Mbote (hotep) brother Aja! I didn’t give much time to come in forums lately. I apologize for my late reply. To answer your question I say the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) is the country’s Belgian masters once inhabited. Thus French is the colonial language we use. Mobutu Sese Seko ran the country for 32 years and he had the need for “federalism” in Zaire. Because Lingala was spoken along the Congo River and Kinshasa, which is the capital and is singularly where the country’s rich live, he immediately set out to expand the language in all the provinces in Zaire. But the Eastern parts of the country continue to use Swahili. The West Congolese is ’Bantu’ and the East Congo is dramatically of ’Nilo-Saharan’ population. The Swahili is the language of the East.

Soukous’s vocabulary borrows much Lingala. But some Koffi Olomide, Werrasson, and J.P Mpiana are in Swahili. Music is a great intro to a language and a culture. The Congolese Soukous is usually quite beautiful and deal with matters of love and life!

B.K