Rumba in the jungle

Rumba in the jungle

New release features stunning highlights from 1974 Kinshasa festival

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Rumba in the jungle

Everyone knows about the famous "Rumble in the Jungle", the epic heavyweight boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammed Ali held in Kinshasa, then Zaire, in 1974. The fight was immortalised in the Academy Award-winning film documentary When We Were Kings.

Prior to the fight, a three-night festival of music was held in the same stadium as the fight in Kinshasa. The festival was supposed to have been held just before the fight but the latter was delayed by five weeks and the concerts could not be rearranged.

James Brown and his band headlined a list of major R&B and Latin musicians from the USA. The list was impressive with Brown, Bill Withers, The Crusaders, BB King and The Spinners headlining the R&B line-up, while Fania All Stars and Celia Cruz represented Latin music. Some readers will have seen some of their performances in the follow-up documentary, Soul Power, which was stitched together from outtakes and cinema vérité footage as well as the solo vinyl live album by Fania All Stars and Celia Cruz.

The African artists at the festival, led by Zaire's own megastars Franco and Tabu Ley Rochereau, do make a fleeting appearance in Soul Power, but most of their sets have never been released. Zaire 74: The African Artists (Wrasse), released last year, partially sets the record straight. The double-CD (or three vinyl albums) is anchored by the wonderful series of rumba Congolais songs by Franco and his band, OK Jazz.

Miriam Makeba, then based in West Africa, was probably the best-known African singer in the world and she sings three of her hit songs in three languages, with Umqhokozo the standout. Like most of the other African acts, she sang a song in praise of the president of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, which might surprise some listeners, given that his presidency developed into a dictatorship. But at that time, in 1974, Zaireans were enjoying the end of a bitter civil war and the peace that brought. Mobutu also mandated a focus on African culture and music, as part of his "authenticité" programme (African clothes to be worn, only local music on the radio), which was a trend across countries in West Africa. Makeba also wrote praise songs for Guinean president Sékou Touré (she was living in Guinea at the time), who also went from independence hero to dictator during his period in power.

There are rumours that some of the African musicians were somewhat annoyed at the attention James Brown and his compatriots received, especially Franco, who was also a bandleader and trendsetter; he was probably the most influential African popular musician of all time, and his legacy remains immense.

Franco's great rival, Rochereau, was one of the first in Zaire to pay attention to James Brown and US funk, incorporating funk riffs into his music from around 1967. But we don't get to hear any of that; instead, we get his softer side and the love songs he was so famous for in Zaire. One of my Congolese friends explained to me some years ago that the "ladies listen to Rochereau and the guys follow Franco". That said, there are some delightful songs, with Annie and Celicia standouts.

Abumba Masikini and then her sister Abeti close out the first CD with rock-infused soukous but as to why she should be featured more than any other artists is mystifying.

Franco sweeps through 11 numbers that have been edited down to pop-song length (in his five- to six-hour local shows, a song could last up to 30 minutes), which might put off some purists; but if you're new to Congolais rumba and soukous, then this is an excellent introduction to Franco's music. And the recording quality, courtesy of Stuart Levine and South African jazz maestro Hugh Masekela, is much better than any of Franco's live albums.

Two popular local acts round out the second CD -- Orchestra Stukas and the Pembe dance troupe, both known at the time for their dance moves on stage (hard to see on an audio album).

The only problem I have with this release is that some of the great African musicians who played the festival, particularly Cameroonian Manu Dibango who was then riding high on his international hit, Soul Makossa, and the new wave Zairean band Zaiko Langa Langa, who would forever change the way Congolese music was performed with their small combo style of playing, are missing. Perhaps they will be part of a follow-up release. Let's hope so. In the meantime, get hold of this album if you want to know what was playing in Muhammed Ali's mind as he "rope-a-doped" George Foreman to defeat.


John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com

More info from wrasserecords.com

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