Brain, Alan

The award-winning documentary film The Rumba Kings is a joyous exploration of the liberating power of music. In the 1950s, when the Democratic Republic of the Congo was still under harsh Belgian rule, a generation of Congolese musicians decided to use popular music to fight colonial oppression. They fused traditional African rhythms with Afro-Cuban music to create the musical genre known as Congolese rumba, an infectious groove that provided a space of freedom and resistance against the cruelty and humiliation that the Congolese were facing in subjugation.

After its birth, the electrifying Congolese rumba beat never stopped. Congolese rumba carried the country through its quest for independence, producing the most famous African independence anthem ever created, conquering the entire continent with its captivating guitar sounds, and forging the identity of an entire nation.

On one level, The Rumba Kings is the stunning story of how the Congolese rumba sound developed and later conquered Africa. On another level, the film is an emotional statement about how music can break barriers, heal wounds, and bring hope.

Through original interviews, music recordings, archival footage, and never-before-seen live music performances, The Rumba Kings is the journey of the sound that shaped a nation and gave Africa its own musical stars such as Franco Luambo and the OK Jazz orchestra, or Grand Kalle and Dr. Nico and the African Jazz orchestra, who were as popular across Africa as any famous western rock band.

From the boat mechanic, Wendo Kolosoy, singing in villages along the Congo river, to Jhimmy making the bustling capital dance with his innovative guitar licks, to Grand Kalle and the African Jazz mesmerizing audiences in Europe, or the OK Jazz orchestra touring across the continent of Africa, the Rumba Kings explores the mostly ignored side of a country that has been historically associated with wars, poverty, and its vast mineral wealth.

Sit back, press play, pump up the volume and meet The Rumba Kings. Because Congo’s real treasure does not lie underground.