Zaire 74: The African Artists

The ‘Rumble in the Jungle,’ as the 1974 Heavyweight Championship boxing bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman was known, was one of the most significant cultural events in the history of Zaire (DR Congo). A three-day music festival, organised by Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine (pictured above), accompanied the event and the excellent films When We Were Kings and Soul Power gave tantalising views of some of the artists who performed. Unfortunately, footage of many of the African musicians was omitted in favour of an extensive line-up of American performers – notably James Brown, BB King, Bill Withers and Cuban exile Celia Cruz with the Fania Allstars. It's long been a sore point among African music lovers, and this double-CD (or three vinyl LPs) partially helps to rectify the situation by including the audio performances of the major Congolese artists and South African star Miriam Makeba.

A short, dynamic and crisp sounding set of 20 minutes by singer Tabu Ley Rochereau opens the show. Acknowledged as the greatest vocalist to come from Zaire, he was at a creative peak, backed by his tight and confident band Afrisa International. Also in good form was Abeti Masekini – at the time one of Africa's top female artists and a huge star in her home country. Her performance here is spectacular, despite her guitar-playing brother's aspirations to sound rather too much like Jimi Hendrix. Lita Bembo's Orchestre Stukas represented the more youth-orientated groups. A raunchy guitar band, extremely popular amongst the Zaïrois, they performed a frenzied modern style of highly animated rumba. The icing on the cake, perhaps inevitably, is the appearance of Franco & OK Jazz. Their sublimely funky set is made up of a series of short song segments segued together into a 30-minute guitar/horn rumba. Equally wonderful is Miriam Makeba, performing here with her Guinean Ensemble and Brazilian guitarist Sivuca. Exiled from her homeland of South Africa, she was a true global star and her presence at this event was a major coup for the organisers, and for the credibility of President Mobutu, whose praises she extols in perfect Lingala.

Closing the recording is a percussive extract from the Pembe Dance Troupe, which ends with the huge audience chanting ‘Ali Boma Ye’ (Ali Kill Him) – which was actually a lot more good-natured than it sounds. A fascinating audio document of a remarkable event.