Lingala dictionary · browse all
bolingo
bo-LIN-go
love
French: amour
Bolingo ya solo.
True love.
L'amour vrai.
Bolingo — love. The word that anchors a hundred years of Congolese rumba: from Wendo Kolosoy to Franco, Tabu Ley, Papa Wemba, and the guitarists of the modern Kinshasa scene, "bolingo" is the chorus the whole hall sings back. It carries romantic love and the deeper sense of devotion — bolingo ya mama (a mother's love), bolingo ya mboka (love of country). When Congolese say "bolingo ekosila te" — love will not end — they mean something larger than any one person.
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