The Rough Guide to Congo Gold

The Rough Guide to Congo Gold
Compilation album by Various artists
Released 12 February 2008
Genre World, Congolese, Soukous
Length 76:13
Label World Music Network
Full series chronology

  • The Rough Guide to Cuban Street Party
  • (2008)
  • The Rough Guide to Congo Gold
  • (2008)
  • The Rough Guide to African Street Party
  • (2008)
Complete list

The Rough Guide to Congo Gold is a world music compilation album originally released in 2008. Part of the World Music Network Rough Guides series, the release focuses on the soukous genre of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with tracks from the 1960s to 90s. The compilation was produced by Phil Stanton, co-founder of the World Music Network. Martin Sinnock compiled the tracks and wrote the liner notes, and Brad Haynes & Marisa Lassman coordinated the project.[1][2][3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Robert Christgau[4] A
PopMatters[5]
AllMusic[2]
Mojo[6]

The album met critical appraise upon release. In his review for AllMusic, Chris Nickson wrote that the album does a "first-rate job" in illustrating the genre and gives an "object lesson in what made it so wonderful".[2] Robert Christgau called it "as playable as Afrocomps get".[4] Writing for PopMatters, Nate Cunningham rose the issue of artists being "almost exclusively names you can find in the Wikipedia entry on soukous", but gave it a pass, saying it's less an "aural equivalent of a picture-postcard" than other introductory world music compilations.[5] John Goddard of the Toronto Star agreed with Cunningham that "every artist belongs to the pantheon", but called every song a "nugget".[7]

Track listing

No. TitleArtist Length
1. "Marie Louise"  Henri Bowane & Wendo Kolosoy 3:23
2. "Parafifi"  Grand Kalle & L'African Jazz 5:13
3. "Adios Tete"  L'African Jazz & Tabu Ley Rochereau 2:46
4. "Mamu Wa Mpoy"  African Fiesta & Doctor Nico 3:20
5. "Marcello Tozongana"  Verckys & Orchestre Vévé 5:30
6. "Azda"  Franco & TPOK Jazz 7:33
7. "Nakweyi Carreau"  Afrisa International & Tabu Ley Rochereau 4:48
8. "Tchimurenga Zimbabwe"  Sam Mangwana 7:28
9. "Eswi Yo Wapi"  M'bilia Bel & Tabu Ley Rochereau 9:03
10. "Mujinga"  Franco & TPOK Jazz 10:35
11. "Bon Samaritain"  Papa Noel 6:33
12. "Biya"  Madilu System 10:01


References

  1. ↑ World Music Network. "About Us - The WMN Story". Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Nickson, Chris. "The Rough Guide to Congo Gold". Allmusic. Retrieved 9 Jan 2014.
  3. ↑ Discogs. "Various – The Rough Guide To Congo Gold". Retrieved 10 Jan 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide". Retrieved 9 Jan 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cunningham, Nate. "Various Artists: The Rough Guide to Congo Gold". PopMatters. Retrieved 9 Jan 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Rough Guide To Congo Gold". World Music Network. Retrieved 9 Jan 2014.
  7. ↑ Goddard, John (19 Feb 2008). "Rough Guide to Congo Gold". Toronto Star (Torstar). Retrieved 2014-01-10.

External links