{{Short description|Term in Congolese music}} In Congolese popular music, the term '''''libanga''''' (Lingala; from ''kobwaka libanga'', {{lit|to throw a stone/pebble}}, referring to how a child might try to attract attention),{{sfn|White|2008|p=170}} or in the plural '''''mabanga''''',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hertum |first=Peter Van |title=Lingala dictionary/translation - mabanga |url=https://dic.lingala.be/en/mabanga |access-date=10 August 2025 |website=Dic.lingala.be/en |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Trapido |first=Joseph |date=1 December 2010 |title=Love and money in Kinois popular music |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2010.491316 |journal=Journal of African Cultural Studies |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=121–144 |doi=10.1080/13696815.2010.491316 |issn=1369-6815|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=B. |first=Tshieke Tshienda |last2=Lumisa |first2=Godefroid Bwiti |date=22 January 2003 |title=Congo-Kinshasa: Rdc: ces chansons qui caressent dans le sens du poil |trans-title=Congo-Kinshasa: DRC: These songs that flatter the public |url=https://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200301230624.html |access-date=23 November 2025 |website=Le Phare |language=fr |publication-place=Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo}}</ref> denotes a common form of patronage whereby musicians name or praise wealthy or powerful sponsors publicly as part of their performances. A ''libanga'' is usually inserted into a song through listing individual names between verses or between verses and chorus. They can be sung, spoken, or shouted depending on context.{{sfn|White|2008|p=170}}<ref name=":0" /> Sometimes they are included for the purposes of a particular performance, or included in a recording.<ref name=":0" />
According to Bob White, it forms part of a "practice of commercialized praise singing" which emerged in Zaire in the 1970s and grew in importance in subsequent decades. He states that "[t]he phenomenon of ''libanga'' has become an integral part of contemporary popular music in Kinshasa, and it reflects not only musicians' urgent need for money but also the political culture of the Mobutu regime, which, through the mechanism of ''animation politique'', customarily handed out financial and political resources in exchange for public displays of flattery and loyalty".{{sfn|White|2008|p=95}}
Patronage remains central to the music industry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it is difficult to make commercial music without it.{{sfn|The Economist|2017}} ''The Economist'' observed that a ''libanga'' is "not done out of ideological conviction" and noted that one song by the musician Werrason names 110 people "many of whom would have paid for the privilege".{{sfn|The Economist|2017}} The custom expanded dramatically in the 1990s and 2000s with artists such as Papa Wemba, Koffi Olomide, Werrason, JB Mpiana, and King Kester Emeneya contributing to its growth.<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Bob W. |title=Rumba Rules: The Politics of Dance Music in Mobutu's Zaire |date=2008 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham |isbn=978-0-8223-4091-1}} *{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Economist|2017}}|title=Congolese Pop Music |url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2017/01/14/congolese-pop-music |access-date=21 November 2021 |publisher=The Economist |date=14 January 2017}}
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Category:Lingala words and phrases Category:Music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Category:Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo