Zong Zing All Stars

www.zongzing.org

www.myspace.com/zongzing

We are a band that play music from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly known as Zaire. The type of music we play is called 'Soukous' music – it is very dancable music characterised by intricate guitar picking styles, and in this band there are three guitarists. The section of the music that is the most dancable and uplifting is called the 'Seben', where the guitar picking, irrestible rhythms, sublime vocal harmonies create a barely suppressed europhoria – arguably one of the music infectiously dancable forms of music in the world! The Democratic Republic of Congo has a rich musical heritage and different sounds. Rumba music is very similar to the sound of Cuban music, and indeed cuban music evolved in the exchange of drum rhythms that travelled the atlantic shipping roots. From Rumba, Cha Cha Cha, evolved the uniquely Congolese sound of Soukous, pioneered by Grand Master Franco Luambo Makiadiwith his “OK Jazz”, and Joseph Kabasele “Le Grande Kalle” with African Jazz. This is music to play on a sunny day at a festival, this music will get everybody dancing and in a happy mood. The ZongZing All Stars have performed at The Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, Amnesty International, The Pleasure Unit, The Others (Stoke Newington), amongst other venues, and have been scheduled for some festivals this summer. The above demo is a live recording recorded at The Others - rehearsal space.