Zaïre 74 - the African artists

"In the weeks before 1974's legendary Rumble in the Jungle between [Muhammad] Ali and [George] Foreman, a three-day music festival in Kinshasa united major American R&B artists with their Congolese counterparts. Footage of James Brown and others has shown up on the documentaries When We Were Kings and Soul Power, but this lavish two-CD set is the first time we've heard the African performances ... A loose-limbed set from local rumba hero Franco and Le TPOK Jazz is the centrepiece; his rival Tabu Ley Rochereau provides a frenetic, guitar-heavy rumba-funk stew; Abumba Masikini flirts with acid rock; while Abumba's sister Abeti mixes soukous with heavy metal. Thrilling stuff".

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"This (...) double CD will be a startling ear-opener to many. You get complete sets of staggering intensity from the justly legendary Tabu Ley Rochereau & Afrisa, Franco & TPOK Jazz and Miriam Makeba, and others less recognised by Western fans like the theatrical Abeti Masikini and hardcore proto-soukous bangers Orchestre Stukas featuring Lita Bembo ... Rarely has such liberating musical archaeology been more deserved. I thought I was fairly familiar with what Tabu Ley and Franco did, but to hear them so tight and on fire in front of a massive local audience is something else: the atmosphere positively rushes out of the speakers and shakes you with both hands ... Deservedly well-packaged in a hardback double digipack with extensive notes by Robin Denselow and Masekela and Levine themselves, any lovers of "golden age"-music from the glory years of central and western Africa will find this utterly essential".