Verckys - Congolese Funk Afrobeat & Psychedelic Rumba 1969 - VINYL LP

180-gram double LP version. Congo's turbulent and exhilarating '70s Nightclubs and dance floors were packed to the brim in the capital, Kinshasa. Exuberant crowds, still giddy from independence achieved a decade prior, grooved to the sounds of the country's classics. In fact, the whole continent was submerged in the Congolese rumba craze. Encouraged by the fantastic productions of the Ngoma tag, vibrant radio waves had been spreading the Congo's sounds from Leopoldville across the continent, making these tunes the country's top export. This unexpected success nurtured a wealth of talented musicians. One of them was Verckys, born Georges Mateta Kiamuangana. At age 18, he became a member of the country's most dominant and influential band Franco Luambo's OK Jazz. This relationship was short-lived, however, as Verckys, now a versatile and potent multi-instrumentalist, had plans of his own The formation of Orchester V+-v+- in 1968, with the aim of reinventing and modernizing the Congolese sound. Blending the ever-influential prowess of James Brown with Congolese merengue, rumba, and soukous, Verckys stripped away the conventional approach that OK Jazz had pioneered, allowing his saxophone-laced melodies to dominate. Verckys also began recording young urban artists with guitar driven cavacha sounds and releasing their work on his tag, Les Editions Veve; Les Freres Soki, Bella Bella, Orchestre Kiam, and others shot to stardom overnight, making Verckys quite wealthy. But that wasn't enough for a man with a vision. He built a sprawling entertainment complex called Veve Centre and oversaw the construction of the Congo's most modern recording studio in Kinshasa, in which he recorded the legendary Tabu Lay Rochereau. Orchestre Veve's popularity poured across borders and in 1974 the band travelled to Kenya for a two-month tour. James Brown, upon seeing Verckys perform that yea