Soulful digital rumba funk gems by an as-yet- undiscovered producer from Kinshasa (Congo)
 
We’re delighted to present seven tracks from a highly original album which never saw the light of day! Blending state-of-the art mid-80s electronic programming with elements of Congolese rumba and touches of digital funk/r’n’b, it’s unlike anything that came out of Africa at the time. The project was the brainchild of the super-gifted Maurice Poto Doudongo who, after working with soukous stars Zaiko Langa Langa in his native Congo, moved to Brussels when he was in his early twenties, and joined Zazou Bikaye for some US shows in 1986. He then set out to record a largely electronic solo album, on which he played all the instruments (synths, guitars, vocals) and did all the programming. He worked with engineer Gilles Martin (except for the track Bolingo, which was produced with Vincent Kenis).
 
The resulting tracks were imaginative, filled with humour & fantasy… and so hybrid and cross-genres that the record was never finished, as the initial reactions were quite perplexed (a bit like what happened at the time to Aksak Maboul’s Ex-Futur Album: most people found the music to be too this for genre X, and not enough that for genre Z)… Maurice Poto Doudongo later collaborated with Amina Annabi, Papa Wemba, Foreign Affair, French rapper Singuila & more. Bolingo is the only track off the album which came out, on the It’s a Crammed, Crammed World 2 compilation (’87), which then got it licensed to appear on several compilations around the world.
 
The tracks in this EP were left at various stages of completion (many are rough mixes, some are demos), but Maurice Poto Doudongo’s originality, soulfulness and sense of groove shine through them all, from the delirious Passport Train to the electronic jazz excursion of Momo, the hip hop-inflected beats of Tika, the lyrical Congo soul melodies of Tango Esa Koleka, the joyful, electro reggae-ish Sala Keba and the frantic, “Prince visits Kinshasa” vibe of Yelele…