I have a friend, and when I listened to the early album: Salamalikoum by Sakis, he told me: "Oh, this is from the time when Sakis was still a good boy."
So I titled this post with his definition, to intorduce you the song below. It is Yoka Lolembo. A nice rumba tune that I found on his album: Let's Go to Dance from, 1987, when he might still have been a good boy. I have just managed to get hold of this record. The song is a proper rumba, with very nice guitar parts in the style of Bongo Wende, though it is written it is not him who is playing, that made me surprised anyway, but well... And I like the vocals too. All in all, a very well arranged song with nice melodies.
A nice tune from the Central African Republic, from followers of the Congolese style, from the 80's. I don't say anything yet, probably you also know them, if not, I share some info. For this, I happen to have some
Don't know too much about this band, apart from that they were from Gabon. They played Congolese style, and I can say they did it well. Here is a great tune from their repertoire:
I would like to announce a new addition to our forum: the Old School Music board. It will focus on discussions about earlier periods of Congolese music.
I have noticed comments in the past about that we don't have a dedicated board like this. As a new comment like that appeared again, I decided to agree with DJ Sly and create this board. We intend to make it a place for old music enthusiasts.
Anything you would like to discuss from that era can be posted there, especially if you want to keep your ideas or questions in view longer than in the main discussion board. Early Zaiko stuff, Nico Kassanda, Franco Luambo and other early formations... feel free to discuss about them there with others of the same interest. Of course, if you feel your question would receive bigger attention in the main board, don't hesitate to ask it there instead. Posting in the new board about the mentioned subjects is not an obligation but rather an option.
Compared to what the situation was 6-7 years ago, there are very few shops remaining online selling a wide selection of Congolese titles, especially older releases. Villageafro was one shop like that, serving the needs of fans through years until they closed down sometime around summer this year. Good news to the lovers of the genre: they rebranded their store, and came back online with a new site not very long ago. I have already tested them, and I received what I ordered, the price of a CD that turned out not to be in stock was refunded automatically on the shipment of the rest.
I managed to spend a week with the band: Lokito Ya Congo in the UK. I created a summary of one of the concerts I participated in. If you are interested in how Congolese Music is doing in the UK, check it out!