VARIOUS ARTISTS

The making of Congo Funk!, our long-awaited journey to the musical heart of the

African continent, took the Analog Africa Team on two journeys to Kinshasa and

one to Brazzaville. Selected meticulously from around 2000 songs and boiled down

to 14, this compilation aims to showcase the many facets of the funky, hypnotic

and schizophrenic tunes emanating from the two Congolese capitals nestled on

the banks of the Congo River.

On its south shore, the city of Kinshasa – capital of Democratic Republic of the

Congo, the country formerly known as Zaïre – is often seen as Africa’s musical Mecca,

the city that spawned such immortal bands as African Jazz, O.K. Jazz and African

Fiesta, and the place to which aspiring musicians from throughout the continent would

go to make a name for themselves.

But the city of Brazzaville on the north shore of the river – capital of the Congo

Republic – played an equally important role in spreading Congolese sounds

continentally. In addition to producing legendary bands such as Les Bantous de la

Capital, it was the powerful transmitters of Radio Brazzaville that allowed the

unmistakable groove of Congolese Rumba to be heard as far away as Nairobi,

Yaoundé, Luanda and Lusaka thus turning the electric guitar into the

continent’s most important instrument!

Although the musical landscape of these cities had been defined by a core group

of bands in the late 1950s, the modernisation of Congolese music has been

steadily evolving until the events surrounding the Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman

boxing match marked a turning point. The promoter of that event known as “Rumble

In The Jungle” was none other than the notorious Don King who needed 10 millions

dollars to get Ali and Foreman into a boxing ring. The only candidate willing to put

this kind of cash on the table was Mobutu Sese Seko, President of the Democratic

Republic of the Congo.

Mobutu - the megalomaniac dictator who got to power with the support of the United

States and Belgium in exchange for unlimited and affordable access to the riches of

the country - had a soft spot for music and it doesn’t come as a surprise that he

agreed to a three-day live music festival being organised prior to the “Rumble”. Zaïre

74 - as the festival was dubbed - was meant to hype the boxing match and many

stars were invited.

Although a myriads of artists flocked in for the occasion, it was the performance of

James Brown on Zairian soil that caused havoc among the younger generation,

inspiring hundreds of would-be musicians to take up their electric guitars and reverbs

cranked to the max in search of a new sound in which hyperactive Rumba was

blended with elements of psych and funk. While the results were very different from

the popular music of the three Musketeers - as Tabu Ley, Franco and Verckys were

known - they weren’t a complete break with tradition.

These new sounds emerged at a time when the Congolese record industry –

previously dominated by European major labels – was experiencing a period of

decline due to rising production costs and needed a radical change. The void was

filled by dozens of entrepreneurs willing to take chances on smaller scale releases.

It was the beginning of a golden age for Congolese independent record labels, and

the best of them – Cover N°1, Mondenge, Editions Moninga, Super Contact – preserved

the work of some of the region’s finest artists, while launching a generation of younger

musicians into the spotlight.

Congo Funk! is the story of these sounds and labels, but most of all it is the story of

two cities, separated by water but united by an indestructible groove. The fourteen

songs on this double LP showcase the many facets of the Congolese capitals, and

highlight the bands and artists, famous and obscure, who pushed Rumba to new

heights and ultimately influenced the musical landscape of the entire continent

and beyond.