This year has seen the untimely deaths of two of the world’s most important cultural ambassadors. The Congolese rumba composer and TPOK Jazz singer Pepe Ndombe Opetum passed on around the same time we ...

NGOMA HERITAGE Local Congolese-American drummer Kiazi Malonga is the son of Malonga Casquelourd, founder of Fua Dia Congo, the Oakland-based dance-and-drum group that introduced Congolese music and ...

Each weekend, dancers stoked on music and alcohol sway to the old hits on the decrepit rooftop terrace of Kinshasa's venerable La Creche bar like little has changed in the Congolese capital since the ...

Africa’s leading Congolese Rumba music is now on the list of the world cultural heritage of humanity after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) admitted the ...

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) owes much of its global renown to its music, reflecting its cultural diversity. The DR Congolese music scene is incredibly diverse and dynamic, encompassing ...

In Kinshasa’s hip bars, the rumba of yesteryear has given way to a modern fusion of Afropop and RnB. The house of Congolese world music legend Papa Wemba has been ...