Amba – Wendo Kolosoy et l’orchestre Victoria Bakolo Miziki, 2002

🇨🇩🪘🎹🥁 Wendo Kolosoy is one of the founding fathers of Congolese rumba. Born in 1925 and orphaned at an early age, he « got by » in Kinshasa while playing music. He was eventually spotted and taken in by the founders of the famous Ngoma label. In 1948, he published his favourite song, Marie Louise, which propelled him to the forefront of the music scene. However, refusing to mix music with politics, he remained in the background during the thirty years of the Mobutu era. So it was a minor miracle to find him back in the studio in 2002 for Amba, with his historic orchestra, the Victoria Bakolo Miziki, alternating new compositions and covers. He surrounded himself with a few old rumba veterans who worked wonders, such as Mukubwele Bikunda and the highly inventive guitarist Vula Missi. But Wendo Kolosoy also calls on the new generation, with bassist Bouboul Shoming, already heard alongside Ray Lema, and Tambours de Brazza director Emile Biayenda. The result is an hour of voluptuous, swaying rumba. Kolosoy takes the opportunity to renew acquaintance with one of his old friends, Antoine Moundanda, who, on the other side of the Congo river, is also a long-standing authority on Congolese music, and in particular the famous thumb piano. Accompanied only by his sanza, they perform a breathtaking two-part acoustic rumba. Wendo recorded several more albums before passing away in 2008.