The Voice of Lightness: Congo Classics, 1961-1977

Tabu Ley Rochereau

album cover

So Light, So Clear . . .

It's often said that truly great singers can sing anything—the phone book, a laundry list—and make it compelling. That isn't always hyperbole. Tucked inside this compilation of highlights from the long career of Congolese singing legend Tabu Ley Rochereau is a soap commercial. "Savon Omo," written by Rochereau and recorded in 1966 with the group African Fiesta, was used in an ad campaign for Omo laundry soap.

Heard here as a full four-minute tune, "Savon Omo" is not the most profound composition on this two-disc anthology, which contains some of the most persuasive ad-libbing in African pop. But it serves as an excellent demonstration of how an assured, impassioned singer can finesse (and redeem) ordinary material: First Rochereau gamely does his brand-building bit, repeating a fetching jingle-like phrase over and over. Then he initiates a call-and-response exchange with the background vocalists, and that's when things get interesting. Floating above the interlinked counterpoint of several agile electric guitars, he improvises in long torrents of wonderful (sometimes almost heroic) melody that venture far from the laundry. All ads should be this uplifting.

The aptly titled The Voice of Lightness traces Rochereau's evolution from roots in Congolese rumba (a huge craze in the '60s) to his development of soukous, the up-tempo rumba derivation that incorporates elements of American soul. In his conception, soukous is incessantly propulsive but also prayerful—there are moments when Rochereau's incantations resonate as devotional mantras, no matter if he's singing about deities or race relations, mortality or sex, the prowess of his various bands or (on the striking "Aon Aon") the allure of the wah-wah guitar.

The guitars are certainly worthy of attention; behind Rochereau, several different lead players crisscross and overlap in ways that are technically demanding, yet sound positively effortless. That's often true of Rochereau's music: From the early singles to the explosive two-part live showcase "Adeito," everything here has transfixing power, though of an unassuming, low-key sort. Rochereau's singing is a butterfly's symphony of wriggles and flutters, but don't be fooled: There's deep conviction behind it. That's really what sells the soap.

Genre: World, Congo
Released: 2007, Stern's Music (Recordings made 1961-1977.)
Key Tracks: "Savon Omo," "Kasela," "Mama Ida," "Adeito (1 & 2)"
Catalog Choice: Muzina
Next Stop: Mbilia Bel: Bel Canto: Best of the Genidia Years (1982-1987)
After That: Patience Dabany: Patience Dabany
Book Pages: 651–652