Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: République démocratique du Congo (formerly Zaire)

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The popular music of Congo has had a tremendous influence on African music as a whole throughout last decades. The rumba, introduced in colonial times, has developed into up-tempo varieties such as Soukous, and later to sub-forms such as Zaiko, Kwassa Kwassa, and more recently, the Ndombolo... The mellow Lingala-rumba made famous by grand masters Franco and Tabu Ley Rochereau still exists, but younger listeners prefer the modern up-tempo Soukous.
Generally, most songs begin slowly as a rumba, the singing in a narrative style, but then, suddenly, the tempo shifts to higher gears. This second part of a song, the seben, makes Congolese music is very caracteristic, and it's hard not to move your body (or parts of it anyway), while you're listening. The highly-pitched solo guitars are backed by rhythm guitars and a strong layer of drums, and, in an ideal world, a horn section. Singing is often polyphonic, reinforced by animation (exclamations).
Because of the sheer infinite number of musicians, singers, and groups, a more or less complete discography would require a life time job and a separate web server... :-)
Below, you can find a selection of Zairean-Congolese musicians. By the way, the music of neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville, is difficult or impossible to distinguish from that of Congo-Kinshasa. There are some distinct artists from Brazzaville, but they played with musicians from Kinshasa, and artists from Kinshasa recorded in Brazzaville studios...


Click below for more info on some stars from Congo-Kinshasa:

Reddy Amisi	Bana OK	Bavon Marie Marie
Pepe Bipoli	Bokelo Blito	Boketshu 1er & Classic Swede Swede
Bopol	Defao & le Big Stars	Diblo Dibala & Matchatcha
Djouna Big One	Empire Bakuba	Kester Emeneya & Victoria Eleïson
Fally Ipupa	Pépé Kallé	Karma Pa
Jeff Kavanda	Kékélé	Kino-Mabella
Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca	Lipua Lipua	Lokua Kanza
Awilo Longomba	Lubumbashi Stars	Lutchiana 100%
Madilu System	Alain Makaba	Manda Chante
Sam Mangwana	Jessy Matador	Shiko Mawatu
Syran Mbenza	Nyboma	Koffi Olomide
Papa Noël	Quartier Latin Academia	Quatre Etoiles
Tabu Ley Rochereau	Trio Madjesi	Bibi Den's Tshibayi
Félix Wazekwa	Papa Wemba	Wenge Musica BCBG (J.B. M'Piana)
Wenge Kumbela (Aimé Buanga)	Wenge Musica El Paris	Werra Son & Wenge Musica Maison Mère
Adolphe Dominguez & Wenge Tonya Tonya

Click below for more info on some stars from Congo-Brazzaville:

Pierrette Adams	Doudou Copa	Extra Musica	Tchico Tchicaya
Universal Zangul	Zao

External weblinks:

Franco & le T.P. O.K. Jazz on Myspace Other Zairean-Congolese stars on the Afromix website Other Congolese (Brazzaville) stars on the Afromix website

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Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique:
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