Soukous

Afro-Cuban music was a big deal in Africa in the 1950s and '60s, and the irony of that couldn't be more intriguing. Slaves brought African rhythms to Cuba, changed those sounds, and centuries later exported the music back to their homeland. Africans went wild for Cuban forms like rumba, taking the style and adding their own local flourishes. Soukous was born out of this heady cultural stew. The term "soukous" is in fact misleading; it was actually a dance craze in Congo/Zaire in the late '60s, but the phrase has come to symbolize most popular music from the Congo.