Search - Loketo :: Soukous Trouble

Loketo founder Diblo Dibala's smoothly syncopated 16th-note patterns virtually define 1990s soukous. Bearing an impeccable pedigree--including stints with the legendary Franco's TPOK band in Zaire and with Kanda Bongo Man in Paris--Diblo formed Loketo (which means "hips") with vocalist Aurlus Mabele in the mid-'80s. Released about the time Loketo broke up (1990), Soukous Trouble is as fine an album as this memorable live band ever recorded. The title track celebrates Mabele's sizzling "soukous infernal" and sets the pace for a half-hour's worth of ecstatic intertwining guitar lines, railroad-rhythm drumming, and the constant encouragement of the group's three lead singers. Skipping old Congolese rumba's slow intros, Loketo launch immediately into the uptempo sembe section that makes modern Parisian soukous the nonstop electric dance party it has become. --Richard Gehr