Odds and Ends

Taking care of some unfinished business today. . . Many thanks to Ken Chijar Ekezie, who provides us with Part Two of the exceedingly rare ...

The School of Verckys

Note: This post was updated and corrected on July 3, 2012. The rambunctious saxophone stylings of Kiamwuangana Mateta "Verckys" a...

Real Rumbira Sounds

A major force in the Zimbabwe music scene of the 1980s, the Real Sounds of Africa were in fact founded by a group of Congolese musicians in ...

Smooth as Butter

Congo music doesn't get much smoother and more elegant than Bumba Massa's 1982 outing L'Argent et la Femme (Star Musique SMP601...

Congo Memories with Bumba Massa

Best-known for his work with the super-group Kékélé and last year's release Apostolo , the honey-voiced Bumba Massa is one of the great...

Shortwave Memories

More Congo classics via Nigeria here! Music From Zaïre Vol. 3 (Soundpoint SOP 041, 1977) opens with "Ngalula Marthe" by Orchestr...

More Desert Island Music

Given that he's one of the most illustrious Congolese musicians of his generation, information about Côme Moutouari, better known as Kos...

Another Rockin' One-Off

Roaring out of Kinshasa by way of Paris with drum machine in tow, it's Rigo Star and Josky Kiambukuta with Jotongo (Mayala MA4005, 1986)...

Still Another Re-Up

I've been unable to find out much about Congo's Bobongo Stars, but their unique blend of funk, rock & roll, Soukous and Mutuash...

From Congo via Nigeria

Priscilla tells me that in the 1970s, when she was a girl in Awo-Omamma, Nigeria, the family used to sit around the short-wave radio almost ...