Congolese music is one of the most influential music forms of the African

continent. Since the 1930s, Congolese musicians have had a huge impact on the
African musical scene and elsewhere. Many contemporary genres of music, such as
Kenyan Benga and Colombian Champeta, have been heavily influenced by Congolese
music1.

In 2021, Congolese rumba joined other living traditions such as Jamaican reggae
music and Cuban rumba on UNESCO’s “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” list1.

Music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo varies in its different forms.
Outside Africa, most music from the Democratic Republic of Congo is called Soukous,
which most accurately refers instead to a dance popular in the late 1960s1. The
term rumba or rock-rumba is also used generically to refer to Congolese music1.

People from the Congo have no single term for their own music per se, although
muziki na biso (“our music”) was used until the late 1970s, and now the most common
name is ndule, which simply means music in the Lingala language1.

Popular Congolese musicians include Koffi Olomidé, Extra Musica, JB M’piana, Tabu
Ley, Awilo Longomba, Madilu2. Their songs like “Loi”, “Mbirime”, “Succès Extra”,
“Ultimatum”, “Kende”, “N’dombolo”, “Muzina”, “I love you”, “Micko”, “L’eau”, “Coupé
Bibamba” are well-known2.

I hope you find this information helpful! 😊