Soukous

Soukous is a guitar-driven dance music that developed in the Congo Basin from Congolese rumba during the 1960s and 1970s. Its signature texture interlocks three electric guitars — lead, the arpeggiated mi-solo and rhythm accompaniment — over bass, drums and percussion, supporting Lingala vocals in close harmony. Songs typically open with a sung rumba section before accelerating into the sebene, an extended, fast instrumental passage designed for dancing. Faster and more guitar-centred than the rumba that preceded it, soukous became the dominant popular music of Central and East Africa and, through Paris-based recording in the 1980s, the region's most successful musical export.