Soukous is a Congolese affair. In the mid-’80s, many people wanted to dust off rumba, and in particular to speed it up. Gone was the slow intro, and straight into the groove. Kanda Bongo Man’s Kwasa Kwasa came along, and then in 1986 Aurlus Mabélé and Mav Cacharel, both from Brazzaville, joined forces with Diblo Dibala from Zaire to form the group Loketo and proclaim themselves the kings of soukous. The group’s first album, Maracas d’Or, with the hit Femme Ivoirienne, soon followed, and the business was off to a flying start! It was also the heyday of the sape, as the cover photo shows. Aurlus Mébélé, who had been in decline for several years, died in March 2020, as a result of a bad virus…
Maracas d’Or / Remix – Aurlus Mabélé, 1988
