Roots of Rumba Rock: Congo Classics 1953 [Audio CD] Various

Congolese rumba, a mixture of imported Cuban dance traditions wedded to various home-grown flavors, is one of Africa's best-loved popular styles. It is sometimes known as soukous (from the French secouer, "to shake"), and has gone through many permutations--both electric and acoustic, from brisk-tempo, three-minute singles to extended, bi- or tri-partite Proustian epics--since things got seriously underway during the 1950s. That this music has remained a universal favorite for decades on end is partly because local radio stations had very powerful signals, broadcasting all the latest releases far and wide. But ubiquity aside, these guitar-driven tunes with their sugar-sweet vocals pack an irresistibly sexy rhythmic punch. The present two-disc compilation, brilliantly researched, assembled, and mastered from historic recordings and then annotated by Vincent Kenis, offers a couple of hours' worth of utterly delicious material from back when Loningisa was the happening label in pre-independence Leopoldville (now Kinshasa). A list of highlights would quickly get out of hand as there's not a single dud in the bunch! Short, brisk, and to the point, some of the tracks have a lot in common with modern Malagasy music. Obviously the sound is retro, both in terms of content and sonic quality. But very few albums could remotely match this set when it comes to communicating the sheer joy of being alive in the moment, making music. --Christina Roden