Born in Latin America and inspired by African roots, rumba has taken a remarkable return trip to the Congo, where it continues to inspire dancers and musicians. With over 50 years on the stage, Bumba Massa has lived the history of this music from its earliest days. A singer in the Lovy Orchestra of Zaïre, with the star Vicky Longomba, then in OK Jazz with the mythical Franco, before working under the wing of the pioneering Henri Bowane. After his exile to Lomé in Togo at the end of the 1970s, he struck out on his own. A founding member of the Kékélé revival orchestra, founded by Africa's answer to Berry Gordy of Motown, Ibrahima Sylla, Bumba Massa never lost his faith - or his touch. His velvet voice and his rolling diction are still addictive. And this V70, recorded in Paris with the very best of Congo's Franco stylists, proves it across all eleven of these dazzling pieces from Bumba Massa, including a salute to the memory of his mentor Vicky Longomba in a torrid medley. An album for light hearts and nimble feet. © BM/Qobuz