On the Soukous Trip

Two versions of Soukous: Yondo Sister can send you yonder with her fast paced dance sound, and Koffi Olomide can then bring you gracefully down with his alluring bedroom sotto voce. Enjoy! Also Soukous name that may be rare outside Congo is that of Abeti Maskini.

Yondo Sister

                                                                  Photo Source

Koffi Olomide

                                        Photo Source

Antoine Christophe Agbepa Mumba, aka Koffi Olomide, was born July 13, 1956 in Kinsangani, DRC. His mother's father was a Sierra Leonian married to a Congolese...

Sex in the City, Nollywood Style

Break Time:

All Are Invited to the 2013 Soukous Mardi Gras

You may be in some far away time zone, work some unforgiving graveyard shift, or lost somewhere, but you will still be in time. We don't believe in Ambassador Mugume's silly edict. We are Afrikans, my foot--time is when we arrive! So, brothas and sistas, come at your own time and get into the soukous groove. Today we treat you to the incredible duo: Loketo and Kanda Bongo man, the masters of soukous. We then, for good measure, go retro to throttle it down a notch with the one and only Johnny Bokelo to bring you down easy!

Kanda Bongo Man: Bio & Discography

Kanda Bongo Man Biography
"Soukous, the dance music of Zaire, was updated by Paris-based vocalist and bandleader Konda Bongo Man. With his high tenor vocals alternating between lyrics in Lingala and French, Bongo Man and his band, which has included influential guitarists Diblo Dibala in the 1980s and Rigo Star in the 1990s, has sparked dancing in audiences around the globe. The New York Times wrote, "Zairean soukous is a lilting, rippling, dance groove that seems to smile from every register, with melody and rhythm inseparable. Kanda Bongo Man himself sings melodies that curl through the patterns like vines on a trellis." Option magazine took a similar view, writing, "Kanda Bongo Man sure knows how to have fun. This is some of the most joyous music I've ever heard, heavy on both melody and rhythm." While rooted in the soukous tradition, Bongo Man has incorporated an eclectic range of influences. M. Doughty of alt-rock band Soul Coughing explained, "You can infer all sorts of stuff in that loping beat and those guitars soaked in digital delay: flamenco, surf music, the wacked-out chops of a master oud player, steel guitar of the Hawaiian and Nashvillian varieties. The combined effect feels something like a distillation of sunshine and spring's bloom rhythm."...

Loketo: Bio & Discography

Dioblo Dibala, often known as Diblo, is a Congolese soukous musician, known as "Machine Gun" for his speed and skill on the guitar. He was born in 1954 in Kisangani. He moved to Kinshasha as a child, and [at] age 15 won a talent competition which let him playing guitar with Franco's TPOK"....

Johnny Bokelo: Bio & Discography

"Jean 'Johnny' Bokelo Isenge was born in the (late) 1930s in then Congo Belge outside Leopoldville as a younger brother of Paul 'Dewayon' Isengo. Bokelo died in 1995 ^[1]." ...

M'pongo Love: Bio & Discography

"...Aimee Fransoise Mpongo Lanu was born in 1956 in Boma, when Zaire was still The Belgian Congo. It seems only natural that The Voice of the Bas-Zaire woman be born at the mouth of the Congo River. Poetic in a way. At four years old she was given a penicillin shot for polio. An allergic reaction rendered her paralyzed. About two years later she regained use of her legs (although they were deformed) and she started school at Notre Dame de Boma where she joined the chorus..."