In our review of the Ry-Co Jazz compilation released on the Belgian Radio Martiko label at the end of last year, we briefly sketched out the history and evolution of Congolese rumba, and 'Nostalgique Kongo' delves even deeper into that history. On this compilation music from the period between 1950 and 1960, just before both Congos acquired their independence and mainly recorded for labels like Opika (a contraction of opika pende, Lingala for "hold on a moment") of brothers Gabriel Moussa and Joseph Benatar, Esengo owned by the Greek Dino Antonopoulos and Loningisa, also owned by Greeks, cousins Athanasius and Basil Papadimitriou. Apart from early recordings by Congolese artists like singer-guitarist Wendo Kolosoy, accordionist Camille Feruzi, multi-instrumentalist Léon Bukasa or guitarist Zacharie Elenga (better known as 'Jhimmy de la Hawaïenne'), the track list also features curiosities like the Cameroonian productions 'Djombe Dikwamba' and 'A Muna Iyo Ye Bobe' by Ebenie Ebongue Bollaga and Gustave Dalle, rumba in Douala, or opener 'Mpenzi Tina' ("beloved Tina") by Kenyan duo Isaya Mwinamo and Tom Miti and sung in Swahili; examples proving how popular the rumba sound was at the time, not only in the Congos, but in the whole Central African region. From a historical perspective, 'Nostalgique Kongo' is certainly an interesting archive record, but at times it sounds a tad too dated to really impress modern ears.