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It Started With Congolese Rumba

More Congolese music, this time with Le Grand Kalle….


Earlier this week we met the dynamic Congolese music called soukous. It emerged in the years after World War II, starting in the ’50s when big Cuban rumba orchestras became all the rage in the Congo. By the ’60’s musicians like Joseph “Le Grand Kalle” Kabasele who we see in this video, readily blended rumba with African jazz, and formed a genre sometimes known as Congolese Rumba. Soukous emerged when innovators such as Sam Mangwana layered funky African rhythms and racing, jangling guitars on top.

A Bridge From Congo to Cuba

Why is there such a deep connection between Cuba and the Congo, one that would inspire Congolese musicians — like Congolese music master Kanda Bongo Man — develop an African version of rumba?

During the colonization of the Americas most slaves came from West and Central Africa, bringing their African rhythms with them. Over the centuries Afro-Latin musicians often returned to their roots by touring in the region and by building cultural and instrumental connections with West and Central African musicians. Perhaps because of this shared history, in the 1960s Latin Americas most prominent Communist revolutionaries, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, supported Congolese anti-colonalialist struggles–Fidel by sending Cuban troops, Che by sending himself. Let’s watch this video of “revolutionary” musician Kanda Bongo Man inspiring Africans to dance.