The Rumba Kings

Alan Brain © Shift Visual Lab LLC
Franco Luambo & OK Jazz orchestra in the Zaire 1974 concert in Kinshasa, film still from The Rumba Kings, by Shift Visual Lab LLC

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Directed by Alan Brain
Duration 94’ | French with English subtitles

The Rumba Kings tells the story of Congolese rumba, the music that helped an entire country fight oppression, find freedom and forge its identity. This is the journey of the sound that changed a nation and gave the African continent its own musical stars such as Franco, Le Grand Kalle and Dr Nico. Through exclusive interviews, music recordings, live performances, and never-before-seen archival footage, The Rumba Kings explores the mostly ignored side of a country historically associated with wars, poverty and its vast mineral wealth.

Alan Brain is a Peruvian director, editor and cinematographer who has directed and edited fiction and documentary films, television series and news shows in South America, the US and Africa. He was a filmmaker for the UN in DR Congo from 2008 to 2014.

Production Country and Year USA, Peru 2021
Producers Alan Brain, Monica Carlson
Director of Photography Alan Brain
Sound Mirella Bellido, Pablo Isola
Editor Alan Brain