[coll]: LUBUMBASHI 2005 – Musiques du Katanga
Lubumbashi Culture, 2005

CONGO – A survey of the music scene in Lubumbashi, the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The first part of the disc is fairly traditional, but then come several tracks from the city’s hiphop scene, then it goes all over the map stylistically. You will not hear this music anyplace else (many tracks are field recordings), so check it out! Lengthy liner notes in French & English.

Fo’s picks: 8, also 3, 5, 11, 14, 16, 21

Note: Tracks 4, 6, 7, 9, and 20 are interviews (in French)

1. lazy, dreamy solo guitar, slow male vocal. Has an “island” feel.
2. happy guitar strumming & sweet male/fem duet vox
3. nice lilting guitar & creaky older male vox
5. a humorous story song: soft guitar, cute duo vox, and about a million crickets!
8. KILLER! Two banjo-like kalindulas, light percussion & happy group vox. Happy at first, then it becomes a driving, hypnotic trance in the last 2 minutes.
10. same group as #8, a loose jam with several breaks by a guest rapper!
11. tight a cappella semi-freestyle hiphop duo. Title means “Shitty Country”
12. FCC: one “shit” in English. straight-up hiphop crew over cool loop & sound fx
13. rapid-fire rapping over a happy Afro-Carib style rumba groove, cheesy yet hip.
14. radical political hiphop: low, steady groove, sneering rap, some filtered speech
15. clubby dance-soul tune, slick filtered vocal, rapped break midway through
16. Bizarre vocal characterizations, first a cappella, then over reggae beat!
17. the local teen heartthrob: light pop vocal with acoustic guitar.
18. sweet vocal trio + a guitar, a very pretty Christian faith song
19. boys choir: “a piece for fun,” bouncy and silly but still very much a boys choir
21. Mozart! Solo fem vocal on a street corner. Very very nice.
22. Street sounds, then a brass band rehearses in the rain. Thunder at end.

[Fo] 12/9/05