The Soul Of Congo: Treasures Of The Ngoma Label
*2025 stock* Planet Ilunga, the Brussels-based publisher has, since 2013, produced a series of recordings dedicated to the history of Congolese popular music from artists like Franco & OK Jazz, Docteur Nico, Orchestre Rock-a-Mambo and Joseph Kabasele & African Jazz. For its tenth release and in celebration of its tenth anniversary, the label launches with "The Soul of Congo" its most ambitious project to date: a well-documented and extensive anthology about the illustrious and legendary Congoles…
Joseph Kabasele And The Creation of Surboum African Jazz 1960-1963
*2025 stock* Planet Ilunga continues its mission to uncover and highlight the overlooked yet epic achievements in the world of Congolese rumba. This time to tell the most spectacular story of all. This is the story of the creation of Surboum African Jazz, the first Congolese music label founded by a Congolese. Surboum African Jazz was owned and managed by the best singer of all time, Joseph Kabasele, alias Grand Kallé. The label's catalog during the period 1960–63 is largely dominated by Grand K…
Franco Luambo Makiadi Presents Les Editions Populaires
"Indépendance Cha Cha” was an historic song, not only because it immortalized Congo’s independence in its lyrics, but also because it was the first single published by a Congolese-owned record label. Joseph Kabasele’s label Surboum African Jazz indeed paved the way for several Congolese musicians to become record publishers. It resulted in the 1960s in a plethora of newly found Kinshasa-based record labels, run by the biggest musicians of the time. With this new series “Les éditeurs congolais”, …
La Rumba De Mi Vida
*2025 stock* Incredible collection of classic Congolese music from Planet Ilunga specializing in this particular niche. Glorious guitar melodies, beautiful vocal harmonies, and infectious rumba grooves. Excellent curation and very cool thematic presentation, plus lots of great details given in the liner notes.
African Jazz Invites O.K. Jazz
The evolution of Congolese popular music in the 1960s and 70s is generally classified into two major schools: African Jazz & OK Jazz. The main representatives of those schools are Joseph Kabasele alias Grand Kallé, founder of African Jazz, and Franco Luambo, co-founder of O.K. Jazz. Two temperaments and ambiances, one commonly referred to as ‘fiesta’, the other as ‘odemba’, both seeking their own sublimity or ideal.
For the very first time, a compilation brings together explicitly the main prota…
Ghana Special Volume 2 (Electronic Highlife & Afro Sounds In The Diaspora 1980-93)
In the early 1980s, a particular alchemy between new musical technologies and significant social, cultural, and political transformations in Ghana gave rise to a new style of highlife. Drum machines and synthesisers appeared alongside lilting guitar lines and punchy horns, and the emerging Ghanaian diaspora began incorporating US disco and boogie, R&B, European new wave, and Caribbean zouk and soca into their music. This style soundtracked the birth of a new, proud Ghanaian identity and captured…
The Alegre All Stars
Born from a studio jam organized by Al Santiago in 1961, the "Alegre All Stars" was inspired by the famous late 50's Cuban jam sessions. Originally published by Alegre Records, a New York City based label specialized in Latin music, this album stands as a legendary release in the field. This is like an open door on a wild Nuyorican party including food, drinks and an ongoing selection of highly infectious Latin grooves to dance to.
"When producer, innovator, and self-described “extrovert of mani…