The other day, while checking out the various (and many) African internet radio stations on Radio Garden, I zoomed over to Congo and discovered Radio Digital Congo/Radio Okapi (digitalcongo.net), ...

You may think you don’t know anything about Congolese music. But if you’ve ever tapped your foot to the irresistible beat of the rumba, you’ve experienced a national tradition. Rumba originated in ...

Congolese rumba, sometimes called rumba Lingala or rumba Congolais, is likely to join khon, a Thai masked dance drama, khaen music of Laos, chapei dang veng of Cambodia, Cuban son and Dominican ...

In Europe, the Paris-based band Kékélé is considered the world-music equivalent of exiled royalty: five of the stars of old-style Congolese soukous revisiting, on acoustic instruments, the classic ...

Papa Wemba died after collapsing on stage at a music festival in Ivory Coast Tributes have been pouring in for Congolese musician Papa Wemba who died on Sunday morning after collapsing on stage.

Songbird Faya Tess, Labour Day celebrations, Nairobi, 2019. [George Orido, Standard] Last week came with good news for Africa as Congolese rumba music won Unesco protected status. It joined other ...

One of Africa's biggest hitmakers, Tabu Ley Rochereau, a star with a honeyed voice who went on to become one of the continent's most successful music impresarios, died Saturday. He never truly ...

Wendo Kolosoy was the first international star of rumba congolaise, a catch-all term for the amalgams of Congolese folk music and Latin American styles that swept Africa in the mid 20th century. Known ...

Nene Mbendi Mandosa passed away on January 28 but it took nearly a day before his close friend Lukombo Nzambe, aka Shimita el Diego, confirmed the sad news. Not that Nene was not popular enough in the ...

Tributes have been pouring in for Congolese musician Papa Wemba who died on Sunday morning after collapsing on stage. African music expert Rita Ray looks at what made him so influential. Papa Wemba, ...