Search - Tshala Muana :: Mutuashi

The rare singer who--as in "Muyinga"--makes a political confab between a pair of village elders sound like big fun, Tshala Muana is the Zairean queen of mutuashi, a traditional dance rhythm from her native Kasai region. Produced by Ibrahim Sylla, of Africando fame, Mutuashi is a fertile Afro-Cuban collaboration of fine Congolese and Latin musicians recorded in Paris and New York. Tradition melds smoothly into stylish modernity when, for example, charanga violins chastise responsible men in "Mudlavi (Greed)." On a pair of ballads, Muana croons convincingly (in Tshiluba and Lingala) about doing the right thing, but all bets are off and the soukous rumba runs rampant during the album's three final tracks, when guitar star Daly Kimoko gets an extended opportunity to strut his breezy and fluid virtuoso stuff. --Richard Gehr