Kwassa Kwassa

Kwassa kwassa is the fast, euphoric dance style of Congolese soukous that conquered African and European dancefloors in the late 1980s. Named after the hip-swaying dance it commands, it strips soukous down to a relentless sebene: chiming interlocking guitars, synth bass and shouted animation over an insistent beat. *Kanda Bongo Man* launched the craze in Paris with "Kwassa Kwassa" (1989), and groups such as *Loketo*, led by singer *Aurlus Mabélé* and guitarist *Diblo Dibala*, made it the defining sound of soukous's international peak, filling clubs from Kinshasa and Abidjan to Paris and London.