Whats the difference between Congolese rumba and Cuban rumba?
S.M.: To tell you the truth I always feel a bit frustrated when people talk about “Cuban rumba.” When I was living at home my parents used to listen to these records that came out on “La voix de son maître” (His Master’s Voice), a label that produced all these Venezuelan artists who were really big in Léopoldville. For me the “Latino sound” is not simply synonymous with Cuba. That’s why I decided to have Orlando Poléo, a fabulous musician from Venezuela, as one of the guest stars on my new album. When Orlando turned up in the studio he sat down and played the whole album straight off and when I turned round and asked him how he’d managed to pick the tracks up so quickly he said, “It’s the music my parents used to listen to in Venezuela in the 40s!” Then Orlando asked me, “So is that really how things were in Congo?” And I was like, “Yes, this is more or less the same style!” So that just goes to show African and Latin American musicians were already playing a very similar style of rumb
