Spotlight on Awilo Longomba

Awilo Longomba is a popular artist from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Pictures of Awilo’s recent concert in New York city are available at AfricaSounds.com.

According to panafricanallstars.com — Awilo is the MOST WANTED Congolese artist on the African continent and Europe. He has toured African countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Zambia, Gabon, Mali, and many others. Awilo also has toured in Europe and the United States, extensively.

Awilo “sings and dances,” “Soukous” (derived from the French word secouer[to shake]), originally the name of a dance popular in the Congos in the late 1960s. Although the genre was initially known as Rumba (sometimes termed specifically as African Rumba), the term “Soukous” has come to refer to African Rumba and its subsequent developments.

If interested, here are two locations where you can listen to Soukous/Rumba Music:

1. Ambiance Congo – Broadcast Archives
2. African Music Forum JukeBoxes [Congolese Music]