Quinteto Angolano “N’Tangua Leka Yé” (Ngola, 1969)
“N’Tangua Leka Yé”, a lullaby, was issued as a split 7″ by N’gola (the Angolan branch of Portuguese label Valentim de Carvalho) to mark the 24th World Sailing Championships – Snipe class – held in Luanda in 1969. Its a-side was, appropriately, “Snipes”, by Dicanzas do Prenda. Now, Quinteto Angolano was, of course, the band that would ultimately become Ngoma Jazz – you can read about it on one my previous posts – led by songwriter and guitar player Matumona Sebastião. In fact, Ngoma Jazz – Sebastião, with Garcia Kipioca (voice, bells), Zé Manuel (lead voice), Caetano Lemos (percussion), Augusto Pedro (rhythm guitar), Ferreira Domingos (bass guitar) and Mangololo (percussion) – was formed in 1966 so this track was, in all likelihood, rescued from the archives.
Matumona Sebastião was born on May 28, 1937, in the northern Uíge province. In his teens his parents moved south, to Benguela, and he had some guitar lessons with Cape Verdean immigrants. He would credit this dispersion as one of the causes for Ngoma Jazz’s success – Mangololo was from Malanje, Lemos from Luanda, Manuel hailed from Sovo, Garcia a fellow Uígense. The band was instrumental in raising the capital city’s awareness of northern Angolan rhythms. From 1967 on Ngoma Jazz would release tracks such as “Sá Madia”, “Ua Diami”, “Ngongo Jami”, “Ngolo Banza Kamba Diami Didinho”, “Madi Ndumba Mbote”, “Yá Mbanza Riqueta”, “Nzolua”, “Lola”, the big hit “Belita Kiri Kiri”, “Kubata diá Mwangana”, “Merengue Madrugada”, “Kento-Ame”, “Mukonda Dia Kubanza”, “Segula”, etc.
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