Ernie's African Odyssey Pt 12 - Congo

From Comoros to Congo, or the Republic of the Congo as it is officially called. The country is also sometimes referred to as Congo-Brazzaville to distinguish it from its burly neighbour to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC for short). 

Musically there is a lot of cross-pollination between the two countries - perhaps not surprising when the two capitals (Brazzaville and Kinshasa) are five miles apart, separated only by the Congo river. The soukous sound that originated in Kinshasa is also very popular over the water, and the musicians from the two countries often team up.

Our first act is a good example. Loketo were a Brazzaville band led by the great Aurlus Mabélé, who sadly died in 2020 of a combination of cancer and Covid-19, but the man who provided the sparkling guitar work was Diblo Dibla from Kisangani in DRC. Today's selection comes from their 1988 album "Trouble" and was requested (and very kindly provided) by The Inimitable George.

In case you found Loketo a little mellow, we will turn things up a notch with Extra Musica. The original line-up were all-conquering between 1993 and 1998 before they split due to musical differences - some of them wanted the guitars to be sparkling and the others wanted them to be very sparkling. 

For a while there were two versions of the band, Extra Musica Zangul (led by the main man Roga Roga) and Extra Music International. In time the Zangul version triumphed and reverted to the original name. It is them that provide today's tune, the title track from their 2004 album. 

Rounding off our soukous selection is Tchico, or Tchico Tchicaya to give him his full name. Perhaps I should call him Mr Tchicaya so you don't confuse him with Chico. Mr T is one of a number of artists we will meet in our travels who get referred to as the Golden Voice of Africa. Today's track comes from his 1983 album "La Voix D'Or D'Afrique" on which he asserts his claim to the title. 

If you like this track - and why wouldn't you - you might want to pop over to Global Groove where the mighty Moos has recently shared Mr Tchicaya's "Special 1990" album. For anyone who enjoys African and Latin music of a certain vintage (mostly 1970s to 1990s), Moos is the main man.  

For our last two choices we have two very different takes on the more traditional sounds of the Congo. The first is from Papa Kourand who is a master of the sanza, a traditional thumb piano which is very similar to the Zimbabwean mbira, and a fine singer as well. This track comes from his 2012 album "Tout Restera Ici-Bas" which you can find on Bandcamp.

Les Mamans du Congo are an all-female collective set up in 2018 by singer and percussionist Gladys Samba to revive the old lullabies of the Congo. Some bright spark had the idea of teaming them up with French electronic and hip-hop producer Rrobin and the result was an excellent eponymous album that came out in 2020. You can pick up a copy on Bandcamp, and while you are there you can pre-order their new album "Ya Mizolé" which comes out in October. I have.

"Pour Toujours" - Loketo

"Obligatoire" - Extra Musica

"Loango" - Tchico

"Pointe Noire" - Papa Kourand

"Meki" - Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin

And now the videos. Special thanks to Jah Thiano for bringing the MAR. Apologies for the ropey quality of the Les Ry-Co Jazz video but I really wanted to include them as they are considered the founding fathers of modern Congolese music and this was the only one I could find.