, to make friends and have a good time. I saw a great community spirit that Toronto is lacking.
From a music perspective, we are doing well, we have a lot of talented DJs providing good music and they are getting better. When I go out, I enjoy myself. From a dancing perspective we have excellent followers, but I can count the good leaders on my hands, and I think this is an issue that Toronto dance instructors need to work on.
We’ve heard your sister is a famous singer in Angola.
Yes, she is actually my sister-cousin, Neide Sofia Bernardo. She was part of a girl band called As Africanas singing Afro-pop music, and after they separated she started singing kizomba. She is now one of the top 5 female singers in Angola, she often performs live and she’s had a lot of success.
Who would you name as best sources of kizomba dance knowledge?
Internationally Master Petchu is one of the most reliable sources of authentic kizomba dance style. He teaches cabecinha, a traditional Angolan dance, kazukuta, rebita, yaca and he is the founder of the traditional African ballet group kilandukilu.
Locally I would recommend Albena de Assis, she is a great teacher and dancer of the traditional style. Another good source is Roxy, she has trained extensively, she is a good dancer and knows her stuff.
Festivals are a great way to promote kizomba, but they are not always the most reliable source of knowledge. Some dancers – including Angolans – after attending a festival or two decide to become instructors and make money from it, but they don’t really know much about the music and the dance.
What is your comment about the urban vs kizomba issue?
Urban kiz is a phenomenon, and instructors who teach it should be very clear about what they teach and promote. I recently went to an event advertised as a kizomba event, and they played bachata all night, with only 5 minutes of kizomba at the end. Another event that advertised kizomba played urban kiz all night. People need to know the difference and distinguish. There is nothing worse than people asking me to play kizomba instead of semba, after I’ve just played a kizomba set. Or when they ask me to play urban at the annual Noite De Saudade event, which is a celebration of the nostalgia of the past. We started this night in 2015 for the Angolan community, then took a break and last year we decided to restart and open it up for the non-Angolan community given Toronto’s increasing interest in our culture.
Any shout-outs to the dance community?
Let’s work together and become strong. I would like to see Toronto become the strongest dance community in Canada and in the world.
BIO: DJ Victor Manuel Bernardo Tonelo, a native of Luanda, Angola is a resident DJ at Luanda House in Toronto, spinning the best original kizomba and semba tunes at the bi-weekly social Raizes, and a variety of Angolan events. He is working closely with Yauca De Almeida promoting the musical, cultural and culinary richness of Angola.
Original article was written by and syndicated from: Kizomba Voices of Toronto