Multi-instrumentalist Georges Mateta Kiamuangana became a teen star in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) with his Kinshasa band OK Jazz in the late 1960s, when Congolese music was dominated by rumba. He adopted his stage name after mis-hearing the name of great American R&B saxophonist King Curtis as “Verckys”, and a refracted version of American music, heard through a Congolese prism, is evident in these recordings with his Orchestre Vévé, as well as the styles of artists he produced for his record label, Les Editions Vévé. James Brown, who performed at the 1974 George Foreman-Muhummad Ali Rumble in the Jungle boxing match in Zaire, anointed Verckys “Mister Dynamite” after seeing one of his live shows. There are some mighty grooves on this collection: Sex Vévé, with its bluesy guitar riff, and Cheka Sana, on which Verckys’ saxophone veers deliciously off-track. Best of all is Oui Verckys, with its juddering Farfisa organ and staccato horns. Oui Verckys, indeed.
