La Rumba Soyo (Cumbancha, 2014)
Angolan salsa, rumba and soukous singer Ricardo Lemvo and his band Makina Loca have hit the musical streets with their latest La Rumba So Yo out now on the Cumbancha label. Combining the good-natured freshness of Congolese music with the sassy flair of Cuban music, Mr. Lemvo and Makina Loca are building on a reputation that includes recordings such Retrospectiva, Isabela, Sao Salvador, Ay Valeria! and Tata Masamba. That signature sound of Cuban son and salsa with the Congolese rumba and soukous have had Mr. Lemvo and Makina Loca heating up dance floors the world over with such hits as the 1998 stunner “Mambo Yo Yo,” so it can come as no surprise that combination is no less addictively scrumptious some 16 years later on La Rumba So Yo.
Mr. Lemvo’s buttery vocals against a backdrop of brass and percussion dazzle from the very start of the son montuno/Congolese rumba styled opening track “Santo Antonio do Zaire” and don’t stop until rumba remixed closing track “Sama Luku Samba.” Recorded in the U.S., Canada, France and Angola, La Rumba So Yo was three years in the making and result is rewarding.
Danceable and warmly worked, La Rumba Soyo is pure feel-good music chocked full of the trumpet, trombone, piano, congas, bongos, bass and guitar backing efforts of Makina Loca’s Dante Pascuzzo, Serge Kasimoff, Ivan Castro, Kiko Cornejo Jr. Jesus A. Perez, Huit Kilos Nseka, Arturo Solar, John Roberts, Mofongo Giraldo, Richard Ramirez Pajaro, Rene Camacho and Jose Papo Rodriguez.
The melding of the Cuban with the Congolese is so fine it would be impossible to pick apart the infectious quality of tracks like soukous/merengue styled title track “Rumba So Yo,” the sunny bright “Kari Kuyeye” and the easy sweetness of guitar by Huit Kilos Nseka and Mr.
Lemvo’s vocals on “Padre George,” written by Angolan musician Kyaku Kyadaff with additional Kikongo lyrics by Mr. Lemvo. Other goodies include the sultry bolero “Bolero Medley VF,” the flashy salsa number “El Caburnacho” and sleek Congolese kizomba/zouk number “Simone: CM.” Mr. Lemvo and Makina Loca have fashioned La Rumba So Yo into a hearty feast of Congolese and Cuban delights.
Clever Lemvo and Makina Loca fans should already have tickets to performances around the U.S. and Canada while the group is on tour this summer, but those without tickets might be able to score at the Chicago Summerdance, the Evanston Ethnic Art Festival or Music in the Park in Carlsbad, California in July and August or at the other tour stops in London, Canada, San Jose, Sausalito, Pasadena, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Buy La Rumba Soyo in North America
Buy La Rumba Soyo in Europe
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
