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Soukous (from French secousse, "shock, jolt, jerk") is a genre of dance music originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and the Republic of the Congo (formerly French Congo and the People's Republic of the Congo). It derived from Congolese rumba in the 1960s, with faster dance rhythms and bright, intricate guitar improvisation, and gained popularity in the 1980s in France. Although often used by journalists as a synonym for Congolese rumba, both the music and dance associated with soukous differ from more traditional rumba, especially in its higher tempo, song structures and longer dance sequences. Soukous lyrics often explore themes of love, social commentary, philosophical musing, struggle, and success.

Etymology

The term soukous, derived from the French verb secouer, denoting "to shake," initially described a person who moved jerkily but evolved into a dance style synonymous with vitality and cadence. Over time, secousse evolved into soucousses and later soucous in everyday speech and in the press, before the letter "c" was eventually replaced with a "k", giving rise to the modern spelling soukous. The bassline, inspired by hand-drum percussion patterns, is the genre's rhythmic foundation and is typically characterized by a 16th-note cadence. Emerging prominently during Mobutu Sese Seko's reign in Zaire, the assertive bass style of soukous emulated regimented motions of military marches (marche militaire).

thumb|182x182px|A [[Duet|duo performing at Congolese rumba nightspot in Léopoldville|left]]

During World War I, new styles of music and dance spread across the Lower Congo region (now Kongo Central) and the Pool Malebo area. Although maringa music was not directly related to Cuban rumba, it gradually became known as "rumba Congolaise" because imported records by Cuban groups were often mistakenly labeled as "rumba". Ethnomusicology professor Kazadi wa Mukuna explained that the name remained popular partly because recording companies reused the term "rumba" while adapting it to local maringa rhythms. Early pioneers of the genre helped establish Congolese rumba by developing new ways of playing and arranging their instruments.

Formation and paternity debate

During the early 1960s, many young Congolese musicians began speeding up the slower tempo of Congolese rumba. Artists introduced faster rhythms and placed greater emphasis on guitar improvisation, especially high-pitched and rapid lead guitar lines imbued with a more heightened African motif. Drummers shifted the clave rhythm to the snare drum, and lead guitars became the central focus of the music.

The origins of soukous are a matter of dispute, with divergent attributions and viewpoints. Clément Ossinondé, a Congolese musicologist specializing in Congolese music, credits Franco Luambo and TPOK Jazz with helping pioneer the style through Franco's fast-paced rumba odemba rhythm. American music journalist Morgan Greenstreet similarly argued that Franco transformed the sebene, which had previously served mainly as a short instrumental bridge between vocal sections, into the central element of Congolese popular music. Franco's odemba style was described as "rougher, more repetitive, and rooted in rhythms that moved the hips of dancers at Kinshasa's hottest clubs". The group gradually replaced the older boucher style made popular by Les Bantous de la Capitale. Congolese music journalist Audifax Bemba explained that Orchestre Sinza stood out because of its conversational style of singing, expressive lead guitar work that expanded the sebene, and lively Time signature| rhythm. Kimbembe's guitar style also differed from earlier approaches by doubling notes in eighths rather than following the traditional quarter-note pattern. The band also introduced freestyle dance sections that encouraged energetic audience participation. According to popular stories, their performances were so lively that audiences often began dancing before even entering the venue. During this period, a surge of Zairean musicians moved to Belgium and France, primarily driven by the hegemony of the Mobutu Sese Seko regime, which propagated propaganda songs as part of the Authenticité campaign to foster a sense of national identity and pride through ideological slogans of the one-party state, the Movement Populaire de la Révolution (MPR). This state ideological shift gradually infiltrated Zairean popular music, with popular musicians embracing the regime's ideology and documenting its achievements. Mobutu's use of music as a political tool has often been compared to Mao Zedong's use of music during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. At the same time, Congolese urban music continued to spread internationally, leading many musicians to settle in African and European countries, particularly Belgium and France.

The soukous rapid growth also attracted many youths in Kinshasa who saw music as one of the few available career opportunities during a period of limited employment. Records were often produced in Europe and then shipped back to Africa for sale and distribution. Nonetheless, the growing African diaspora in France, over a million people, mostly from Francophone nations including Gabon, Benin, Togo, Mali, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Zaire, provided a strong listener base. Soukous became known as a cosmopolitan and widely appreciated genre, Abeti Masikini followed suit, becoming the second Zairean and the first female soukous artist to perform there alongside Mireille Mathieu and Hugues Aufray. Masikini also performed at Carnegie Hall in New York on 11 March 1974. An expanding African nightlife scene developed in Paris, beginning with clubs such as Keur Samba near Place de la Concorde in 1975, followed by venues including Black and White Club, Atlantis, Timmy's, L'Alizé, and Au Petit Tam-Tam. Even so, several independent American record labels began licensing and reissuing African recordings, and by the early 1980s, U.S. tours and albums by artists such as Tabu Ley, the Flamingos of Ghana, Sweet Talks (Ghana), and Sonny Okosun began to appear.

Africa

Across Africa, soukous became one of the most dominant dance music styles and strongly influenced the development of many forms of modern African popular music, including benga music, muziki wa dansi, Kidandali, Igbo highlife, palm-wine music, and taarab. In Kinshasa, its popularity also encouraged the creation of nearly 350 youth bands, which introduced new dance styles, rhythmic patterns, and musical trends. The cavacha dance craze, which was popularized by groups such as Zaïko Langa Langa and Orchestra Shama Shama, spread rapidly across Central and East Africa and exert influence on Kenyan musicians. The cavacha drumming pattern, usually played on the snare drum or hi-hat, also became emblematic of the Zairean sound in Nairobi and was adopted by regional bands. Prominent Congolese rumba Swahili bands in Nairobi formed around Tanzanian bands like Simba Wanyika, which gave rise to offshoots like Les Wanyika and Super Wanyika Stars. Virgin Records also produced albums by the Tanzanian-Zairean group Orchestra Makassy and the Kenya-based Orchestra Super Mazembe. The Swahili-language hit song "Shauri Yako" ("it's your problem") became especially popular in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

left|thumb|294x294px|A posture of [[Pépé Kallé in 1978]]

Another influential Zairean band, Les Mangelepa, relocated to Kenya and achieved major success throughout East Africa. Zairean singer Samba Mapangala and his Nairobi-based Orchestra Virunga released the 1981 album Malako, which became one of the early releases associated with Europe's growing world music market. Soukous soon eclipsed East African styles like benga and taarab, emerging as the dominant form of urban entertainment and creating challenges for East African musicians who found it hard to rival its widespread success. Meanwhile, between 1976 and 1977, Sam Mangwana and the African All Stars dominated the dance halls of Kinshasa with records produced in West Africa, which were different from the sounds produced in the two-track studios of Kinshasa. Following this, there was a migration to Lomé and Cotonou, followed by Franco Luambo's departure to Belgium. One of the genre's foremost "purveyors" in the country was guitarist Abdul Tee-Jay, who became a leading artist in Sierra Leone's London-based music scene. He first learned guitar by listening to Congolese bands and recordings by Docteur Nico. In a 1989 interview with Folk Roots, Abdul Tee-Jay explained that his "Rokoto" style developed from adapting traditional Sierra Leonean folk melodies while also drawing influence from soukous and highlife. It catalyzed the emergence of a distinct genre of guitar-based Igbo highlife music, which was exemplified by musicians like Oliver De Coque, the Oriental Brothers International, and their various imitators and followers. The superabundance of Nigerian pressings of Zairean music featured the musicians who influenced this trend, as seen in the case of Music From Zaire Vol. 6, which showcased artists from Verckys Kiamuangana Mateta's stable like Orchestre Kiam, Orchestre Lipua-Lipua, and the cavacha rhythm. After the conflict, many young men, including former members of the disbanded Biafran Armed Forces, turned to music for livelihood and emotional relief. These musicians, initially performing under pseudonyms and adopting Congolese styles, found popularity with audiences through energetic dance routines and infectious rhythms, particularly those of TPOK Jazz. Soukous cassette tapes were widely circulated, particularly in southwestern Nigeria, and the genre was frequently heard on street cassette players and in public entertainment venues. Some Nigerian youths, enamored with the style, even began singing in French despite lacking comprehension of the language.

South America, the Caribbean, and Réunion

In Colombia, soukous made inroads into the local culture and contributed to the development of champeta. In the third chapter of the documentary Pasos de la Cumbia, Lucas Silva, a DJ and cultural producer specializing in African music, recounts how Mobutu Sese Seko purchased a plane in Colombia. When it required maintenance, a Colombian mechanic traveled to Zaire, returning with a collection of 45 rpm records, including the iconic El Mambote by l'Orchestre Veve, which became a hit. African musicians like Kanda Bongo Man, Nicolas Kasanda wa Mikalay, Diblo Dibala, Ikenga Super Stars of Africa, Mbilia Bel, and Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens became local celebrities, forging a "pan-African connection that was, at the time, largely unknown to many Africans within the continent".

The genre also expanded its reach to the French overseas territories, notably Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Réunion, largely due to the extensive tours of Congolese artists. Among them, the band Loketo stood out as a "cultural ambassador" in helping introduce and popularize African music across these regions. Aurlus Mabélé was particularly influential, with his hits such as "Embargo", "Loketo", "Vacances aux Antilles", "Zebola", and "Waka Waka" becoming staples of local parties and dance floors. According to the Centre for Fine Arts, bands like Kassav' and Tabou Combo were key to transmitting cavacha drumming pattern to France, the French Antilles, and the broader Caribbean.

Paris scene

thumb|[[Koffi Olomide|Koffi Olomidé and Papa Wemba, 1988|225x225px]]

As sociopolitical unrest persisted in Zaire throughout the 1980s, numerous musicians sought refuge across Africa, with a considerable number relocating to Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. Some traversed through Central and East Africa before ultimately establishing their operational bases in Europe. Soukous gained traction in Brussels, Paris, and London, emerging as the only sub-Saharan African genre universally embraced in Belgium and France. According to Congolese columnist Achille Ngoye, Belgium offered a significant permanent operational base for numerous Zairean artists. In July 1980, Franco Luambo consolidated his European influence by creating Visa 80, a Brussels-based distribution center for Zairean music, following his purchase of property in the city. Papa Wemba and Viva La Musica made the longest-lasting impact, partly due to Wemba's ability to maintain a presence in both Paris and Kinshasa with dual bands, one focusing on soukous and another featuring French session players for international pop. In Parisian studios, the sebene guitars blended with the tight drum machines and synths of zouk and funky disco makossa on numerous records. However, this fusion received criticism for deviating from authentic Congolese styles. Notable critics like Nyboma argued that the music had become commercialized and lacked emotional depth, calling for a return to the fundamentals of "beautiful melodies and highly tuned voices".

The influx of Zairean artists to France catalyzed the proliferation of Parisian studios as epicenters for soukous production, with an increasing reliance on synthesizers and electronic instruments. Some artists continued to record for the Congolese market, but others abandoned the demands of the Kinshasa public and set out to pursue new audiences. Diblo Dibala and Aurlus Mabélé dominated the clubs with "Africa Moussou", creating a hyperactive style of super-speed soukous, dubbed TGV soukous by fans, alluding to France's high-speed trains.

Israeli songwriter David Halfon's instrument shop in Saint-Michel became a central hub for African musicians, even as most Africans in Paris lived in Barbès, Saint-Denis, or Montreuil, the latter known for hosting the largest Malian community outside Mali.

Ndombolo

By the late 1990s, musicians such as Radja Kula, Wenge Musica, Koffi Olomidé, Général Defao, and Extra Musica metamorphosed soukous into raunchy, frenetic hip-swinging dance music, renaming it ndombolo. This style surged in popularity across Africa and into the continent's diaspora in Belgium, France, the UK, Germany, Canada, and the United States. In February 2005, ndombolo music videos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo underwent censorship for indecency, which resulted in the banning of videos by Koffi Olomidé, JB Mpiana, and Werrason from airwaves. Despite the censure, ndombolo record sales surged, remaining popular with new releases dominating discos, bars, and clubs across Africa.

References

Bibliography

External links

The Sound of Sunshine: How soukous saved my life
Rare recording (1961) of rural finger style Soukous guitarist Pierre Gwa with home made guitar
GuitOp81's Soukous Guitar site