The climate in Nairobi is cool and perfect all year round, despite being on the equator, due to its high altitude. The East African Rumba sound is also often cooler, sans the fiery horn sections of Congolese Soukous. The focus here is on a reduced palette of rhythmic guitar and vocal refrains over driving, insistent 4 on the floor kicks. The motorik, hypnotic motifs and modular progression of this original minimalist dance music here is mostly from 1950s to 1970s, and i play it in the seamless style of techno.
Tag Archives: Rumba
Heart of Light
“Heart of Light” – the last words uttered publicly by democratically elected first president of newly independent Congo Patrice Lumumba at his inauguration address, 3 months before his murder by Belgium and CIA, because he dared to oppose the Western forces of oppression and planned to keep the wealth of the Congo for the Congo. Freedom and hope was killed in 1961, with disastrous consequences that last until today, but The Heart of Light can never die…
Sound culture in the Heart of Light
and here is a repost from the old blog, of classic Congolese Rumba, literally the sweetest sounds i have ever heard.
tracklisting: volume 1 / volume 2.
Big big thanks to Bolingo69 for the original upload. It is criminal that these heavenly sounds are out of print and commercially unavailable anywhere. Here are both volumes together on mediafire.
And I’ve been meaning to do an official NGOMA volume of modern dance floor Soukous for some time… it will happen soon. But until then, there are lots of awesome tunes in this episode of Radio Ngoma: