Kizomba is both a style of music and a style of dance. The word “kizomba” comes from the Kimbundu dialect of Angola and means “party”. The main roots of Kizomba come from another Angolan dance known as Semba with influences from the French Caribbean (mainly Guadeloupe and Martinique) music style known as Zouk, which happens to also mean “party”. The musical style started to develop as a result of the civil war of 1974-1975 (The Angola Crisis) where Angola wanted independence from its Portuguese colonizers and the subsequent economic crisis. At that time, music was mostly political intervention songs, and younger musicians wanted to escape the tragedies of war…wanting to “party” to forget the hardships that they were facing.
Also during this time, another historic event happened in Kinshasa, Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) on October 30, 1974. Some of you may have heard of it…. The Rumble in the Jungle. This was the famous fight between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. Why is this important? The Fania All Stars, a famous group of Latin American musicians, were contracted to be the entertainment (they created the label of “Salsa” music). This huge music festival associated with the fight was a big draw for musicians from around the world (including the king of funk James Brown) and had a huge influence on musical productions throughout Africa.
Eduardo Paim of Angola is considered the father of Kizomba music that started to rise in the early 1980’s. He has said that this new style of music he created was a type of fusion of Semba, Zouk, Angolan Merengue and some Latin America rhythms. There was a lot of interaction between Angolan and Cuban musicians during this time. The style of Kizomba music now is also heavily influenced by Hip-Hop, R&B, and electronic music. Kizomba songs are typically sung in Portuguese, the main language spoken in Angola. With its growing popularity around the world, you will hear songs in French, English, and Spanish alone and/or in combination with Portuguese.
Kizomba the dance is a derivation of the steps used to dance Semba. Semba has been danced from the 1950’s in Angola, passed on to younger generations seeing the older people dancing at parties. Semba is a quick, lively and playful dance that was learned in the family. With the development of Kizomba music, Angolan semba dancers started to change their steps and body movements to fit with the new style of music. Petchú (Pedro Vieira Dias) is believed to be the first to create the teaching methodology of the dance of Kizomba. As with the music, the Kizomba dance has changed over time with fusions of Hip Hop, Lambazouk and other Latin dances. Kizomba is now a slow and sensual dance of couples in a close embrace. The term Urban Kiz was popularized to represent the variation that incorporates Hip-Hop and other modern elements to the dance.
Kizomba is a beautiful dance to learn. Although it is a couple dance, individuals can learn the basic steps and body movements to solidify their foundation for when they do start to dance with another person. Kizomba is very popular in Latin clubs, leading some to believe that it is a Latin dance. The development of the dance and music of Kizomba today has some influence from Latin culture, and in turn, all Latin dances have been strongly influenced by African rhythms and movements brought over from slaves to those countries. Kizomba is truly African.
