An Archive of Early Jazz on 78 RPM
A Cameroonian artist recording in Belgian Congo at the Opika studios in Kinshasa. This tune features many of the resident studio musicians of the Opika label such as Tino Baroza and Dechaud (Dr. Nico’s brother) on guitar and Isaac Musekiwa on sax.
Released as Opika 1925.
Credits:
Dikume Lobe Henri – vocals
Tino Baroza – guitar
Taumani Albert – bass
Musekiwa Isaac – saxophone
Charles “Déchaud” Mwamba – guitar
A Cameroonian artist recording in Belgian Congo at the Opika studios in Kinshasa. This tune features many of the resident studio musicians of the Opika label such as Tino Baroza and Dechaud (Dr. Nico’s brother) on guitar and Isaac Musekiwa on sax.
Released as Opika 1925.
Credits:
Dikume Lobe Henri – vocals
Tino Baroza – guitar
Taumani Albert – bass
Musekiwa Isaac – saxophone
Charles “Déchaud” Mwamba – guitar
A call-and-response vocal performance with rhythm accompaniment from Nigeria circa 1950, released on Decca’s WA series.
Recorded during Decca’s second recording tour of West Africa circa 1950.
Released as Decca WA.1563
Francis Humplick was a Tanzanian guitarist, singer, and songwriter who recorded extensively in the late 1950s for African labels such as Gallotone, Troubadour, and His Master’s Voice.
Humplick’s gentle fingerstyle guitar technique and his almost conversational singing style are distinctive and immediately endearing. His two sisters Mary and Thecla provided lovely vocal harmonies and background vocals.
Not much is known about this beautiful song delivered in Chaga.
In 2020, Mississippi Records released a beautiful reissue of transfers which I highly recommend:
https://mississippirecords.bandcamp.com/album/frank-and-his-sisters
Recorded in the late 1950s.
Released as Troubadour BZ.1243.
Credits:
Francis Joseph Humplick – guitar, vocals
Mary Regina Humplick, Thecla Clara Humplick – vocals
Well, it’s my birthday today so I decided to pick something to cheer me up amidst all the chaos in the world caused by the evil that men do.
So here is a Congolese rumba record that is sure to brighten your day featuring Franco, the “guitarist who makes the hearst of women spin”, and accompanied by the renowned O.K. Jazz. Originally released on the Loningisa label, this reissue on the HMV label is a good example of the many excellent titles from the Loningisa catalog that the LON series made available.
The title roughly translates to “Has love turned into suffering?”.
At the end of 1956, O.K. Jazz member Henri Bowane had left the Loningisa label “feeling neglected”, and in January of 1957, he poached O.K. Jazz members Jean Serge Essous and Philippe “Rossignol” Lando, who represented a third of the band, to the rival Esengo label. The remaining members of O.K. Jazz regrouped around guitarist Franco, who also composed many of the group’s songs.
Recorded in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo on June 21, 1957.
Released as His Master’s Voice LON 1037.
Originally released as Loningisa No. 182.
Credits:
Franco (François Engbondu) – guitar
Vicky Longomba, Edo Ganga – vocals
Brazzos – guitar
De La Lune – bass
Célestin Kouka – maracas
Nicolas “Dessoin” Bosuma – drums
Source:
Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos by Gary Stewart
A recording made for the Union Trade Company (UTC), a Swiss trading company, in the Gold Coast of Africa. The PLJ series comprises recordings made for this company by EMI and released on the Odeon label. Recordings were made in the mid 1930s and mid 1950s. I believe this disc was from the mid to late 1950s. UTC was a well-known brand in Ghana and continued to operate there until its closure in 1999.
This group, The Star Rockets, appears to be from Ghana based upon the language recorded in (Twi and Ga). Gentle rhythms – sounding a bit melancholy on this side – are punctuated by melodic horn riffs and a male vocalist. A plaintive guitar at 0:24 issues a clarion call that merits response from the rest of the band. A muted wah trumpet at 1:43 provides a moment of Latin-fused melody full of unhurried vitality.
The title, “Meya Kaneshie” seems to reference a visit to the Kaneshie neighborhood in Accra, known for its market.
Believed to have been recorded in Ghana in the mid-to-late 1950s.
Released as Odeon PLJ 75.
A recording made for the Union Trade Company (UTC), a Swiss trading company, in the Gold Coast of Africa. The PLJ series comprises recordings made for this company by EMI and released on the Odeon label. Recordings were made in the mid 1930s and mid 1950s. I believe this disc was from the mid to late 1950s. UTC was a well-known brand in Ghana and continued to operate there until its closure in 1999.
This group, The Star Rockets, appears to be from Ghana based upon the language recorded in (Twi and Ga). Gentle upbeat rhythms are punctuated by melodic horn riffs and a female vocalist.
The calm atmosphere created by this music stands in contrast to the title, “Otanfo Abonsam” seems to translate roughly as “My enemy is a demon”. Not a literal demon, but simply someone possessed by malevolence: a malicious rival or a former friend who has done you harm.
Believed to have been recorded in Ghana in the mid-to-late 1950s.
Released as Odeon PLJ 75.
A wonderful Congolese rumba by guitarist Laurent Batubenge on the immortal Ngoma label.
The title roughly translates as “Is it really this bad?”.
Recorded in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo on April 20, 1956.
Released as Ngoma 1768.
Credits:
Laurent Batubenge – guitar, vocals
Unknown artists – 2nd guitar, saxophone, maracas, bass, tam-tams, vocals
The flip side of this record can be heard at:
https://youtu.be/6y4ogH3hiIQ
Sources:
https://afrodisc.com/central-africa/ngoma-1000-2274-78-rpm/ngoma-1700-1799/
A wonderful Congolese rumba by guitarist Laurent Batubenge on the immortal Ngoma label.
The title roughly translates as “Such is the way of the world”.
Recorded in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo on April 20, 1956.
Released as Ngoma 1768.
Credits:
Laurent Batubenge – guitar, vocals
Unknown artists – 2nd guitar, saxophone, maracas, bass, tam-tams, vocals
The flip side of this record can be heard at:
https://youtu.be/AT2BseQZrSs
Sources:
https://afrodisc.com/central-africa/ngoma-1000-2274-78-rpm/ngoma-1700-1799/
Cameroonian guitarist Cromwell Nzié recorded this Marche with the Opika label in what is now called Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Le Guitariste Cromwell”, is the brother of popular singer Anne-Marie Nzié, the “Golden Voice of Cameroon” ( “La Voix d’Or du Cameroun”). Cromwell reportedly taught Anne-Marie to play guitar while she was bedridden with a broken leg. In the 1950s, Cromwell was “widely popular and received a great deal of radio airplay.”
In 1963, the two participated in a guitar contest organized by a German musician that included many popular guitarists of the time. Anne-Marie won the contest – a success that “restarted her musical career [and] led her to becoming the most popular female singer in the newly founded Republic of Cameroon.”
This song is in the Ngoumba language, spoken by a population originating from Kribi and Lolodorf, in southern Cameroon. Unfortunately, this makes translation somewhat difficult, as Ngoumba is not a widely spoken language.
Recorded in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo circa 1953-54.
Released as Opika 1069.
Credits:
Cromwell Ndzie Moise – guitar, vocals
Sources:
BRUNNER, ANJA. “THE SINGER ANNE-MARIE NZIÉ AND THE SONG ‘LIBERTÉ’: ON POPULAR MUSIC AND THE POSTCOLONIAL STATE IN CAMEROON.” African Music, vol. 9, no. 3, 2013, pp. 40–58. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24877314. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.