Some scintillating soukous for you today, courtesy of Samba Mapangala and his friends in Orchestra Virunga. Both tracks come from their 1991 album "Feet On Fire", for which they were credited simply as Virunga - a name they borrowed from a volcano in DR Congo.
Samba himself was born in the Congo and started his career in Kinshasa, but it wasn't until he relocated to Nairobi in the late 1970s that things really started to take off. Orchestra Virunga formed in 1981, and the blend of Congolese and Kenyan musicians and rhythms gave them a distinctive sound.
Judging by his Facebook page, it seems Samba is still going strong and occasionally still recording and gigging with the current line-up of the Orchestra. Happy news, and happy sounds.
"Sungura" - Virunga
"Unisamehe" - Virunga
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