An often-overlooked item in the discography of Les Quatre Etoiles , 1988's Four Stars at the Kilimanjaro (Kilimanjaro International...

Ali and Tam's together with Orchestre Malo wrap up our retrospective look at three interesting Congolese LP's released in the...

Here is the second of three "unorthodox" Congolese albums released by the Swiss label Plainisphare in the mid-'80s. Nsimba...

Kinshasa! , by Kawende et ses Copains (Plainisphare ZONE Z1, 1984), was the first of three LPs released in the mid-'80s by the Swis...

I love this album cover! I love the music on the album! The group "Le Peuple" had its origins in a split from the legen...

Elizabeth Finant, better known as Abeti Masikini, or just "Abeti," was a pioneer of the Congolese music scene - one of the fi...

As promised in an earlier post , here are Volumes 5 and 6 of the series Rochereau Vols. 1-8 , released by Disco Stock in Abidjan in 1982...

Théo Blaise Kounkou is one of those African musicians who, while building substantial careers and achieving popularity throughout Afr...

No sooner had I posted Likembe 's last offering then I realized that I had another, similar pressing. Orchestres Kamale et Kiam ...

Today's post covers some old ground - classic orchestras from the stable of wunderkind Kiamwuangana Mateta, aka "Verckys,...

Just about everyone in the United States who started collecting African music in the 1970s and '80s is familiar with the producti...

Orchestre Les Hi-Fives, originators of the popular Kibushi sound, were one of many Congolese dance bands who, fleeing political turmo...

I've written in this space several times of my admiration for Souzy Kasseya , the brilliant Congolese session guitarist who score...

Les Officiers of African Music were a "super-group" formed in the 1980s by Congolese musicians (mainly from the Brazzaville...

I was all ready to post today's selection - Baba Gaston's wonderful 1983 release  Condition Bi-Msum (ASL ASLP 971) - when I re...

It's easy to think of Gaby Lita Bembo as the Wild Man of '70s and '80s Zaïre/Congo music - his unrestained stage antics m...

I've been hesitating to post here the cover of Zazou Bikaye's 1985 LP  Mr. Manager  (Pow Wow WOW 7401). I don't know who th...

Here's another classic from the last "Golden Age" of Congo music, the 1980s! Wuta Mayi is best known as a member of two...

Congolese musician Pablo Lubadika Porthos began his career with several local assemblages in the 1970s, including Kin-Bantou, Lovy du Z...