Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos

by Gary Stewart

There had always been music along the banks of the Congo River—lutes and drums, the myriad instruments handed down from ancestors. But when Joseph Kabasele and his African Jazz went chop for chop with O.K. Jazz and Bantous de la Capitale, music in Africa would never be the same. A sultry rumba washed in relentless waves across new nations springing up below the Sahara. The Western press would dub the sound soukous or rumba rock; most of Africa called in Congo music.

Born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville at the end of World War II, Congon music matured as Africans fought to consolidate their hard-won independence. In addition to great musicians—Franco, Essous, Abeti, Tabu Ley, and youth bands like Zaiko Langa Langa—the cast of characters includes the conniving King Leopold II, the martyred Patrice Lumumba, corrupt dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, military strongman Denis Sassou Nguesso, heavyweight boxing champs George Foreman and Muhammad Ali, along with a Belgian baron and a clutch of enterprising Greek expatriates who pioneered the Congolese recording industry.

Rumba on the River presents a snapshot of an era when the currents of tradition and modernization collided along the banks of the Congo. It is the story of twin capitals engulfed in political struggle and the vibrant new music that flowered amidst the ferment.

For more information on the book, visit its other online home at —an impressive resource.

Genres: Music, Africa, Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published February 8, 2000

About the author

Gary L. Stewart (1937-2018) was born in Salt Lake City and raised as a Mormon. He held a doctorate in theater criticism from the University of Iowa and spent 36 years in academia. He taught theater at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMASS), and then at Indiana State University (ISU). He wrote two “Gabriel Utley” crime novels, several plays and Avenging Angel, an unpublished western that became a feature film starring Tom Berenger, Charlton Heston, and James Coburn.

Reviews

[Wes Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this book because it was about African music and I liked the cover guy's hat. Had no idea that Rumba in the Franco-Belgian Congo was a thing, which, if you're from Africa, is like not knowing that the U.S. has a music called rock'n'roll. Turns out to be a head-flipping story about a whole separate musical system, just as important in the global sense as jazz, rock music, or anything else that changed everything it touched in the 20th century. Reading the history of Congolese rumba music, which is an almost perfect contemporary of U.S. rock music, is like absorbing a whole new paradigm, a whole new set of legends and stories and records, and this book presents it to you as fully-formed as a still-evolving popular music can be. Even if you don't dig the music you can still get off on the story, which keeps on trucking, strong enough to carry the load of detail it's accumulated in 60 odd years, without losing much momentum.

[Wildlifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

For most of africans like me, who were born in 1980s, we have growing up listening to Congolese Music. Our parents used to play on their radio cassettes songs by Tabou Ley, Simaro Lutumba, Madilu System, Mbilia Bel and Maestro- Franco Luambo Makiadi. Despite the fact that we didn't understand the meaning of the songs, rumba music remained dominant across african continent. Due to its rich culture and beautiful rhythm, it has remained [one of] the most influential music in africa. Today due to technological advancement, lingala language and specifically rumba songs are translated and we do understand what these lyrics really mean. For example, today in Tanzania, men who are in relation with women solely to be cared financially by women are called 'mario' from the song Mario by Franco which talks about a man of such behaviour.

So, due to influence of rumba music, books like this becomes must read and more enjoyable to music lovers.

Gary, has packed this book with the historical development of Rumba music from both Congo (Kinshasa and Brazzaville) from late 1800s to 1995. He has show how expeditions of both Henry Morton Stanley and Brazza brought with them various musical instruments in both Congo which in combination with traditional instruments began to revolutionize music. In early 1900s the latin music from Cuba entered in Congo. Congolese musicians started to imitate this songs and later in 1940s they started to record officially in Lingala and Kikongo.

Gary chronologically has mixed political development of Congo from Belgian rule, to Lumumba and Mobutu and how it shaped and evolved rumba music.

If you wonder today why most congolese musicians record their songs in France and Belgian, this is the book to read. All music studios in Congo like Ngoma record, Longinisa and Opica as well as CEFA were founded and owned by some Greek businessmen and mostly Belgians in Congo. This was the root.

What i observed is that for almost 33 years, from 1950s to 1989, Franco with his band O.K Jazz dominated Congolese Music industry. The life of Franco was not only Musical but political. Gary has shown how Mobutu and Franco had a 'scratch-my-back and i will-scratch-your-back relation'. Mobutu made Franco rich with business investments in France anr Belgiam and giant musically in exchange of political propaganda.

Generally in this book three areas are covered: History and social life of both Congo from Stanley and Brazza from 1800s upto independent congo in 1995; Evolution of Congo Music; and lastly history of all music bands and Artist from 1940s (days of first generation like Henri Bowane, Vicky Longomba, joseph Kabasele etc) upto 1995 (days of third generation of wenge musica, Koffi olomide etc).

It's a simple written and engaging book, with pictures.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting just after WWII, this is a detailed and scholarly history of the music from the "two Congos" (French and Belgian) that became known as "soukous" by the 1980s, when its center of gravity had largely moved to Paris.

The welter of detail is almost overwhelming - every line-up of every band is documented with what songs they recorded, at what studio and on what label. Every musician has a given name and stage name, so lists like the following proliferate:

Nicolas "Docteur Nico" Kasanda, Etienne "Chantal" Kazadi, Dominique "Apôtre" Dionga, Lambert "Vigny" Kolamoy, Victor "Bovic" Bondo, André "Zorro" Lumingu and Pedro "Cailloux" Matandu.

Under the dictator Mobutu's "authenticity" movement of the early 70s, there was pressure to drop European given names: François "Franco" Luambo became Luambo Makiadi (and briefly Abubacar Sidick after a half-hearted conversion to Islam), Nicolas "Docteur Nico" Kasanda became Kasanda wa Mikalayi and so on (and the Republic of the Congo changed to Zaire).

The amount of accompanying political history is perfect and relieves some of my sense that I don't know anything about late- and post-colonial Africa, at least it does so for a few countries. The book is plainly intended to concentrate on the musical history including musician's unions, night-club owners, record producers and all of their economies.

I could have used a little more sociological detail on life-style, diet, drinking habits, the relation of Western to traditional medicine and so on, if only to explain why so many of the key figures died in their 30s and 40s but that might have necessitated a hundred more pages!
The publication date of the book and end of what it covers actually is just at the start of the almost-decade long and unbelievably brutal Second Congo War, which provides a tragic postscript to a chronicle that already has its share of struggle.

[Reece Welsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book with a lovely attention to detail and care in telling the important story of Congolese music history. Could not recommend highly enough for anyone with even a passing interest in the history of Congolese music

[Jakob Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can sometimes drag into an interminable list of bands with similar names, but as long as you're not reading it for facts the shape of the narrative and comments on how global intellectual trends shaped music in Congo are fun

[Tobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great historical text and storybook for anyone who loves a good story; in this case a collection of several stories about the lives of the people who cooked rumba from its early beginnings. It is wonderful tribute to Congolese music and the legends who created it.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

He badly shortchanges the post-Zaiko/Empire Bakuba bands (poor Wenge Musica is a footnote), but he's magisterial about the music he likes.

[Kulwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

For most of africans like me, who were born in 1980s, we have growing up listening to Congolese Music. Our parents used to play on their radio cassettes songs by Tabou Ley, Simaro Lutumba, Madilu System, Mbilia Bel and Maestro- Franco Luambo Makiadi. Despite the fact that we didn't understand the meaning of the songs, rumba music remained dominant across african continent. Due to its rich culture and beautiful rhythm, it has remained [one of] the most influential music in africa. Today due to technological advancement, lingala language and specifically rumba songs are translated and we do understand what these lyrics really mean. For example, today in Tanzania, men who are in relation with women solely to be cared financially by women are called 'mario' from the song Mario by Franco which talks about a man of such behaviour.

So, due to influence of rumba music, books like this becomes must read and more enjoyable to music lovers.

Gary, has packed this book with the historical development of Rumba music from both Congo (Kinshasa and Brazzaville) from late 1800s to 1995. He has show how expeditions of both Henry Morton Stanley and Brazza brought with them various musical instruments in both Congo which in combination with traditional instruments began to revolutionize music. In early 1900s the latin music from Cuba entered in Congo. Congolese musicians started to imitate this songs and later in 1940s they started to record officially in Lingala and Kikongo.

Gary chronologically has mixed political development of Congo from Belgian rule, to Lumumba and Mobutu and how it shaped and evolved rumba music.

If you wonder today why most congolese musicians record their songs in France and Belgian, this is the book to read. All music studios in Congo like Ngoma record, Longinisa and Opica as well as CEFA were founded and owned by some Greek businessmen and mostly Belgians in Congo. This was the root.

What i observed is that for almost 33 years, from 1950s to 1989, Franco with his band O.K Jazz dominated Congolese Music industry. The life of Franco was not only Musical but political. Gary has shown how Mobutu and Franco had a 'scratch-my-back and i will-scratch-your-back relation'. Mobutu made Franco rich with business investments in France anr Belgiam and giant musically in exchange of political propaganda.

Generally in this book three areas are covered: History and social life of both Congo from Stanley and Brazza from 1800s upto independent congo in 1995; Evolution of Congo Music; and lastly history of all music bands and Artist from 1940s (days of first generation like Henri Bowane, Vicky Longomba, joseph Kabasele etc) upto 1995 (days of third generation of wenge musica, Koffi olomide etc).

It's a simple written and engaging book, with pictures.

[Gavin]

Do you like luminous, watery guitars? The swish of Afro-Cuban rhythms and the breathy influence of jazz? What about ecstatic horn charts? Try Congolese rumba.

This pretty broad overview of all things rumba is pretty heavy on details, but — on second thought — it's a precious historical record of a genre where so much has already been lost to time. There are so many minor singles released on Congolese labels, so many stars who died young: many of whom author Gary Stewart interviewed to put together this history of their music. Rumba — whose fertile origins Stewart aptly compares to jazz's — was a result of the melting pot created by the dual cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville). Imported back to the Congo, Afro-Cuban rhythms combined with various traditional ethnic musics, jazz, and historical circumstance to create one of the continent's greatest musical movements.

Congolese bands often employed at least ten different players: a ton of singers, at least three guitarists, a bassist, a conga player or two, later on a drummer on the kits. Their line-ups were almost always changing, and so was the political environment that they lived within. In both Congos, the story of their music is tied intimately to the politics of the time. Basically, the problems caused and/or masked by colonialism caused both Congos to struggle after they both achieved independence in the '60s, though the former Belgian Congo (then Zaire, now the DRC) specifically faced more suffering and instability both before and after the Belgians relinquished control. Starting in the late '60s, dictator Mobutu Sese Seko centralized the country's power structures, forced everyone to rename themselves, and then tanked the economy. (In a clear example of the dangers of a favor-based political system.) Hence the mass exodus of Zairean musicians to western African and European metropolises like Brussels/Paris. And it was in these cities where the sounds of soukous were born: faster than rumba, less emphasis on the storytelling, and a more insistent beat.

It is also remarkable how close they likely came to breaking into the Western scene. In the early '80s, the Island label, which brought Bob Marley and the sounds of Jamaican reggae to fame, poked around some music by a few Congolese exiles before eventually setting their chips on Nigerian King Sunny Adé's jùjú music — which Stewart, without dismissing Sunny's appeal, sees as a massive miscalculation. But amongst African audiences, particularly back home in the Congos, their stars shone bright. Records sold like hotcakes and their funerals were sometimes attended by hundreds of thousands of dedicated listeners. Like other reviewers note, this really is an alternate world of music completely unknown to Anglophone audiences: yet it deserves the attention it gets here and maybe yours too.

[Inem]

I didn't grow up listening to Congolese music, but now that I live in "Francophone" Africa, it's all around me all of the time. I read this with a general interest in Africa's musical history as well as with a desire to catch up to my peers who have had a lifetime of listening to rumba and soukous. I admit, this book can be a little too detailed at times for a beginner. It does have very long lists of names of artists and music groups and the artists are constantly swapping from one band to the next which felt impossible to keep track of. With that being said, I am satisfied with the general history of Congolese music that it gave me and I jotted down a list of well over a dozen of the most important or intriguing artists and groups to explore further. Beyond the obvious importance of Kabasele (Le Grand Kallé) and African Jazz, Franco and OK Jazz, Dr. Nico, and Zaiko Langa Langa, I have liked the little that I've heard from Abeti, Les Bantous de la Capitale, Verckys and Orchestre Vévé, and Frank Boukaka. Most of my peers grew up with the slightly younger wave of sekous artists who emerged in the 80s, namely Papa Wemba and Koffi Olomide, so of course, the time has come to emerse myself in their bodies of work as well. The book is instructive, important, and I am glad it was written.

[Mark Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew next to nothing about Congolese rumba (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo...), except some vague notions of cross-over between African and Cuban sounds, but this book helped to fill in some gaps, as it charted the dizzying numbers of bands and musicians who played this music, and told the story of its survival through many political and cultural upheavals.

A great work of scholarship,by Gary Stewart - made even more enjoyable by being able to listen to many of these recordings,where the musicianship shines through.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2zk...

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

The topic was interesting because I have lived in Kinshasa for the past two years and wanted to learn more about the history of the music, in addition to how the political situation had an affect on the musicians. Overall I enjoyed the story, but too much detail about every band and "stage" name of each musician made it drag on.

[Charlie]

A parable of culture.