kwassa kwassa

English

WOTD – 23 October 2008

Etymology

Perhaps from the French quoi ça? (“what is it?”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɑs.ə ˈkwɑs.ə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

kwassa kwassa (uncountable)

1. A dance rhythm from the Congo (DRC), where the hips move back and forth while the hands move to follow the hips.
   • 2019, Barbara Heer, Cities of Entanglements, page 71:

     Civic spaces for youth like the kwassa kwassa dance classes are often talked about in the township within frames like morality and health.

2. A traditional flat-bottomed, wooden fishing boat used primarily in the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (so called because it is "very shaky").
   • 2015, Tor Sellström, Africa in the Indian Ocean: Islands in Ebb and Flow, page 318:

     Day after day, never-ending human tragedies are played out as people risk their lives trying to reach Mayotte in overloaded, rickety kwassa-kwassa boats to see family members, place their children in school, visit a health center, sell products on the market or find an odd job.

   • 2016, Rino Coluccello, ‎Simon Massey ·, Eurafrican Migration:

     The large majority of Comorian migrants arrive by sea in small boats known as kwassa kwassa named after the swaying Congolese dance rhythm.

Translations

dance rhythm

• French: kwasa kwasa (fr)