The First Case of the Congo Connection

We are back to Africa this week, with a full show devoted to a critical country in the African music scene:  The Congo. 

In fact, if Encyclopedia Sound had to pick just one country as the most important in Africa's musical development, it would be the Congo. 

Let me qualify that statement in two ways:  first, although soukouss from The Congo is almost certainly the most successful musical genre ever to emerge from Africa, Encyclopedia Sound is not a fan of that sound. I listen to almost nothing coming from The Congo after soukouss emerged in the early 1970s. But the universal influence of soukouss is not to be denied.

Second, there are only 4 countries I really consider for the honor of most influential in African music:  South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and The Congo. These are the only countries in sub-Saharan Africa that produced significant studio recordings before the mid-60s. 45 rpm singles from these 4 countries circulated widely in other African lands, merging with local styles to form foundations for all the music that would fill the continent in the 70s and beyond. 

Among these 4 countries, The Congo was easily the most influential. Although highlife from Nigeria and Ghana became a fashionable trend throughout Africa for some time, and although the township jive sound from South Africa was a direct ancestor to the benga sound that came to dominate central and southern African countries for decades, these musical traditions are pretty much crumb-catchers relative to the mighty sway of musical forms incubated in The Congo.

In the first place, The Congo pioneered the Afro-Latin sound. Sounds that took shape in The Congo in the 50s would be recycled throughout former French and Portuguese colonies in Africa for the following decades. 

The Afro-Latin sound in The Congo morphed with local traditions to form a new style in the 60s, Congolese Rhumba. Rhumba was more recognizable as an African form relative to Afro-Latin, and it was during the Rhumba era that the Congolese guitar sound was crystalized by musicians such as Franco and Dr. Nico, forming a foundation for all subsequent African axe work. 

Finally, rhumba morphed into soukouss in the early 70s, forming the most potent dancefloor-filling sound in nightclubs across the entire African continent below the Sahara.

Today's show begins with the earliest Afro-Latin sounds from The Congo, then lingers awhile with sparkling rhumbas from the 60s. As the show progresses, we will hear my favorite musical form from The Congo, the languorous bolero style mastered by Franco and his OK Jazz. 

We get into some very early soukouss sounds at the end of the show.