Magane

Magane came out of Kinshasa with a sound that mixed traditional Congolese rhythms with more contemporary melodies. Their 1995 single "Yo Motu Kuni" got them noticed internationally, and they kept putting out albums through the late 1990s and early 2000s like "Identite" and "Confiance." The band's lineup stayed pretty steady with Roga Roga on vocals and guitar, Patou Solo on bass, and Makaba on drums.

Their songs often worked with themes of love and loss, and you can hear that in tracks like "Crawling from the Blood" and "Into the Fire." They drew from Congolese rumba and soukous, but they weren't afraid to try different things as they went along. Political issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo sometimes made touring and recording harder for them.

There was some noise in the early 2000s about a melody they were accused of copying from another African artist. They maintained it was their own work, and the whole thing seemed to just make them dig in on their approach. They kept making music that felt connected to where they were from, with songs like "Izanafi" and "Tsavulafi" carrying that forward.