Congo Vibes
Music => Congolese Music => Topic started by: archos on June 22, 2014, 21:37
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TLMl8EkJC0
and the lack of unity of congolese artists
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I wish I understood Lingala to address what he was talking about, but Ive heard that argument from others I know that listen to both styles. I would only say remember where coupe decale came from. At the end of the day, most other west African styles were influenced a bit by rhumba/soukous. When you listen to the progression of Congolese music from the 60s to today, you can hear its influence especially in the francophone countries. You can hear it heavy in Cote d'Ivoire and Cameroon the most but today's Nigerian and Ghanian artist have studied the playbook too.
Being that I dont speak the languages, I can say anything about the content of the songs but the structure of coupe decale is similar to that of soukous too. All they did was use electric drum kits (similar to what was done in the early 90s in soukous) and eliminated some of the instruments and speak french only. Coupe Decale has just drums, bass, and usually one or two guitars max with a synthesizer. That guitar usually functions similar to what the rhythm and lead would do in soukous.
In essence what I am saying is that coupe decale is nothing but an off branch version of soukous.