Playlist for 10.02.2008—Emmanuel Nado

On tonight’s show I featured the music most Africans grew up with in the early years of freedom from colonization. In the late 50s and through the 60s, as we Africans south of the Sahara were enjoying the scent of freedom, we danced to the beat of a music style called Congolese Rumba. It sounded like the Cuban son for those of you familiar with afro-Cuban music. We simply called it ‘Congo Music’. The style developed in the two Congos, Congo Kinshasa (formerly Zaire, now D.R. Congo) and Congo Brazzaville the later was a former French colony and the other a former Belgium colony. Both countries are a 30-minute ferry ride across the Congo River from each other.

The genre incorporated traditional African rhythms, afro Spanish music from the Caribbean and a pinch of French speaking Europeans. Congolese rumba was the foundation of what we know today as soukous, Congolese guitar dance style, which continued to influence the rest of the African continent.

Some of the early pioneers were Orchestres Africa Jazz, OK Jazz, Ryco Jazz, Elegance Jazz, Les Bantous de la Capitale, Les Conbantous, Empire Bakuba, Tabu Ley Rochereau, Kabasele, Franco, Dr. Nico, and Manu Dibango, to name just a few.

Side note: Notice how many of these orchestras's names end with the word "Jazz"? This is because— even though the style had Afro-Cuban influences—its birth was to African music what jazz was to the music of America. These bands’ brass sections were very much influenced by American jazz.

ARTIST: Adama Drame
ALBUM: Percsussions Mandingues
SONG: Doun Doumba
COUNTRY: Burkina Fasso

Terakaft
Akhissudar
Soubhanallah
Mali

Mamadou Diabate
Douga Mansa
Douga Mansa
Mali

Idrissa Soumahoro
Idrissa Soumahoro
Djama
Mali

Soweto Gospel Choir
Live At The Nelson Mandela Theater
World in Union
South Africa

George Mutinda
Spotlight on Kenyan Music
Mama
Kenya

Chiwoniso
Rebel Woman
Gomo
Zimbabwe

Fela Kuti
Koola Lobitos 68 Sessions
Funky Horn
Nigeria

Mahmoud Ahmed
Soul of Addis
Titesh
Ethiopia

Ramblers International
Vol.3
Megye Wo
Ghana

Break……… BBC News………

Ismael Lo
Senegal
Tess Yakar
Senegal

Funkadesi
Yo Baba
Crash Da Party
Africa/India/Jamaica/U.S.A.

Interview with Rahaul Sharma
of Chicago’s premier world music band Funkadesi.
Check their website at www.funkadesi.com

Tonight’s feature on Congolese Rumba of the 60s

Kabasele & African Jazz
Independence Cha Cha
D.R.Congo

Montouri Kosmos
Makambo Mibale
Congo Brazza

Orchestre Elegance Jazz
Nglula Marthe
D.R. Congo

Tabu Ley Rochereau
Paquita
D.R.Congo

Dr.Nico
Kiri Kiri Mabina Ya sika
D.R.Congo

Dr.Nico & Africa Fiesta Sukisa
Nico
Fanta Diara
D.R.Congo

Break……

Empire Bakuba
Masamba
D.R.Congo

Orchestre Bella Bella
La Vérité Blesse
Congo Brazza

Franco & OK Jazz
Infidlite Mado
D.R.Congo

Bantous Jazz
Kumbele Kumbele
Congo Brazza

Dewayon & Cobantu
Dewayon
Koseka Moninga
Congo Brazza