Like much of Africa, the Congo was dominated during the World War 2 era by rumba, a fusion of Latin and African musical styles that came from the island of Cuba. Congolese musicians appropriated rumba and adapted its characteristics for their own instruments and tastes. Congolese musicians started playing Cuban songs, mimicking the Spanish lyrics or replacing them with verses in their own languages and composing original songs in Cuban styles.

Following World War 2, record labels began appearing, including CEFA, Ngoma, Loningisa and Opika, each issuing many 78 rpm records; Radio Congo Belge also began broadcasting during this period. Bill Alexandre, a Belgian working for CEFA, brought electric guitars to the Congo.

Popular early musicians include Feruzi, who is said to have popularized rumba during the 1930s and guitarists like Zachery Elenga, Antoine Wendo Kolosoy and, most influentially, Jean Bosco Mwenda. Alongside rumba, other imported genres like American swing, French cabaret and Ghanaian highlife were also popular.

In 1953, the Congolese music scene began to differentiate itself with the formation of African Jazz (led by Joseph “Grand Kalle” Kabasele), the first full-time orchestra to record and perform, and the debut of fifteen-year-old guitarist Francois Luambo Makiadi (aka Franco). Both would go on to be some of the earliest Congolese music stars. African Jazz, which included Kabasele, sometimes called the father of modern Congolese music, as well as legendary Cameroonian saxophonist and keyboardist Manu Dibango, has become one of the most well-known groups in Africa, largely due to 1960’s “Independence Cha-Cha-Cha”, which celebrated Congo’s independence and became an anthem for Africans across the continent….[MORE]

Congolese Soukous | Rumba Video – VOL1

Congolese Soukous | Rumba Video – VOL2

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Records produced in Léopoldville (the Belgian Congo) and Brazzaville (the French Congo) in the 40s and 50s confirm, however, that the early stars of rumba Congo never merely imitated Cuban music. Paul Kamba, Antoine Wendo, Henri Bowane, Kallé Kabasele and other artists of their generation created a new sound.

They called it Rumba but used a variety of rhythms and song structures, some recognizably Latin, some not.

Their melodies followed the tones and accents of Lingala and other local languages instead of Spanish. They favored clarinets or saxophones over flutes and trumpets, and above all they featured guitars.

In Congolese Rumba, guitars–usually in pairs or threes–covered all the parts that the guitar, the trés, the violins and the piano played in Cuban music.

And when innovative guitarists such as Franco, Dr. Nico and Papa Noel took up electric guitars in the mid-’50s, Congolese Rumba further distinguished itself from its Cuban antecedent. Soukous is a offshoot Rumba.

MORE: | What is Congolese Soukous | What is Congolese Rumba | Afro-Insights: Music Video Postings |